From: "Jonathan Turkanis" <technews@kangaroologic.com>
Here's a summary of the names and extensions I'd like to see:
- multi_skipper, etc. I'd like these usages to be supported:
cin >> skip_line >> ... // skip a line cin >> skip_lines(12) >> .. // skip 12 lines
Someone raised the issue of singular versus plural causing confusion, but since "skip_line" takes no arguments, and "skip_lines" takes arguments, there should be no problem.
cin >> skip('c', 3) >> ... // skip 3 c's cin >> skip("hello world!") >> .. // skip given sequence
Nice. This, too: cin >> skip('x') >> ... // skip one 'x'
cin >> skip_if(isalpha) // skip alphabetic characters cin >> skip_to(isalpha) // skip non-alphabetic characters
These are terrific ideas. Obviously, the argument should be a predicate of general form so that clients can make their own.
- multi_newer, etc.
cout << newline << ... // write a newline without flushing cout << newlines(7) << ... // write 7 newlines
Again, the singular versus plural issue is moot given the distinct invocation syntax.
cout << repeat('c', 3) << ... // write 3 c's
A question was raised wrt "repeat." If that's a problem, I suggest these alternatives ("repeat" is the best, though): ditto copy (would be a problem as std::copy) replicate multiple multi It would be interesting to make "repeat" (or whatever) a class so that it could be used to generate a string, insert on a stream, be iterable, etc.: template <typename T> class ditto { public: typedef ... iterator; typedef ... const_iterator; ditto(T value, std::size_t const count_i); iterator begin(); const_iterator begin() const; iterator end(); const_iterator end() const; std::string toString() const; template <class OutputStream> void insert(OutputStream & os_i) const; private: T value_; std::size_t count_; }; template <class OutputStream> OutputStream & operator <<(OutputStream & os_i, ditto const & value_i) { value_i.insert(os_i); return os_i; } -- Rob Stewart stewart@sig.com Software Engineer http://www.sig.com Susquehanna International Group, LLP using std::disclaimer;