Maarten Kronenburg wrote:
"Rene Rivera" wrote in message
I don't care that much what the form of access looks like. The important aspect is having a *defined representation* that users can convert to and from. For example other access methods might be:
// Iterators, like std::string::data: std::pair<word_type const *, word_type const *> integer::data() const;
// Inserter, like std::string::copy: template <typename OutputIterator> void integer::copy(OutputIterator) const;
// Stream like: template <typename Container> operator << (Container &, integer const &);
Of course there would need to be a corresponding constructor to have the data round trip.
But what should the iterator iterate over? Bits? Bytes?
A "word_type" you define, which at minimum would be bytes. And by you I mean the TR2 document you are proposing.
In my opinion get_sub of a bit or byte or whatever, with a converter like to_unsigned_int, gives you the O(1) access you require.
Sure, but it doesn't follow existing STL practices and norms.
Perhaps the user can define an iterator based on get_sub.
Of course, it's as simple as: ==== typedef boost::transform_iterator< boost::function< uint8_t (std::size_t) >, boost::counting_iterator<std::size_t> > I; integer n = 5; uint8_t get_uint8_n(integer * i, std::size_t n) { return i->get_sub(n*8,8); } I begin_i(I::base_type(0),boost::bind(&get_uint8_n,&n,_1)); I end_i(I::base_type(n.size(),boost::bind(&get_uint8_n,&n,_1,8)); std::vector<uint8_t> m(begin_i,end_i); ==== But first there's no integer::size(), and second it seems like a rather complex thing to push onto users (even given how simple the above is with the use of the Boost.Iterators and Boost.Bind libraries). -- -- Grafik - Don't Assume Anything -- Redshift Software, Inc. - http://redshift-software.com -- rrivera/acm.org - grafik/redshift-software.com -- 102708583/icq - grafikrobot/aim - grafikrobot/yahoo