AMDG On 09/09/2011 07:59 AM, Tomas Puverle wrote:
If you don't want the operators, then don't use them. Having an extra template parameter to disable them seems rather pointless.
Steven,
That, in my view, is the same argument as saying that "a bidirectional iterator should have an operator +=, but just don't use it".
It isn't the same at all. I was really responding to the suggestion of having a template parameter that determines whether they should be provided. I don't really have an opinion on whether the operators should be provided or not. IMHO, this half-way thing of optionally providing them is liable to cause more confusion than always providing them.
Why doesn't the STL provide it? Because it would lead to surprises when people expecting a quick operation end up getting something much more expensive. While the algorithmic complexity of the endian operators may not quite cause the difference between O(1) and O(N), I think it's teetering in the same territory.
In Christ, Steven Watanabe