On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Andrew Troschinetz <ast@arlut.utexas.edu> wrote:
It seems like there's still a lot of discussion going on about the interface even when Vladimir is plodding on, so I thought I might offer another candidate that I haven't seen put forth just yet.
template<class Target, class Source> *unspecified-type* convert_to(const Source& value);
This would give us the flexibility to easily implement an interface that could be used like so:
int i = convert_to<int>("5").get(); // get "5" converted to int (throw on error)
My problem with the convert_to<int> syntax is that it demands that the function it binds to is a template. For me it is crucial for any to- and from- string conversion framework to be able to bind simple user-defined overloads like: class foo; char const * to_string( foo const & ); or class bar; std::string to_string( bar const & ); or template <class T> class foobar; template <class T> std::string to_string( foobar<T> const & ); The interface specification, I think, has to be that converting to string is done through unqualified call (so ADL kicks in) using automatic argument deduction if templates are involved. Emil Dotchevski Reverge Studios, Inc. http://www.revergestudios.com/reblog/index.php?n=ReCode