At 09:04 AM 3/5/2004, Thorsten Ottosen wrote:
One last thing:
8. maybe you should add const_pointer data() const ? It is not possible. data() is mutating operation. See the source code.
ok. then maybe one should get more hints about this mutation (I did not have a clue), maybe like c.prepare_array(); foo( &*c.begin() ); There are some words regarding iterator invalidation in the method documentation.
ok, I'm not super religious about it, but my line of thought goes like this:
if a programmer sees this kind of code:
circular_buffer<T> cb; ... foo( cb.data() );
he would have to look at documentation to know what's going on (he could be a maintenance programmer who have no earlier knowlegde of circular buffer). data() is a very innocent word and I doubt that people in general would think all iterator were invalidated. I also doubt that they would think it was a linear time operation. Now, that's why I think it might be possible to give programmer just a little more hint about what might be going on by using a *verb* in the functions name, eg.
compute_data(); prepare_data(); prepare_array(); linearize_data();
It's probably good to get other's oppinion about this too.
FWIW, I agree. Particularly since data() in std::string is const. Verbs do a better job of indicating meaning. --Beman