On 5/3/2011 5:04 PM, Vladimir Batov wrote:
As for your not-working example
f(boost::convert<std::string>::from(123));
then 'yes' it does not work the way *you* intentionally deploy 'convert'. For it to work it needs to be
f(boost::convert<std::string>::from(123).value());
This issue itself could decide the library's acceptance IMO. I.e. is it acceptable design that some (possibly many) contexts will require the extra call to value? I personally don't like sometimes requiring it and other times not. Especially when I suspect it will lead to plenty of confusing template-heavy compile-time errors and in some cases possibly some very hard to pinpoint runtime errors! These errors are especially significant IMO when the most common use of the library is for seemingly simple conversions. I am beginning to realize the danger of implicit conversions (something I hadn't thought much about before)... It's not right to say "it does not work the way *you* intentionally deploy" because it's a perfectly reasonable usage. At the very least you would need to warn about it in the documentation. -Matt