-----Original Message----- From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Fernando Cacciola Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 12:35 PM To: boost@lists.boost.org Subject: Re: [boost] Generic Point class and algorithms (was:[GTL]- geometric template library - determininginterest)
Michael Fawcett wrote:
I.e. point+point is undefined, point-point is a vector, etc...
This has been the source of quite a bit of contention in the past. distinction is highly important, and then there are game developers (and others I'm sure) who frequently mix both for optimization
What would be the difference between the cartesian and the vector types? -- John tricks
and compatibility with the graphics API.
Some folks in between those two groups argue that lineal combinations of points in the affine space is also well defined, and that uses point addition.
Thus, I typically choose to define:
- point -> point (reflexion)
scalar * point -> point (affine scaling) point * scalar -> point (affine scaling)
point * matrix -> point ( affine transformation)
point + point -> point (lineal combination)
point - point -> vector (subtraction)
- vector -> vector (inversion)
scalar * vector -> vector * scalar -> vector (scaling)
vector + vector -> vector (addition)
vector - vector -> vector (substraction)
point + vector -> point point - vector -> point (displacement)
vector * matrix -> vector (lineal transfomation)
Which allow you to have your cacke and eat it too.
Of course you could say that (ptA - ptA) is not the same as (ptA + (-ptA) ) and that is a problem (the former is a vector while the second is a point)
Yet OTOH both results have the same components, so, why would that be a problem is a statically typed language?
Furthermore, I sometimes like to use subtyping as in:
cartesian <-- vector <-- point
which in conjuction with the the curiously recurring pattern (to inject the "self" most-derived type into cartesian) can be used to define:
unary - binary - + *
right in the base class.
(point-point) needs to be overriden in the point class though.
But of course, as Joel said, these sort of thing (inheritance) is unnecesary when generic programming is _fully_ used. But the inheritance comes in handy in non-generic but parametrized contexts (where you can parametrize on "cartesian" and pass either points or vectors without conversion)
Best
-- Fernando Cacciola SciSoft http://fcacciola.50webs.com
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