2009/6/9 Christopher Jefferson <chris@bubblescope.net>:
I have been working around this by implementing new special containers, which know about the size of a fixed buffer and therefore can make use of the space. I now think I'm probably going about this the wrong way, a much better way would be to implement: http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2006/n2045.html , or a variant thereof.
The big problem with doing this "within boost" is that it would pull in a basically complete implementation of std::allocator and the containers into boost.
Are you sure that you're not just trying to make something like an intrusive::vector? The analogy is obviously imperfect, as the existing intrusive containers are all node-based, but the advantages you mention fit very will with those described here: http://www.boost.org/doc/html/intrusive/intrusive_vs_nontrusive.html Intrusive, is, in a way, the "complete implementation" of containers that you mention, and fits very nicely with the idea of a less convenient interface for particularly space-/performance-sensitive users.