Hi Mathias, Mathias Gaunard <mathias.gaunard@ens-lyon.org> writes:
In C++0x std::vector has a data() member just like your buffer type.
True, thought, that's not the only problem with vector's interface when used as buffer. Probably just the ugliest.
b.copy (data, size); | b.assign (data, data + size);
How about std::vector<char> a; std::vector<char> b = a;
Not sure I follow what you are trying to say here.
b.append (data, size); | b.insert (b.end (), data, data + size);
Appending is more of a string thing. Are you sure you want this?
I don't see why not, but I am open to change my mind if there is a good reason not to provide it.
void* data; ... buffer b (data, size); // Ok. vbuffer vb (data, data + size); // Error.
Beware of the strict aliasing rules.
Seeing that we will just pass the pointer to memcpy, I think we will be safe.
Also, for a binary buffer it is nice to be able to assume ownership of an existing raw buffer and to detach the underlying raw buffer.
And how is that allowed by your interface?
There would a special constructor for that: buffer (char* data, size_t size, size_t capacity, bool assume_ownership);
Also, how do you take care of how the memory is allocated when copying said buffer?
You probably mean "freeing said buffer" instead of "copying said buffer". The simplest approach would be to stipulate that such a buffer should be allocated with operator new[] and freed with operator delete[]. Boris -- Boris Kolpackov, Code Synthesis http://codesynthesis.com/~boris/blog Compiler-based ORM system for C++ http://codesynthesis.com/products/odb Open-source XML data binding for C++ http://codesynthesis.com/products/xsd XML data binding for embedded systems http://codesynthesis.com/products/xsde