Re: [boost] [serialization] use of unsigned int instead of size_type

12 Feb 2006


      David Abrahams wrote:
...
"Peter Dimov" <pdimov@mmltd.net> writes:
...
The status quo is that the size of the container is consistently
written or read as an unsigned int, is it not?
I think so, though I could be mistaken.
...
Consider the simplistic example:
void f( unsigned int ); // #1
void f( unsigned long ); // #2
void g( std::vector<int> & v )
{
    unsigned int n1 = v.size();
    f( n1 ); // #1
size_t n2 = v.size();
    f( n2 ); // ???
}
Sure.  So how does this relate to serialization?
Consider an archive where unsigned int and unsigned long have a different 
internal representation. When a value of a size_t type is written on 
platform A, where size_t == unsigned int, platform B, where size_t == 
unsigned long, won't be able to read the file.