-- Oliver Kullmann <O.Kullmann@Swansea.ac.uk> wrote:
Nope. Without the reference type, a call like:
int random_number = your_generator();
would invoke the constructor instead of the () member operator; hence, the silent failure.
I don't understand this. According to the draft (N1648, available at
http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2004/#post_sydney)
section 5.1.3, just using a non-reference type BaseRNG should work.
I'm assuming you meant N1647. I'll try to code some test cases in which using a non-reference type BaseRNG works (at least with the compiler I'm using, MinGW 3.2), but in my limited experience it hasn't worked so far.
I just feel that the whole concept of "concepts" and
"models" is not so easy to grasp, and thus I think it would be beneficial to say things several times.
I'd vote for a more unified (Boost-wide) look-and-feel of the library documentation that is loosely based on SGI's STL website so that the ideas of "concept" and "model" are reinforced in the library user's mind. I believe that's what they're going to do with the upcoming BoostBook documentation system, but it'll take some time if that's going to happen. I'm not sure your student has surfed through it already, but in the meantime, he can study the STL Programmer's Guide, hosted by SGI: <http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/> The "Introduction" gives the definitions of "concept", "model", and other imporant ideas; and the "Table of Contents" applies the definitions to the various class templates available in the STL. Your student should find these resources especially useful since Boost libraries are supposed to work well with (and maybe become a part of) the C++ Standard Library (of which STL is a major part).
In the draft, section 5.1.7.1 it says, that "a uniform_int random distribution satisfies all the requirements of a uniform number generator", and I guess that means that uniform_int is a model of a uniform random generator, or?!
Well, you can't call the () member operator of uniform_int the way uniform number generators are required to by table 5.1 of section 5.1.1, but uniform_int does satisfy the random *distribution* requirements set forth in table 5.3 of that same section. I'm not sure if the table number and associated caption in section 5.1.7.1 are typos, but for an answer on that particular point you may have to contact the report's author directly.
Of course; I just hope that this little e-mail stream might already help for some improvements (and every bit helps).
Agreed. I'll be on-and-off, though; my grandfather's in bad health and the family needs my support. Cromwell Enage __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail