From: Eric Friedman (ebf_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-10-07 03:38:32
E. Gladyshev wrote:
> --- Eric Friedman <ebf_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> [...]
>
>>To check each type Ti in variant<T1,...,TN> would add O(n) compile-time
>>complexity. To check only the first type T1 adds only O(1) complexity.
>
>
> I thought that you have to check each type anyway
> to find the largest type, isn't it true?
Yes, it's true that each type must be checked. So perhaps "complexity"
is not the correct word to use. Nonetheless, compile-time *performance*
will be hampered, as there is a difference between O(N) and O(2N) when
waiting for compilation to finish, even if they are both in theory O(N).
Further, while I perhaps understand your complaint that variant checks
only T1 for a nothrow default constructor, it would not really buy you
anything in a generic context if variant behaved similarly for any Ti
with nothrow default-construction. That is,
template <typename U1, ..., typename UN>
class my_class
{
variant<U1, ..., UN> var_;
};
Unless a precondition for use of my_class is that one of its arguments
Ui must be nothrow default-constructible, you'd still be in the same
boat even if variant checked every type. That is, you would have no way
to ensure heap allocation was avoided in general.
Eric