From: Andy Tompkins (atompkins_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-10-27 09:35:47
On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 20:17:02 +1300, "Simon Buchan"
<simon_at_[hidden]> said:
> Dave Harris wrote:
> > In-Reply-To: <1130256273.28161.245978560_at_[hidden]>
> > atompkins_at_[hidden] (Andy Tompkins) wrote (abridged):
> >> I have read a few times that people sometimes wish that std::vector (or
> >> other containers) had a virtual destructor.
> >
> > Generally when I've wished for that I've also wished for a few other
> > virtual functions. For example, a hook which gets called whenever an item
> > is added to the vector, and another which is called when items are
> > removed. I think a vector which is designed to be derived from would need
> > more than just a virtual destructor. If you are adding a vtable you might
> > as well get some milage out of it.
> >
> That's what your class would add, presumably.
>
> > On the other hand, I rarely need my container to be polymorphic - at
> > least, not with respect to some library base class like std::vector or
> > boost::virtual_vector. Nor do I usually want my container to have the
> > entire interface of vector. For example, I may not want to allow arbitrary
> > insertion at all. So I tend to write a custom wrapper class that has
> > vector as a private member and just exposes what I need.
> >
> But when you *do* want to write a vector (or whatever) interface
> compliant class, it's a bloody pain to do it for each one you do. His
> impl has the benefit that you just publicly inherit from this class, and
> add the extra stuff in, overriding any methods that you want to do
> differently. (I assume the forwarders will be virtual?)
I have come to realize (from so many good responses to my post) that
this is what I really want to do. I want a class that has the interface
of a vector (or another collection) and add other members (functions
and/or data) to it. I have also realized that (for my purposes) I don't
require the ability to delete people from a pointer to its base class, I
am quite happy to always use people or people*.
thus a revised sketch:
template <class Type, class Allocator = std::allocator<Type> >
class wrap_vector
{
public:
//same constructors as std::vector, that forward to m_vec
//same methods as std::vector, that forward to m_vec, eg.
size_type size() const { return m_vec.size(); }
...
protected:
// to prevent using deleting a wrap_vector*
// as Gennadiy suggested
~wrap_vector();
private:
std::vector<Type, Allocator> m_vec;
};
struct person
{
std::string first_name;
std::string last_name;
};
class people : public wrap_vector<person>
{
// add member functions
// add member data
// overload wrap_vector member functions for different behavior
};
>
> > In general inheriting from anything in the std library has the drawback
> > that it injects unknown junk names into your class. Inheriting from a
> > boost class is hardly better.
> >
> Actually, his posted impl doesn't do that.
>
> > So overall, I'm not in favour.
> >
> > -- Dave Harris, Nottingham, UK.
>
> Although I don't think it would be massively useful, I can't see why it
> couldn't be a neat time-saver, if you are doing a lot of "smart"
> container stuff, or something. It would be nice if it could be made more
> general, however C++ has it's limits.
I believe that it is the time-saving I was after.
>
> --
> don't quote this
>
> _______________________________________________
> Unsubscribe & other changes:
> http://listarchives.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost
Andy Tompkins