From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2020-09-10 17:06:34
On Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 10:01 AM Edward Diener via Boost
<boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Did I miss something or did std::optional ( or boost::optional ) go away
> as a means of saying that some value does not exist ? The nullptr is for
> a null pointer. Using it otherwise seems wrong, even if the value is the
> same size of a nullptr.
"null" in JSON does not mean "value does not exist." It means... well,
it is a null. Some people use the word monostate, which I find
pretentious. optional, std or otherwise, has nothing to do with this.
A JSON variant container needs a way to have a null assigned to it,
just like all the other types (integers, floating point). Example:
json::value jv;
jv = 1; // assign an integer
assert( jv.is_int64() );
jv = 3.14; // assign a double
assert( jv.kind() == json::kind::double_ );
jv = nullptr; // assign a null
assert( jv.is_null() );
I could have gone with this syntax:
jv = json::null;
by providing my own type and constant:
namespace json {
struct null_t {};
inline static null_t null;
}
but nullptr is quite close to it and entirely accessible by the common
folk that this library targets, and this avoids an unnecessary
proliferation of small types.
Regards