summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/libs/ptr_container/doc/conventions.html
blob: 3d9dd3e9b737e667602cb97281eb7951b50f1718 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="generator" content="Docutils 0.3.10: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/" />
<title>Boost Pointer Container Library</title>
<style type="text/css">

/*
:Author: David Goodger
:Contact: goodger@users.sourceforge.net
:Date: $Date: 2007-11-25 13:38:02 -0500 (Sun, 25 Nov 2007) $
:Revision: $Revision: 41370 $
:Copyright: This stylesheet has been placed in the public domain.

Default cascading style sheet for the HTML output of Docutils.

See http://docutils.sf.net/docs/howto/html-stylesheets.html for how to
customize this style sheet.
*/

/* "! important" is used here to override other ``margin-top`` and
   ``margin-bottom`` styles that are later in the stylesheet or 
   more specific.  See http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1#the-cascade */
.first {
  margin-top: 0 ! important }

.last, .with-subtitle {
  margin-bottom: 0 ! important }

.hidden {
  display: none }

a.toc-backref {
  text-decoration: none ;
  color: black }

blockquote.epigraph {
  margin: 2em 5em ; }

dl.docutils dd {
  margin-bottom: 0.5em }

/* Uncomment (and remove this text!) to get bold-faced definition list terms
dl.docutils dt {
  font-weight: bold }
*/

div.abstract {
  margin: 2em 5em }

div.abstract p.topic-title {
  font-weight: bold ;
  text-align: center }

div.admonition, div.attention, div.caution, div.danger, div.error,
div.hint, div.important, div.note, div.tip, div.warning {
  margin: 2em ;
  border: medium outset ;
  padding: 1em }

div.admonition p.admonition-title, div.hint p.admonition-title,
div.important p.admonition-title, div.note p.admonition-title,
div.tip p.admonition-title {
  font-weight: bold ;
  font-family: sans-serif }

div.attention p.admonition-title, div.caution p.admonition-title,
div.danger p.admonition-title, div.error p.admonition-title,
div.warning p.admonition-title {
  color: red ;
  font-weight: bold ;
  font-family: sans-serif }

/* Uncomment (and remove this text!) to get reduced vertical space in
   compound paragraphs.
div.compound .compound-first, div.compound .compound-middle {
  margin-bottom: 0.5em }

div.compound .compound-last, div.compound .compound-middle {
  margin-top: 0.5em }
*/

div.dedication {
  margin: 2em 5em ;
  text-align: center ;
  font-style: italic }

div.dedication p.topic-title {
  font-weight: bold ;
  font-style: normal }

div.figure {
  margin-left: 2em }

div.footer, div.header {
  clear: both;
  font-size: smaller }

div.line-block {
  display: block ;
  margin-top: 1em ;
  margin-bottom: 1em }

div.line-block div.line-block {
  margin-top: 0 ;
  margin-bottom: 0 ;
  margin-left: 1.5em }

div.sidebar {
  margin-left: 1em ;
  border: medium outset ;
  padding: 1em ;
  background-color: #ffffee ;
  width: 40% ;
  float: right ;
  clear: right }

div.sidebar p.rubric {
  font-family: sans-serif ;
  font-size: medium }

div.system-messages {
  margin: 5em }

div.system-messages h1 {
  color: red }

div.system-message {
  border: medium outset ;
  padding: 1em }

div.system-message p.system-message-title {
  color: red ;
  font-weight: bold }

div.topic {
  margin: 2em }

h1.section-subtitle, h2.section-subtitle, h3.section-subtitle,
h4.section-subtitle, h5.section-subtitle, h6.section-subtitle {
  margin-top: 0.4em }

h1.title {
  text-align: center }

h2.subtitle {
  text-align: center }

hr.docutils {
  width: 75% }

img.align-left {
  clear: left }

img.align-right {
  clear: right }

img.borderless {
  border: 0 }

ol.simple, ul.simple {
  margin-bottom: 1em }

ol.arabic {
  list-style: decimal }

ol.loweralpha {
  list-style: lower-alpha }

ol.upperalpha {
  list-style: upper-alpha }

ol.lowerroman {
  list-style: lower-roman }

ol.upperroman {
  list-style: upper-roman }

p.attribution {
  text-align: right ;
  margin-left: 50% }

p.caption {
  font-style: italic }

p.credits {
  font-style: italic ;
  font-size: smaller }

p.label {
  white-space: nowrap }

p.rubric {
  font-weight: bold ;
  font-size: larger ;
  color: maroon ;
  text-align: center }

p.sidebar-title {
  font-family: sans-serif ;
  font-weight: bold ;
  font-size: larger }

p.sidebar-subtitle {
  font-family: sans-serif ;
  font-weight: bold }

p.topic-title {
  font-weight: bold }

pre.address {
  margin-bottom: 0 ;
  margin-top: 0 ;
  font-family: serif ;
  font-size: 100% }

pre.line-block {
  font-family: serif ;
  font-size: 100% }

pre.literal-block, pre.doctest-block {
  margin-left: 2em ;
  margin-right: 2em ;
  background-color: #eeeeee }

span.classifier {
  font-family: sans-serif ;
  font-style: oblique }

span.classifier-delimiter {
  font-family: sans-serif ;
  font-weight: bold }

span.interpreted {
  font-family: sans-serif }

span.option {
  white-space: nowrap }

span.pre {
  white-space: pre }

span.problematic {
  color: red }

span.section-subtitle {
  /* font-size relative to parent (h1..h6 element) */
  font-size: 80% }

table.citation {
  border-left: solid thin gray }

table.docinfo {
  margin: 2em 4em }

table.docutils {
  margin-top: 0.5em ;
  margin-bottom: 0.5em }

table.footnote {
  border-left: solid thin black }

table.docutils td, table.docutils th,
table.docinfo td, table.docinfo th {
  padding-left: 0.5em ;
  padding-right: 0.5em ;
  vertical-align: top }

table.docutils th.field-name, table.docinfo th.docinfo-name {
  font-weight: bold ;
  text-align: left ;
  white-space: nowrap ;
  padding-left: 0 }

h1 tt.docutils, h2 tt.docutils, h3 tt.docutils,
h4 tt.docutils, h5 tt.docutils, h6 tt.docutils {
  font-size: 100% }

tt.docutils {
  background-color: #eeeeee }

ul.auto-toc {
  list-style-type: none }

</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="document" id="boost-pointer-container-library">
<h1 class="title"><img alt="Boost" src="boost.png" /> Pointer Container Library</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle" id="conventions">Conventions</h2>
<p>There are a few design decisions that will affect how the classes are 
used.  Besides these the classes are much like normal standard containers 
and provides almost the same interface.  The new conventions are:</p>
<div class="contents local topic">
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference" href="#null-pointers-are-not-allowed-by-default" id="id3" name="id3">Null pointers are not allowed by default</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#all-default-iterators-apply-an-extra-layer-of-indirection" id="id4" name="id4">All default iterators apply an extra layer of indirection</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#all-comparison-operations-are-done-on-the-pointed-to-objects-and-not-at-the-pointer-level" id="id5" name="id5">All comparison operations are done on the pointed to objects and not at the pointer level</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#stored-elements-are-required-to-be-cloneable-for-a-subset-of-the-operations" id="id6" name="id6">Stored elements are required to be Cloneable for a subset of the operations</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#whenever-objects-are-inserted-into-a-container-they-are-cloned-before-insertion" id="id7" name="id7">Whenever objects are inserted into a container, they are cloned before insertion</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#whenever-pointers-are-inserted-into-a-container-ownership-is-transferred-to-the-container" id="id8" name="id8">Whenever pointers are inserted into a container, ownership is transferred to the container</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-on-a-per-pointer-basis" id="id9" name="id9">Ownership can be transferred from a container on a per pointer basis</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-to-another-container-on-a-per-iterator-range-basis" id="id10" name="id10">Ownership can be transferred from a container to another container on a per iterator range basis</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#a-container-can-be-cheaply-returned-from-functions-either-by-making-a-clone-or-by-giving-up-ownership-of-the-container" id="id11" name="id11">A container can be cheaply returned from functions either by making a clone or by giving up ownership of the container</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#iterators-are-invalidated-as-in-the-corresponding-standard-container" id="id12" name="id12">Iterators are invalidated as in the corresponding standard container</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3" id="null-pointers-are-not-allowed-by-default" name="null-pointers-are-not-allowed-by-default">Null pointers are not allowed by default</a></h1>
<p>If the user tries to insert the null pointer, the operation will throw a 
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">bad_pointer</span></tt> exception (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 1</a>).</p>
<p>Use <a class="reference" href="reference.html#class-nullable">nullable</a> to allow null pointers.</p>
<p>Please notice that all preconditions of the form</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
x != 0;
</pre>
<p>are not active when the you have instantiated a container
with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">nullable&lt;T&gt;</span></tt> as in</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
boost::ptr_vector&lt; boost::nullable&lt;animal&gt; &gt; vec;
vec.push_back( 0 ); // ok
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4" id="all-default-iterators-apply-an-extra-layer-of-indirection" name="all-default-iterators-apply-an-extra-layer-of-indirection">All default iterators apply an extra layer of indirection</a></h1>
<p>This is done to 
make the containers easier and safer to use.  It promotes a kind of 
pointer-less programming and the user of a class needs not worry about 
pointers except when allocating them (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 2</a>).  Iterators that 
provide access to the naked pointers are also provided since they might be 
useful in rare cases. For example, whenever <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">begin()</span></tt> returns an iterator, 
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ptr_begin()</span></tt> will return an iterator that allows one to iterate over the 
stored pointers.</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5" id="all-comparison-operations-are-done-on-the-pointed-to-objects-and-not-at-the-pointer-level" name="all-comparison-operations-are-done-on-the-pointed-to-objects-and-not-at-the-pointer-level">All comparison operations are done on the pointed to objects and not at the pointer level</a></h1>
<p>For example, in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ptr_set&lt;T&gt;</span></tt> the ordering is by default done by 
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">boost::ptr_less&lt;T&gt;</span></tt> which compares the indirected pointers. 
Similarly, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">operator==()</span></tt> for <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">container&lt;Foo&gt;</span></tt> compares all objects
with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">operator==(const</span> <span class="pre">Foo&amp;,</span> <span class="pre">const</span> <span class="pre">Foo&amp;)</span></tt>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="stored-elements-are-required-to-be-cloneable-for-a-subset-of-the-operations" name="stored-elements-are-required-to-be-cloneable-for-a-subset-of-the-operations">Stored elements are required to be <a class="reference" href="reference.html#the-Cloneable-concept">Cloneable</a> for a subset of the operations</a></h1>
<p>This is because most polymorphic objects cannot be copied directly, but 
they can often be so by a use of a member function (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 4</a>).  Often 
it does not even make sense to clone an object in which case a large 
subset of the operations are still workable.</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7" id="whenever-objects-are-inserted-into-a-container-they-are-cloned-before-insertion" name="whenever-objects-are-inserted-into-a-container-they-are-cloned-before-insertion">Whenever objects are inserted into a container, they are cloned before insertion</a></h1>
<p>This is necessary because all pointer containers take ownerships of stored objects
(see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 5</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8" id="whenever-pointers-are-inserted-into-a-container-ownership-is-transferred-to-the-container" name="whenever-pointers-are-inserted-into-a-container-ownership-is-transferred-to-the-container">Whenever pointers are inserted into a container, ownership is transferred to the container</a></h1>
<p>All containers take ownership of the stored pointers and therefore a 
container needs to have its own copies (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 5</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9" id="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-on-a-per-pointer-basis" name="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-on-a-per-pointer-basis">Ownership can be transferred from a container on a per pointer basis</a></h1>
<p>This can of course also be convenient.  Whenever it happens, an 
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">SmartContainer::auto_type</span></tt> object is used to provide an exception-safe transfer 
(see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 6</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10" id="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-to-another-container-on-a-per-iterator-range-basis" name="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-to-another-container-on-a-per-iterator-range-basis">Ownership can be transferred from a container to another container on a per iterator range basis</a></h1>
<p>This makes it possible to exchange data safely between different pointer 
containers without cloning the objects again (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 7</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11" id="a-container-can-be-cheaply-returned-from-functions-either-by-making-a-clone-or-by-giving-up-ownership-of-the-container" name="a-container-can-be-cheaply-returned-from-functions-either-by-making-a-clone-or-by-giving-up-ownership-of-the-container">A container can be cheaply returned from functions either by making a clone or by giving up ownership of the container</a></h1>
<p>Two special member functions, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">clone()</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">release()</span></tt>, both return an 
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">auto_ptr&lt;SmartContainer&gt;</span></tt> which can be assigned to another pointer container.  This 
effectively reduces the cost of returning a container to one 
heap-allocation plus a call to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">swap()</span></tt> (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 3</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12" id="iterators-are-invalidated-as-in-the-corresponding-standard-container" name="iterators-are-invalidated-as-in-the-corresponding-standard-container">Iterators are invalidated as in the corresponding standard container</a></h1>
<p>Because the containers in this library wrap standard containers, the
rules for invalidation of iterators are the same as the rules
of the corresponding standard container.</p>
<p>For example, for both <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">boost::ptr_vector&lt;T&gt;</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">std::vector&lt;U&gt;</span></tt>
insertion and deletion only invalidates the deleted
element and elements following it; all elements before the inserted/deleted
element remain valid.</p>
<hr><p><strong>Navigate:</strong></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference" href="ptr_container.html">home</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="reference.html">reference</a></li>
</ul>
<hr><table class="docutils field-list" frame="void" rules="none">
<col class="field-name" />
<col class="field-body" />
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Copyright:</th><td class="field-body">Thorsten Ottosen 2004-2006. Use, modification and distribution is subject to the Boost Software License, Version 1.0 (see <a class="reference" href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>).</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>