Re: iterator classes
Taras_96 wrote:
So, how do I know the interface that the returned object from begin()
will have? Jossutti's 'C++ standard library' states that a vector
returns a random access iterator, but I haven't been able to find
reference to this in the documentation.
1. Because the SGI documentation is not the Standard. I believe ISO/IEC
14882:2003 specifies that. My copy is at work, and I'm out of the
office for the time being, so somebody with a copy will have to check that.
Victor, as a side note, doesn't leaving the implementation of
iterators up to a specific implementor create an opportunity to
produce unportable code? As mentioned in another thread that you have
contributed to, titled 'returning an iterator 'concept'', the actual
class behind the typedef'ed iterator could be anything that at the
least satisfies the iterator concept. If it in fact provides more than
that concept in implementation A, and a client uses that extra
functionality, then wouldn't the client code not necessarily be
portable to implementation B?
To reprase your question: The C Standard doesn't specify how you should
implement printf(), only what it does. Since it's up to the library
implementor, doesn't that lead to a loss of portability?
So long as the iterators provided by your implementation's version of
the Standard Library match the interface defined by ISO/IEC 14882:2003,
and you code to the interface (as opposed to the implementation, i.e:
assuming vector iterators are pointers), you'll be fine.