Re: One more foolishness of the C++ Standard

From:
"Igor Tandetnik" <itandetnik@mvps.org>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.language
Date:
Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:38:10 -0500
Message-ID:
<OYDYV5qnKHA.3164@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>
Vladimir Grigoriev <vlad.moscow@mail.ru> wrote:

My example was
 
A{};
B: public A {};
 
A a;
B b = a;
 
If there is a constructor in the B class
 
explicit B( const A & )
 
then
B b = a;
 
will not be allowed.


But

B b(a);

will be.

Consider a class
 
template <typename T>
class Point : public std::pair<T, T>
{
   T &x;
   T &y;
   template <typename U, typename V>
   Point( const std::pair<U, V> & );
   ...
};
 
and try to write for it three operators
 
Point + Point;
Point + std::pair;
std::pair + Point
 
such a way that
 
std::pair + std::pair
 
will be impossible.


The point of marking a constructor explicit is so that it cannot be used =
to perform conversions unintentionally. You have a problem, but you rule =
out precisely the mechanism designed to solve this very problem. You are =
painting yourself into a corner.
--
With best wishes,
    Igor Tandetnik

With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not =
necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to =
land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead. =
-- RFC 1925

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