Re: Is there a min function that accepts any number of arguments?

From:
Victor Bazarov <v.Abazarov@comAcast.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:03:08 -0400
Message-ID:
<g9mqht$4e1$1@news.datemas.de>
Peng Yu wrote:

On Sep 3, 2:49 pm, Victor Bazarov <v.Abaza...@comAcast.net> wrote:

Peng Yu wrote:

On Sep 3, 2:40 pm, Leandro Melo <ltcm...@gmail.com> wrote:

On 3 set, 16:33, Peng Yu <PengYu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,
I'm wondering if there is a min function (in boost, maybe?) that
accepts any number of arguments? std::min only accepts two arguments.
If I want to get the minimum number out of many, I have use std::min
many times, which is not convenient.

Hi.
Maybe, you could iterate through the elements with a for (or something
similar) keeping track of the smallest element. This is pretty simple.

Hi,
The numbers are at compile time not at runtime time. It has to some
how use the template to implement such a function.

How many numbers are we talking about? You can roll your own 'min_of'
implementation using recursive template definitions in no time, can't you?

template<class T> T min_of(T t1, T t2) {
    return std::min(t1, t2);}

template<class T> T
min_of(T t1, T t2, T t3) {
    return std::min(min_of(t1, t2), t3);}

template<class T> T
min_of(T t1, T t2, T t3, T t4) {
    return std::min(min_of(t1, t2, t3), t4);}

template<class T> T
min_of(T t1, T t2, T t3, T t4, T t5) {
    return std::min(min_of(t1, t2, t3, t4), t5);}

... and so on


Hi Victor,

I can define my own version of min_of. But I feel that the min
function that accepts any number of arguments is a reasonable
extension to std::min, and boost in many ways extends the original C++
library. I think that it is worthwhile to add such function in boost
if it is not there. At this point, since the issue is with boost,
maybe I should post the message at boost mailing list.


I don't believe it to be an issue *with* Boost. It's something _you_
need (or, rather, *want*). It's something "nice to have", not a "must
have". Post to Boost forum, but all means. Just don't mention that it
is "an issue". Just friendly advice...

V
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