Re: struct inside a class

From:
"Alf P. Steinbach" <alfps@start.no>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.language
Date:
Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:12:59 +0100
Message-ID:
<13saacvplhlsvb0@corp.supernews.com>
* George:

[Code]
  template <class U>
      struct rebind { typedef stingyallocator<U> other; };
[/Code]

My question is, what is the purpose of defining an internal struct which has
only a type? How to use it? Why class U is different from _Ty?

(I see similar code in STL internal implementation for allocator class,
seems like a pattern which I do not know.)


Given a name T (template parameter or typedef) that stands for

   stingyallocator<Foo>

you can write

   T::rebind<Bar>::other

in order to refer to stingyallocator<Bar>, without knowing that T is a kind of
stingyallocator.

C++0x introduces template typedefs in order to deal with this kind of situation,
where presumably you could write just T::rebind<Bar> (except that this part of
the standard is locked-in by already being specified, so no change there).

It is essentially a template typedef hack, working around the lack of template
typedefs in the current standard.

Cheers, & hth.,

- Alf

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