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  4. <title>Chapter 2. Boost.Array</title>
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  27. <div><h2 class="title">
  28. <a name="array"></a>Chapter 2. Boost.Array</h2></div>
  29. <div><div class="author"><h3 class="author">
  30. <span class="firstname">Nicolai</span> <span class="surname">Josuttis</span>
  31. </h3></div></div>
  32. <div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2001-2004 Nicolai M. Josuttis</p></div>
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  34. <a name="id971681"></a><p>Permission to copy, use, modify, sell and distribute this
  35. software is granted provided this copyright notice appears in
  36. all copies. This software is provided "as is" without express or
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  41. <div class="toc">
  42. <p><b>Table of Contents</b></p>
  43. <dl>
  44. <dt><span class="section"><a href="array.html#array.intro">Introduction</a></span></dt>
  45. <dt><span class="section"><a href="array/reference.html">Reference</a></span></dt>
  46. <dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="array/reference.html#header.boost.array.hpp">Header &lt;boost/array.hpp&gt;</a></span></dt></dl></dd>
  47. <dt><span class="section"><a href="array/rationale.html">Design Rationale</a></span></dt>
  48. <dt><span class="section"><a href="array/more/info.html">For more information...</a></span></dt>
  49. <dt><span class="section"><a href="array/ack.html">Acknowledgements</a></span></dt>
  50. </dl>
  51. </div>
  52. <div class="section" lang="en">
  53. <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
  54. <a name="array.intro"></a>Introduction</h3></div></div></div>
  55. <p>The C++ Standard Template Library STL as part of the C++
  56. Standard Library provides a framework for processing algorithms on
  57. different kind of containers. However, ordinary arrays don't
  58. provide the interface of STL containers (although, they provide
  59. the iterator interface of STL containers).</p>
  60. <p>As replacement for ordinary arrays, the STL provides class
  61. <code class="computeroutput">std::vector</code>. However,
  62. <code class="computeroutput">std::vector&lt;&gt;</code> provides
  63. the semantics of dynamic arrays. Thus, it manages data to be able
  64. to change the number of elements. This results in some overhead in
  65. case only arrays with static size are needed.</p>
  66. <p>In his book, <span class="emphasis"><em>Generic Programming and the
  67. STL</em></span>, Matthew H. Austern introduces a useful wrapper
  68. class for ordinary arrays with static size, called
  69. <code class="computeroutput">block</code>. It is safer and has no worse performance than
  70. ordinary arrays. In <span class="emphasis"><em>The C++ Programming
  71. Language</em></span>, 3rd edition, Bjarne Stroustrup introduces a
  72. similar class, called <code class="computeroutput">c_array</code>, which I (<a href="http://www.josuttis.com" target="_top">Nicolai Josuttis</a>) present
  73. slightly modified in my book <span class="emphasis"><em>The C++ Standard Library -
  74. A Tutorial and Reference</em></span>, called
  75. <code class="computeroutput">carray</code>. This is the essence of these approaches
  76. spiced with many feedback from <a href="http://www.boost.org" target="_top">boost</a>.</p>
  77. <p>After considering different names, we decided to name this
  78. class simply <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html" title="Class template array">array</a></code>.</p>
  79. <p>Note that this class is suggested to be part of the next
  80. Technical Report, which will extend the C++ Standard (see
  81. <a href="" target="_top">http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2003/n1548.htm</a>).</p>
  82. <p>Class <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html" title="Class template array">array</a></code> fulfills most
  83. but not all of the requirements of "reversible containers" (see
  84. Section 23.1, [lib.container.requirements] of the C++
  85. Standard). The reasons array is not an reversible STL container is
  86. because:
  87. </p>
  88. <div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc" compact>
  89. <li>No constructors are provided.</li>
  90. <li>Elements may have an undetermined initial value (see <a href="array/rationale.html" title="Design Rationale">the section called &#8220;Design Rationale&#8221;</a>).</li>
  91. <li>
  92. <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html#id763420">swap</a></code>() has no constant complexity.</li>
  93. <li>
  94. <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html#id686133-bb">size</a></code>() is always constant, based on the second template argument of the type.</li>
  95. <li>The container provides no allocator support.</li>
  96. </ul></div>
  97. <p>It doesn't fulfill the requirements of a "sequence" (see Section 23.1.1, [lib.sequence.reqmts] of the C++ Standard), except that:
  98. </p>
  99. <div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc" compact>
  100. <li>
  101. <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html#id763241-bb">front</a></code>() and <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html#id763273-bb">back</a></code>() are provided.</li>
  102. <li>
  103. <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html#id685146-bb">operator[]</a></code> and <code class="computeroutput"><a href="boost/array.html#id726524-bb">at</a></code>() are provided.</li>
  104. </ul></div>
  105. </div>
  106. </div>
  107. <table xmlns:rev="http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~gregod/boost/tools/doc/revision" width="100%"><tr>
  108. <td align="left"><small><p>Last revised: January 30, 2004 at 03:51:06 GMT</p></small></td>
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