[C++-sig] Re: iterator interface question (progress!)

[David Abrahams]

Neal Becker <ndbecker at verizon.net> writes:

>> Better make begin and end functions use return_internal_reference, so
>> the iterators won't outlive the container.  UNfortunately, they're
>> still not safe since they can still run off the end of the vector or
>> become invalidated.  These are the sorts of issues that the indexing
>> suites should handle.
>> 
>
> Thanks for the help, but I still have 1 question about your reply (the
> meaning of "should").  Do you mean the indexing suites already do provide a
> better solution (and I should look at it) or do you mean that you wish the
> indexing suites provided a better solution, and may in the future?

I mean that they already do provide better solutions.  That said, they
don't expose a C++ iterator idiom; they expose a Python iterator
idiom.  It's generally accepted that C++ code wrapped in Python should
behave Pythonically.  Python users probably won't understand your
crazy begin()/end() interface ;-)

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com