Comment on PEP-0322: Reverse Iteration Methods

[Stephen Horne]

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 12:17:53 -0400, David Abrahams
<dave at boost-consulting.com> wrote:

>Stephen Horne <$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$@$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.co.uk> writes:

>> Somehow I think David is mistaken here - I cannot believe that
>> dereferencing an iterator returns a different datatype depending on
>> which item it happens to point to at runtime in statically typed
>> C++,
>
>You didn't read carefully enough: I said std::pair<T,T>, not
>std::pair<T,U>.
>
>> and without that ability to dereference the iterator (1) I cannot see
>> the point of iterating through a pair, and (2) the 'iterator' would
>> not be a true iterator as C++ iterators have to comply with one of a
>> set of standard protocols (forward, bidirectional, random etc) which
>> all include subscripting.
>
>I'm pretty well familiar with those protocols - I've been working on
>the C++ standards committee since 1997 and have written several
>related proposals, c.f. http://tinyurl.com/ovpe.

OK - sorry for that.

I remain surprised that this degree of specialisation occurs, but it's
a case of live and learn I suppose.


-- 
Steve Horne

steve at ninereeds dot fsnet dot co dot uk