Steve Clamage wrote:
>
> Valentin Bonnard <Bonnard.V@wanadoo.fr> writes:
>
> >Sean Shubin wrote:
>
> >> In the book "The draft Standard C++ Library" by P.J. Plauger, Chapter
> >> 18 mentions the <bitstring> header.
>
> >This book is completly obsolete and useless except for historical
> >purposes.
>
> I think that is unfair.

I don't think so. The book was probably valuable at the time it was
published (just as C++PL 1). But the library we have now isn't exactly
the one described (I mean in Plauger's book, not in C++PL 1 !).

Not only STL has been added, but iostream has completly changed
(stringstream, templatisation), the whole locale stuff is new,
plus the numerical classes (valarray, templatised complex). The
whole thing has moved from some_very_long_namespace_name to std.
(Or perhaps namespaces didn't existed at that time... don't
remember.)

So I think that I am not unfair, but that Plauger has simply been
unlucky.

> But then, its primary
> purpose was not necessarily to be a reference manual.

I was under the impression that it was intented to be a reference
manual (even if it isn't just that).

> The book is still valuable as a case study in writing a
> standard-conforming portable library. The issues that Plauger
> addresses are always of concern, even in application libraries.
> You can learn a lot by studying how he constructs the library code.
> Plauger bring to bear uncommon intelligence and insight, and many
> years of experience in working on language standards and producing
> standard-conforming portable code.

--

Valentin Bonnard


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> > Anybody know what became of the
> > bitstring class?  Is there another way of "manipulating varying-length
> > sequences of bits"?
>
> std::vector<bool>
>
> Your compiler might call it bit_vector.

If you are interested in "non-varying-length sequences of bits", too,
you can use std::bitset.


Ralf


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In the book "The draft Standard C++ Library" by P.J. Plauger, Chapter
18 mentions the <bitstring> header.  There is no mention of this
header in the document "International Standard ISO/IEC 14882,
Programming Languages -- C++".  Anybody know what became of the
bitstring class?  Is there another way of "manipulating varying-length
sequences of bits"?
---
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Sean Shubin wrote:

> In the book "The draft Standard C++ Library" by P.J. Plauger, Chapter
> 18 mentions the <bitstring> header.

This book is completly obsolete and useless except for historical
purposes.

> There is no mention of this
> header in the document "International Standard ISO/IEC 14882,
> Programming Languages -- C++".

Correct

> Anybody know what became of the
> bitstring class?  Is there another way of "manipulating varying-length
> sequences of bits"?

std::vector<bool>

Your compiler might call it bit_vector.

--

Valentin Bonnard


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Valentin Bonnard <Bonnard.V@wanadoo.fr> writes:

>Sean Shubin wrote:

>> In the book "The draft Standard C++ Library" by P.J. Plauger, Chapter
>> 18 mentions the <bitstring> header.

>This book is completly obsolete and useless except for historical
>purposes.

I think that is unfair. The book describes a version of the standard
library that existed just before STL was added. (Bad luck on
P. J. Plauger's part. At the time he wrote the book, it looked
like the library was stabilizing.)

The basic ideas of most of the library have not changed, although
the final library is different in many details. The book is not
useful as a reference for standard C++. But then, its primary
purpose was not necessarily to be a reference manual.

The book is still valuable as a case study in writing a
standard-conforming portable library. The issues that Plauger
addresses are always of concern, even in application libraries.
You can learn a lot by studying how he constructs the library code.
Plauger bring to bear uncommon intelligence and insight, and many
years of experience in working on language standards and producing
standard-conforming portable code.

--
Steve Clamage, stephen.clamage@sun.com
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