As I understand the I/O library description in the Working Paper, the
following code will NOT be legal:
    ...
    // Get file to process
    string fileName;
    cout << "Enter filename: " << flush;
    cin >> fileName;
    ifstream input (fileName);

    // Process file "input"
    ...
because the ifstream (and ofstream) constructors expect the filename
as a char* style string, rather than the string class from the
standard <string>.

To accomplish the above, it looks like I must change the input
declaration to
    ifstream input(fileName.c_str());

So far, this is the only place I've seen where the use of char* rather
than string is mandated for programs that work entirely within the C++
world, not trying to link to C routines.

1) Are there others that I've missed?
     [Of course, there are routines that return char*, but the
      string(const char*) constructor supplies an "automatic"
      conversion in such cases.]

2) Is this an oversight, or is there a rationale for avoiding "string"
   in these cases?

This bothers me when I think of trying to teach C++. For the beginner,
the ability to use the string class seems like a significant
advantage. Having to teach both forms of character strings, and
lacking an intuitive rule for when one must abandon string and use
char* [e.g., by calling c_str()] is an annoying complication.

=================================
Steven Zeil
Old Dominion University
=================================
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