Doc. no. N2873=09-0063
Date: 2009-05-01
Project: Programming Language C++
Reply to: Howard Hinnant <howard.hinnant@gmail.com>

C++ Standard Library Active Issues List (Revision R64)

Reference ISO/IEC IS 14882:2003(E)

Also see:

The purpose of this document is to record the status of issues which have come before the Library Working Group (LWG) of the ANSI (J16) and ISO (WG21) C++ Standards Committee. Issues represent potential defects in the ISO/IEC IS 14882:2003(E) document.

This document contains only library issues which are actively being considered by the Library Working Group. That is, issues which have a status of New, Open, Ready, and Review. See Library Defect Reports List for issues considered defects and Library Closed Issues List for issues considered closed.

The issues in these lists are not necessarily formal ISO Defect Reports (DR's). While some issues will eventually be elevated to official Defect Report status, other issues will be disposed of in other ways. See Issue Status.

Prior to Revision 14, library issues lists existed in two slightly different versions; a Committee Version and a Public Version. Beginning with Revision 14 the two versions were combined into a single version.

This document includes [bracketed italicized notes] as a reminder to the LWG of current progress on issues. Such notes are strictly unofficial and should be read with caution as they may be incomplete or incorrect. Be aware that LWG support for a particular resolution can quickly change if new viewpoints or killer examples are presented in subsequent discussions.

For the most current official version of this document see http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/. Requests for further information about this document should include the document number above, reference ISO/IEC 14882:2003(E), and be submitted to Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), 1250 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Public information as to how to obtain a copy of the C++ Standard, join the standards committee, submit an issue, or comment on an issue can be found in the comp.std.c++ FAQ.

Revision History

Issue Status

New - The issue has not yet been reviewed by the LWG. Any Proposed Resolution is purely a suggestion from the issue submitter, and should not be construed as the view of LWG.

Open - The LWG has discussed the issue but is not yet ready to move the issue forward. There are several possible reasons for open status:

A Proposed Resolution for an open issue is still not be construed as the view of LWG. Comments on the current state of discussions are often given at the end of open issues in an italic font. Such comments are for information only and should not be given undue importance.

Dup - The LWG has reached consensus that the issue is a duplicate of another issue, and will not be further dealt with. A Rationale identifies the duplicated issue's issue number.

NAD - The LWG has reached consensus that the issue is not a defect in the Standard.

NAD Editorial - The LWG has reached consensus that the issue can either be handled editorially, or is handled by a paper (usually linked to in the rationale).

NAD Future - In addition to the regular status, the LWG believes that this issue should be revisited at the next revision of the standard.

Review - Exact wording of a Proposed Resolution is now available for review on an issue for which the LWG previously reached informal consensus.

Tentatively Ready - The issue has been reviewed online, but not in a meeting, and some support has been formed for the proposed resolution. Tentatively Ready issues may be moved to Ready and forwarded to full committee within the same meeting. Unlike Ready issues they will be reviewed in subcommittee prior to forwarding to full committee.

Ready - The LWG has reached consensus that the issue is a defect in the Standard, the Proposed Resolution is correct, and the issue is ready to forward to the full committee for further action as a Defect Report (DR).

DR - (Defect Report) - The full J16 committee has voted to forward the issue to the Project Editor to be processed as a Potential Defect Report. The Project Editor reviews the issue, and then forwards it to the WG21 Convenor, who returns it to the full committee for final disposition. This issues list accords the status of DR to all these Defect Reports regardless of where they are in that process.

TC1 - (Technical Corrigenda 1) - The full WG21 committee has voted to accept the Defect Report's Proposed Resolution as a Technical Corrigenda. Action on this issue is thus complete and no further action is possible under ISO rules.

CD1 - (Committee Draft 2008) - The full WG21 committee has voted to accept the Defect Report's Proposed Resolution into the Fall 2008 Committee Draft.

TRDec - (Decimal TR defect) - The LWG has voted to accept the Defect Report's Proposed Resolution into the Decimal TR. Action on this issue is thus complete and no further action is expected.

WP - (Working Paper) - The proposed resolution has not been accepted as a Technical Corrigendum, but the full WG21 committee has voted to apply the Defect Report's Proposed Resolution to the working paper.

Pending - This is a status qualifier. When prepended to a status this indicates the issue has been processed by the committee, and a decision has been made to move the issue to the associated unqualified status. However for logistical reasons the indicated outcome of the issue has not yet appeared in the latest working paper.

Issues are always given the status of New when they first appear on the issues list. They may progress to Open or Review while the LWG is actively working on them. When the LWG has reached consensus on the disposition of an issue, the status will then change to Dup, NAD, or Ready as appropriate. Once the full J16 committee votes to forward Ready issues to the Project Editor, they are given the status of Defect Report ( DR). These in turn may become the basis for Technical Corrigenda (TC), or are closed without action other than a Record of Response (RR ). The intent of this LWG process is that only issues which are truly defects in the Standard move to the formal ISO DR status.

Active Issues


96. Vector<bool> is not a container

Section: 23.3.6 [vector] Status: Open Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2009-03-13

View all other issues in [vector].

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

vector<bool> is not a container as its reference and pointer types are not references and pointers.

Also it forces everyone to have a space optimization instead of a speed one.

See also: 99-0008 == N1185 Vector<bool> is Nonconforming, Forces Optimization Choice.

[In Santa Cruz the LWG felt that this was Not A Defect.]

[In Dublin many present felt that failure to meet Container requirements was a defect. There was disagreement as to whether or not the optimization requirements constituted a defect.]

[The LWG looked at the following resolutions in some detail:
     * Not A Defect.
     * Add a note explaining that vector<bool> does not meet Container requirements.
     * Remove vector<bool>.
     * Add a new category of container requirements which vector<bool> would meet.
     * Rename vector<bool>.

No alternative had strong, wide-spread, support and every alternative had at least one "over my dead body" response.

There was also mention of a transition scheme something like (1) add vector_bool and deprecate vector<bool> in the next standard. (2) Remove vector<bool> in the following standard.]

[Modifying container requirements to permit returning proxies (thus allowing container requirements conforming vector<bool>) was also discussed.]

[It was also noted that there is a partial but ugly workaround in that vector<bool> may be further specialized with a customer allocator.]

[Kona: Herb Sutter presented his paper J16/99-0035==WG21/N1211, vector<bool>: More Problems, Better Solutions. Much discussion of a two step approach: a) deprecate, b) provide replacement under a new name. LWG straw vote on that: 1-favor, 11-could live with, 2-over my dead body. This resolution was mentioned in the LWG report to the full committee, where several additional committee members indicated over-my-dead-body positions.]

Discussed at Lillehammer. General agreement that we should deprecate vector<bool> and introduce this functionality under a different name, e.g. bit_vector. This might make it possible to remove the vector<bool> specialization in the standard that comes after C++0x. There was also a suggestion that in C++0x we could additional say that it's implementation defined whether vector<bool> refers to the specialization or to the primary template, but there wasn't general agreement that this was a good idea.

We need a paper for the new bit_vector class.

[ Post Summit Alisdair adds: ]

vector<bool> is now a conforming container under the revised terms of C++0x, which supports containers of proxies.

Recommend NAD.

Two issues remain:

i/ premature optimization in the specification. There is still some sentiment that deprecation is the correct way to go, although it is still not clear what it would mean to deprecate a single specialization of a template.

Recommend: Create a new issue for the discussion, leave as Open.

ii/ Request for a new bitvector class to guarantee the optimization, perhaps with a better tuned interface.

This is a clear extension request that may be handled via a future TR.

Proposed resolution:

We now have: N2050 and N2160.

[ Batavia: The LWG feels we need something closer to SGI's bitvector to ease migration from vector<bool>. Although some of the funcitonality from N2050 could well be used in such a template. The concern is easing the API migration for those users who want to continue using a bit-packed container. Alan and Beman to work. ]


111. istreambuf_iterator::equal overspecified, inefficient

Section: 24.6.3.5 [istreambuf.iterator::equal] Status: Open Submitter: Nathan Myers Opened: 1998-10-15 Last modified: 2009-03-13

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

The member istreambuf_iterator<>::equal is specified to be unnecessarily inefficient. While this does not affect the efficiency of conforming implementations of iostreams, because they can "reach into" the iterators and bypass this function, it does affect users who use istreambuf_iterators.

The inefficiency results from a too-scrupulous definition, which requires a "true" result if neither iterator is at eof. In practice these iterators can only usefully be compared with the "eof" value, so the extra test implied provides no benefit, but slows down users' code.

The solution is to weaken the requirement on the function to return true only if both iterators are at eof.

[ Summit: ]

Reopened by Alisdair.

[ Post Summit Daniel adds: ]

Recommend NAD. The proposed wording would violate the axioms of concept requirement EqualityComparable axioms as part of concept InputIterator and more specifically it would violate the explicit wording of 24.2.2 [input.iterators]/7:

If two iterators a and b of the same type are equal, then either a and b are both dereferenceable or else neither is dereferenceable.

Proposed resolution:

Replace 24.6.3.5 [istreambuf.iterator::equal], paragraph 1,

-1- Returns: true if and only if both iterators are at end-of-stream, or neither is at end-of-stream, regardless of what streambuf object they use.

with

-1- Returns: true if and only if both iterators are at end-of-stream, regardless of what streambuf object they use.

Rationale:

It is not clear that this is a genuine defect. Additionally, the LWG was reluctant to make a change that would result in operator== not being a equivalence relation. One consequence of this change is that an algorithm that's passed the range [i, i) would no longer treat it as an empty range.


128. Need open_mode() function for file stream, string streams, file buffers, and string  buffers

Section: 27.8 [string.streams], 27.9 [file.streams] Status: Open Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 1999-02-22 Last modified: 2008-03-14

View all other issues in [string.streams].

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

The following question came from Thorsten Herlemann:

You can set a mode when constructing or opening a file-stream or filebuf, e.g. ios::in, ios::out, ios::binary, ... But how can I get that mode later on, e.g. in my own operator << or operator >> or when I want to check whether a file-stream or file-buffer object passed as parameter is opened for input or output or binary? Is there no possibility? Is this a design-error in the standard C++ library?

It is indeed impossible to find out what a stream's or stream buffer's open mode is, and without that knowledge you don't know how certain operations behave. Just think of the append mode.

Both streams and stream buffers should have a mode() function that returns the current open mode setting.

[ post Bellevue: Alisdair requested to re-Open. ]

Proposed resolution:

For stream buffers, add a function to the base class as a non-virtual function qualified as const to 27.6.2 [streambuf]:

    openmode mode() const;

    Returns the current open mode.

With streams, I'm not sure what to suggest. In principle, the mode could already be returned by ios_base, but the mode is only initialized for file and string stream objects, unless I'm overlooking anything. For this reason it should be added to the most derived stream classes. Alternatively, it could be added to basic_ios and would be default initialized in basic_ios<>::init().

Rationale:

This might be an interesting extension for some future, but it is not a defect in the current standard. The Proposed Resolution is retained for future reference.


138. Class ctype_byname<char> redundant and misleading

Section: 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] Status: Open Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 1999-03-18 Last modified: 2009-03-09

View other active issues in [locale.codecvt].

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt].

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

Section 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] specifies that ctype_byname<char> must be a specialization of the ctype_byname template.

It is common practice in the standard that specializations of class templates are only mentioned where the interface of the specialization deviates from the interface of the template that it is a specialization of. Otherwise, the fact whether or not a required instantiation is an actual instantiation or a specialization is left open as an implementation detail.

Clause 22.2.1.4 deviates from that practice and for that reason is misleading. The fact, that ctype_byname<char> is specified as a specialization suggests that there must be something "special" about it, but it has the exact same interface as the ctype_byname template. Clause 22.2.1.4 does not have any explanatory value, is at best redundant, at worst misleading - unless I am missing anything.

Naturally, an implementation will most likely implement ctype_byname<char> as a specialization, because the base class ctype<char> is a specialization with an interface different from the ctype template, but that's an implementation detail and need not be mentioned in the standard.

[ Summit: ]

Reopened by Alisdair.

Rationale:

The standard as written is mildly misleading, but the correct fix is to deal with the underlying problem in the ctype_byname base class, not in the specialization. See issue 228.


149. Insert should return iterator to first element inserted

Section: 23.2.3 [sequence.reqmts] Status: Open Submitter: Andrew Koenig Opened: 1999-06-28 Last modified: 2009-05-01

View other active issues in [sequence.reqmts].

View all other issues in [sequence.reqmts].

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

Suppose that c and c1 are sequential containers and i is an iterator that refers to an element of c. Then I can insert a copy of c1's elements into c ahead of element i by executing

c.insert(i, c1.begin(), c1.end());

If c is a vector, it is fairly easy for me to find out where the newly inserted elements are, even though i is now invalid:

size_t i_loc = i - c.begin();
c.insert(i, c1.begin(), c1.end());

and now the first inserted element is at c.begin()+i_loc and one past the last is at c.begin()+i_loc+c1.size().

But what if c is a list? I can still find the location of one past the last inserted element, because i is still valid. To find the location of the first inserted element, though, I must execute something like

for (size_t n = c1.size(); n; --n)
   --i;

because i is now no longer a random-access iterator.

Alternatively, I might write something like

bool first = i == c.begin();
list<T>::iterator j = i;
if (!first) --j;
c.insert(i, c1.begin(), c1.end());
if (first)
   j = c.begin();
else
   ++j;

which, although wretched, requires less overhead.

But I think the right solution is to change the definition of insert so that instead of returning void, it returns an iterator that refers to the first element inserted, if any, and otherwise is a copy of its first argument. 

[ Summit: ]

Reopened by Alisdair.

[ Post Summit Alisdair adds: ]

In addition to the original rationale for C++03, this change also gives a consistent interface for all container insert operations i.e. they all return an iterator to the (first) inserted item.

Proposed wording provided.

Proposed resolution:

Table 83 change return type from void to iterator for the following rows:

Table 83 -- Sequence container requirements (in addition to container)
Expression Return type Assertion/note pre-/post-condition
a.insert(p,n,t) void iterator Inserts n copies of t before p.
a.insert(p,i,j) void iterator Each iterator in the range [i,j) shall be dereferenced exactly once. pre: i and j are not iterators into a. Inserts copies of elements in [i, j) before p
a.insert(p,il) void iterator a.insert(p, il.begin(), il.end()).

Add after p6 23.2.3 [sequence.reqmts]:

-6- ...

The iterator returned from a.insert(p,n,t) points to the copy of the first element inserted into a, or p if n == 0.

The iterator returned from a.insert(p,i,j) points to the copy of the first element inserted into a, or p if i == j.

The iterator returned from a.insert(p,il) points to the copy of the first element inserted into a, or p if il is empty.

p9 23.2.6.1 [container.concepts.free] change return type from void to iterator:

concept RangeInsertionContainer<typename C, typename Iter> : InsertionContainer<C> {
  requires InputIterator<Iter>;
  void iterator insert(C&, const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);
}

p9 23.2.6.2 [container.concepts.member] change return type from void to iterator:

auto concept MemberRangeInsertionContainer<typename C, typename Iter> : MemberInsertionContainer<C> {
  requires InputIterator<Iter>;
  void iterator C::insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);
}

p8 23.2.6.3 [container.concepts.maps] change return type from void to iterator, add return statement:

template <MemberRangeInsertionContainer C, InputIterator Iter>
concept_map RangeInsertionContainer<C, Iter> {
  void iterator insert(C& c, Container<C>::const_iterator i, Iter first, Iter last)
  { return c.insert(i, first, last); }
}

p2 23.3.2 [deque] Update class definition, change return type from void to iterator:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);
template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);
requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T>);

23.3.2.3 [deque.modifiers] change return type from void to iterator on following declarations:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);
template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

Add the following (missing) declaration

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T>);

23.3.3 [forwardlist] Update class definition, change return type from void to iterator:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&>
  void iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T> il);
requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&>
  void iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);
template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference>
  void iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

p8 23.3.3.4 [forwardlist.modifiers] change return type from void to iterator:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&>
  void iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);

Add paragraph:

Returns: position.

p10 23.3.3.4 [forwardlist.modifiers] change return type from void to iterator:

template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference>
  void iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

Add paragraph:

Returns: position.

p12 23.3.3.4 [forwardlist.modifiers] change return type from void to iterator on following declarations:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&>
  void iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T> il);

change return type from void to iterator on following declarations:

p2 23.3.4 [list] Update class definition, change return type from void to iterator:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);

template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T>);

23.3.4.3 [list.modifiers] change return type from void to iterator on following declarations:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);

template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

Add the following (missing) declaration

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T>);

p2 23.3.6 [vector]

Update class definition, change return type from void to iterator:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, T&&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, T&& x);

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);

template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T>);

23.3.6.4 [vector.modifiers] change return type from void to iterator on following declarations:

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x);

template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, Iter::reference> && MoveAssignable<T>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

Add the following (missing) declaration

requires AllocatableElement<Alloc, T, const T&> && MoveAssignable<T>
  iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T>);

p1 23.3.7 [vector.bool] Update class definition, change return type from void to iterator:

void iterator insert (const_iterator position, size_type n, const bool& x);

template <InputIterator Iter>
  requires Convertible<Iter::reference, bool>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, Iter first, Iter last);

  void iterator insert(const_iterator position, initializer_list<bool> il);

p5 21.4 [basic.string] Update class definition, change return type from void to iterator:

void iterator insert(const_iterator p, size_type n, charT c);

template<class InputIterator>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator p, InputIterator first, InputIterator last);

void iterator insert(const_iterator p, initializer_list<charT>);

p13 21.4.6.4 [string::insert] change return type from void to iterator:

void iterator insert(const_iterator p, size_type n, charT c);

Add paragraph:

Returns: an iterator which refers to the copy of the first inserted character, or p if n == 0.

p15 21.4.6.4 [string::insert] change return type from void to iterator:

template<class InputIterator>
  void iterator insert(const_iterator p, InputIterator first, InputIterator last);

Add paragraph:

Returns: an iterator which refers to the copy of the first inserted character, or p if first == last.

p17 21.4.6.4 [string::insert] change return type from void to iterator:

void iterator insert(const_iterator p, initializer_list<charT> il);

Add paragraph:

Returns: an iterator which refers to the copy of the first inserted character, or p if il is empty.

Rationale:

[ The following was the C++98/03 rationale and does not necessarily apply to the proposed resolution in the C++0X time frame: ]

The LWG believes this was an intentional design decision and so is not a defect. It may be worth revisiting for the next standard.


190. min() and max() functions should be std::binary_functions

Section: 25.5.7 [alg.min.max] Status: Open Submitter: Mark Rintoul Opened: 1999-08-26 Last modified: 2008-03-14

View other active issues in [alg.min.max].

View all other issues in [alg.min.max].

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

Both std::min and std::max are defined as template functions. This is very different than the definition of std::plus (and similar structs) which are defined as function objects which inherit std::binary_function.

This lack of inheritance leaves std::min and std::max somewhat useless in standard library algorithms which require a function object that inherits std::binary_function.

[ post Bellevue: Alisdair requested to re-Open. ]

Rationale:

Although perhaps an unfortunate design decision, the omission is not a defect in the current standard.  A future standard may wish to consider additional function objects.


219. find algorithm missing version that takes a binary predicate argument

Section: 25.3.5 [alg.find] Status: Open Submitter: Pablo Halpern Opened: 2000-03-06 Last modified: 2009-03-09

View all other issues in [alg.find].

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

The find function always searches for a value using operator== to compare the value argument to each element in the input iterator range. This is inconsistent with other find-related functions such as find_end and find_first_of, which allow the caller to specify a binary predicate object to be used for determining equality. The fact that this can be accomplished using a combination of find_if and bind_1st or bind_2nd does not negate the desirability of a consistent, simple, alternative interface to find.

[ Summit: ]

Reopened by Alisdair.

Proposed resolution:

In section 25.3.5 [alg.find], add a second prototype for find (between the existing prototype and the prototype for find_if), as follows:

    template<class InputIterator, class T, class BinaryPredicate>
      InputIterator find(InputIterator first, InputIterator last,
                         const T& value, BinaryPredicate bin_pred);

Change the description of the return from:

Returns: The first iterator i in the range [first, last) for which the following corresponding conditions hold: *i == value, pred(*i) != false. Returns last if no such iterator is found.

 to:

Returns: The first iterator i in the range [first, last) for which the following  corresponding condition holds: *i == value, bin_pred(*i,value) != false, pred(*) != false. Return last if no such iterator is found.

Rationale:

This is request for a pure extension, so it is not a defect in the current standard.  As the submitter pointed out, "this can be accomplished using a combination of find_if and bind_1st or bind_2nd".


255. Why do basic_streambuf<>::pbump() and gbump() take an int?

Section: 27.6.2 [streambuf] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2000-08-12 Last modified: 2007-01-15

View all other issues in [streambuf].

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Discussion:

The basic_streambuf members gbump() and pbump() are specified to take an int argument. This requirement prevents the functions from effectively manipulating buffers larger than std::numeric_limits<int>::max() characters. It also makes the common use case for these functions somewhat difficult as many compilers will issue a warning when an argument of type larger than int (such as ptrdiff_t on LLP64 architectures) is passed to either of the function. Since it's often the result of the subtraction of two pointers that is passed to the functions, a cast is necessary to silence such warnings. Finally, the usage of a native type in the functions signatures is inconsistent with other member functions (such as sgetn() and sputn()) that manipulate the underlying character buffer. Those functions take a streamsize argument.

Proposed resolution:

Change the signatures of these functions in the synopsis of template class basic_streambuf (27.5.2) and in their descriptions (27.5.2.3.1, p4 and 27.5.2.3.2, p4) to take a streamsize argument.

Although this change has the potential of changing the ABI of the library, the change will affect only platforms where int is different than the definition of streamsize. However, since both functions are typically inline (they are on all known implementations), even on such platforms the change will not affect any user code unless it explicitly relies on the existing type of the functions (e.g., by taking their address). Such a possibility is IMO quite remote.

Alternate Suggestion from Howard Hinnant, c++std-lib-7780:

This is something of a nit, but I'm wondering if streamoff wouldn't be a better choice than streamsize. The argument to pbump and gbump MUST be signed. But the standard has this to say about streamsize (27.4.1/2/Footnote):

[Footnote: streamsize is used in most places where ISO C would use size_t. Most of the uses of streamsize could use size_t, except for the strstreambuf constructors, which require negative values. It should probably be the signed type corresponding to size_t (which is what Posix.2 calls ssize_t). --- end footnote]

This seems a little weak for the argument to pbump and gbump. Should we ever really get rid of strstream, this footnote might go with it, along with the reason to make streamsize signed.

Rationale:

The LWG believes this change is too big for now. We may wish to reconsider this for a future revision of the standard. One possibility is overloading pbump, rather than changing the signature.

[ [2006-05-04: Reopened at the request of Chris (Krzysztof ?elechowski)] ]


290. Requirements to for_each and its function object

Section: 25.3.4 [alg.foreach] Status: Open Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 2001-01-03 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

The specification of the for_each algorithm does not have a "Requires" section, which means that there are no restrictions imposed on the function object whatsoever. In essence it means that I can provide any function object with arbitrary side effects and I can still expect a predictable result. In particular I can expect that the function object is applied exactly last - first times, which is promised in the "Complexity" section.

I don't see how any implementation can give such a guarantee without imposing requirements on the function object.

Just as an example: consider a function object that removes elements from the input sequence. In that case, what does the complexity guarantee (applies f exactly last - first times) mean?

One can argue that this is obviously a nonsensical application and a theoretical case, which unfortunately it isn't. I have seen programmers shooting themselves in the foot this way, and they did not understand that there are restrictions even if the description of the algorithm does not say so.

[Lillehammer: This is more general than for_each. We don't want the function object in transform invalidiating iterators either. There should be a note somewhere in clause 17 (17, not 25) saying that user code operating on a range may not invalidate iterators unless otherwise specified. Bill will provide wording.]

Proposed resolution:


309. Does sentry catch exceptions?

Section: 27.7 [iostream.format] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2001-03-19 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

The descriptions of the constructors of basic_istream<>::sentry (27.7.1.1.3 [istream::sentry]) and basic_ostream<>::sentry (27.7.2.4 [ostream::sentry]) do not explain what the functions do in case an exception is thrown while they execute. Some current implementations allow all exceptions to propagate, others catch them and set ios_base::badbit instead, still others catch some but let others propagate.

The text also mentions that the functions may call setstate(failbit) (without actually saying on what object, but presumably the stream argument is meant). That may have been fine for basic_istream<>::sentry prior to issue 195, since the function performs an input operation which may fail. However, issue 195 amends 27.7.1.1.3 [istream::sentry], p2 to clarify that the function should actually call setstate(failbit | eofbit), so the sentence in p3 is redundant or even somewhat contradictory.

The same sentence that appears in 27.7.2.4 [ostream::sentry], p3 doesn't seem to be very meaningful for basic_istream<>::sentry which performs no input. It is actually rather misleading since it would appear to guide library implementers to calling setstate(failbit) when os.tie()->flush(), the only called function, throws an exception (typically, it's badbit that's set in response to such an event).

Additional comments from Martin, who isn't comfortable with the current proposed resolution (see c++std-lib-11530)

The istream::sentry ctor says nothing about how the function deals with exemptions (27.6.1.1.2, p1 says that the class is responsible for doing "exception safe"(*) prefix and suffix operations but it doesn't explain what level of exception safety the class promises to provide). The mockup example of a "typical implementation of the sentry ctor" given in 27.6.1.1.2, p6, removed in ISO/IEC 14882:2003, doesn't show exception handling, either. Since the ctor is not classified as a formatted or unformatted input function, the text in 27.6.1.1, p1 through p4 does not apply. All this would seem to suggest that the sentry ctor should not catch or in any way handle exceptions thrown from any functions it may call. Thus, the typical implementation of an istream extractor may look something like [1].

The problem with [1] is that while it correctly sets ios::badbit if an exception is thrown from one of the functions called from the sentry ctor, if the sentry ctor reaches EOF while extracting whitespace from a stream that has eofbit or failbit set in exceptions(), it will cause an ios::failure to be thrown, which will in turn cause the extractor to set ios::badbit.

The only straightforward way to prevent this behavior is to move the definition of the sentry object in the extractor above the try block (as suggested by the example in 22.2.8, p9 and also indirectly supported by 27.6.1.3, p1). See [2]. But such an implementation will allow exceptions thrown from functions called from the ctor to freely propagate to the caller regardless of the setting of ios::badbit in the stream object's exceptions().

So since neither [1] nor [2] behaves as expected, the only possible solution is to have the sentry ctor catch exceptions thrown from called functions, set badbit, and propagate those exceptions if badbit is also set in exceptions(). (Another solution exists that deals with both kinds of sentries, but the code is non-obvious and cumbersome -- see [3].)

Please note that, as the issue points out, current libraries do not behave consistently, suggesting that implementors are not quite clear on the exception handling in istream::sentry, despite the fact that some LWG members might feel otherwise. (As documented by the parenthetical comment here: http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2003/n1480.html#309)

Also please note that those LWG members who in Copenhagen felt that "a sentry's constructor should not catch exceptions, because sentries should only be used within (un)formatted input functions and that exception handling is the responsibility of those functions, not of the sentries," as noted here http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2001/n1310.html#309 would in effect be either arguing for the behavior described in [1] or for extractors implemented along the lines of [3].

The original proposed resolution (Revision 25 of the issues list) clarifies the role of the sentry ctor WRT exception handling by making it clear that extractors (both library or user-defined) should be implemented along the lines of [2] (as opposed to [1]) and that no exception thrown from the callees should propagate out of either function unless badbit is also set in exceptions().

[1] Extractor that catches exceptions thrown from sentry:

struct S { long i; };

istream& operator>> (istream &strm, S &s)
{
    ios::iostate err = ios::goodbit;
    try {
        const istream::sentry guard (strm, false);
        if (guard) {
            use_facet<num_get<char> >(strm.getloc ())
                .get (istreambuf_iterator<char>(strm),
                      istreambuf_iterator<char>(),
                      strm, err, s.i);
        }
    }
    catch (...) {
        bool rethrow;
        try {
            strm.setstate (ios::badbit);
            rethrow = false;
        }
        catch (...) {
            rethrow = true;
        }
        if (rethrow)
            throw;
    }
    if (err)
        strm.setstate (err);
    return strm;
}

[2] Extractor that propagates exceptions thrown from sentry:

istream& operator>> (istream &strm, S &s)
{
    istream::sentry guard (strm, false);
    if (guard) {
        ios::iostate err = ios::goodbit;
        try {
            use_facet<num_get<char> >(strm.getloc ())
                .get (istreambuf_iterator<char>(strm),
                      istreambuf_iterator<char>(),
                      strm, err, s.i);
        }
        catch (...) {
            bool rethrow;
            try {
                strm.setstate (ios::badbit);
                rethrow = false;
            }
            catch (...) {
                rethrow = true;
            }
            if (rethrow)
                throw;
        }
        if (err)
            strm.setstate (err);
    }
    return strm;
}

[3] Extractor that catches exceptions thrown from sentry but doesn't set badbit if the exception was thrown as a result of a call to strm.clear().

istream& operator>> (istream &strm, S &s)
{
    const ios::iostate state = strm.rdstate ();
    const ios::iostate except = strm.exceptions ();
    ios::iostate err = std::ios::goodbit;
    bool thrown = true;
    try {
        const istream::sentry guard (strm, false);
        thrown = false;
        if (guard) {
            use_facet<num_get<char> >(strm.getloc ())
                .get (istreambuf_iterator<char>(strm),
                      istreambuf_iterator<char>(),
                      strm, err, s.i);
        }
    }
    catch (...) {
        if (thrown && state & except)
            throw;
        try {
            strm.setstate (ios::badbit);
            thrown = false;
        }
        catch (...) {
            thrown = true;
        }
        if (thrown)
            throw;
    }
    if (err)
        strm.setstate (err);

    return strm;
}

[Pre-Berlin] Reopened at the request of Paolo Carlini and Steve Clamage.

[Pre-Portland] A relevant newsgroup post:

The current proposed resolution of issue #309 (http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/lwg-active.html#309) is unacceptable. I write commerical software and coding around this makes my code ugly, non-intuitive, and requires comments referring people to this very issue. Following is the full explanation of my experience.

In the course of writing software for commercial use, I constructed std::ifstream's based on user-supplied pathnames on typical POSIX systems.

It was expected that some files that opened successfully might not read successfully -- such as a pathname which actually refered to a directory. Intuitively, I expected the streambuffer underflow() code to throw an exception in this situation, and recent implementations of libstdc++'s basic_filebuf do just that (as well as many of my own custom streambufs).

I also intuitively expected that the istream code would convert these exceptions to the "badbit' set on the stream object, because I had not requested exceptions. I refer to 27.6.1.1. P4.

However, this was not the case on at least two implementations -- if the first thing I did with an istream was call operator>>( T& ) for T among the basic arithmetic types and std::string. Looking further I found that the sentry's constructor was invoking the exception when it pre-scanned for whitespace, and the extractor function (operator>>()) was not catching exceptions in this situation.

So, I was in a situation where setting 'noskipws' would change the istream's behavior even though no characters (whitespace or not) could ever be successfully read.

Also, calling .peek() on the istream before calling the extractor() changed the behavior (.peek() had the effect of setting the badbit ahead of time).

I found this all to be so inconsistent and inconvenient for me and my code design, that I filed a bugzilla entry for libstdc++. I was then told that the bug cannot be fixed until issue #309 is resolved by the committee.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

The LWG agrees there is minor variation between implementations, but believes that it doesn't matter. This is a rarely used corner case. There is no evidence that this has any commercial importance or that it causes actual portability problems for customers trying to write code that runs on multiple implementations.


342. seek and eofbit

Section: 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] Status: Open Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2001-10-09 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

I think we have a defect.

According to lwg issue 60 which is now a dr, the description of seekg in 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] paragraph 38 now looks like:

Behaves as an unformatted input function (as described in 27.6.1.3, paragraph 1), except that it does not count the number of characters extracted and does not affect the value returned by subsequent calls to gcount(). After constructing a sentry object, if fail() != true, executes rdbuf()->pubseekpos( pos).

And according to lwg issue 243 which is also now a dr, 27.6.1.3, paragraph 1 looks like:

Each unformatted input function begins execution by constructing an object of class sentry with the default argument noskipws (second) argument true. If the sentry object returns true, when converted to a value of type bool, the function endeavors to obtain the requested input. Otherwise, if the sentry constructor exits by throwing an exception or if the sentry object returns false, when converted to a value of type bool, the function returns without attempting to obtain any input. In either case the number of extracted characters is set to 0; unformatted input functions taking a character array of non-zero size as an argument shall also store a null character (using charT()) in the first location of the array. If an exception is thrown during input then ios::badbit is turned on in *this'ss error state. If (exception()&badbit)!= 0 then the exception is rethrown. It also counts the number of characters extracted. If no exception has been thrown it ends by storing the count in a member object and returning the value specified. In any event the sentry object is destroyed before leaving the unformatted input function.

And finally 27.6.1.1.2/5 says this about sentry:

If, after any preparation is completed, is.good() is true, ok_ != false otherwise, ok_ == false.

So although the seekg paragraph says that the operation proceeds if !fail(), the behavior of unformatted functions says the operation proceeds only if good(). The two statements are contradictory when only eofbit is set. I don't think the current text is clear which condition should be respected.

Further discussion from Redmond:

PJP: It doesn't seem quite right to say that seekg is "unformatted". That makes specific claims about sentry that aren't quite appropriate for seeking, which has less fragile failure modes than actual input. If we do really mean that it's unformatted input, it should behave the same way as other unformatted input. On the other hand, "principle of least surprise" is that seeking from EOF ought to be OK.

Pre-Berlin: Paolo points out several problems with the proposed resolution in Ready state:

Proposed resolution:

Change 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] to:

Behaves as an unformatted input function (as described in 27.6.1.3, paragraph 1), except that it does not count the number of characters extracted, does not affect the value returned by subsequent calls to gcount(), and does not examine the value returned by the sentry object. After constructing a sentry object, if fail() != true, executes rdbuf()->pubseekpos(pos). In case of success, the function calls clear(). In case of failure, the function calls setstate(failbit) (which may throw ios_base::failure).

[Lillehammer: Matt provided wording.]

Rationale:

In C, fseek does clear EOF. This is probably what most users would expect. We agree that having eofbit set should not deter a seek, and that a successful seek should clear eofbit. Note that fail() is true only if failbit or badbit is set, so using !fail(), rather than good(), satisfies this goal.


343. Unspecified library header dependencies

Section: 17 [library] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2001-10-09 Last modified: 2009-03-11

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Discussion:

The synopses of the C++ library headers clearly show which names are required to be defined in each header. Since in order to implement the classes and templates defined in these headers declarations of other templates (but not necessarily their definitions) are typically necessary the standard in 17.4.4, p1 permits library implementers to include any headers needed to implement the definitions in each header.

For instance, although it is not explicitly specified in the synopsis of <string>, at the point of definition of the std::basic_string template the declaration of the std::allocator template must be in scope. All current implementations simply include <memory> from within <string>, either directly or indirectly, to bring the declaration of std::allocator into scope.

Additionally, however, some implementation also include <istream> and <ostream> at the top of <string> to bring the declarations of std::basic_istream and std::basic_ostream into scope (which are needed in order to implement the string inserter and extractor operators (21.3.7.9 [lib.string.io])). Other implementations only include <iosfwd>, since strictly speaking, only the declarations and not the full definitions are necessary.

Obviously, it is possible to implement <string> without actually providing the full definitions of all the templates std::basic_string uses (std::allocator, std::basic_istream, and std::basic_ostream). Furthermore, not only is it possible, doing so is likely to have a positive effect on compile-time efficiency.

But while it may seem perfectly reasonable to expect a program that uses the std::basic_string insertion and extraction operators to also explicitly include <istream> or <ostream>, respectively, it doesn't seem reasonable to also expect it to explicitly include <memory>. Since what's reasonable and what isn't is highly subjective one would expect the standard to specify what can and what cannot be assumed. Unfortunately, that isn't the case.

The examples below demonstrate the issue.

Example 1:

It is not clear whether the following program is complete:

#include <string>

extern std::basic_ostream<char> &strm;

int main () {
    strm << std::string ("Hello, World!\n");
}

or whether one must explicitly include <memory> or <ostream> (or both) in addition to <string> in order for the program to compile.

Example 2:

Similarly, it is unclear whether the following program is complete:

#include <istream>

extern std::basic_iostream<char> &strm;

int main () {
    strm << "Hello, World!\n";
}

or whether one needs to explicitly include <ostream>, and perhaps even other headers containing the definitions of other required templates:

#include <ios>
#include <istream>
#include <ostream>
#include <streambuf>

extern std::basic_iostream<char> &strm;

int main () {
    strm << "Hello, World!\n";
}

Example 3:

Likewise, it seems unclear whether the program below is complete:

#include <iterator>

bool foo (std::istream_iterator<int> a, std::istream_iterator<int> b)
{
    return a == b;
}

int main () { }

or whether one should be required to include <istream>.

There are many more examples that demonstrate this lack of a requirement. I believe that in a good number of cases it would be unreasonable to require that a program explicitly include all the headers necessary for a particular template to be specialized, but I think that there are cases such as some of those above where it would be desirable to allow implementations to include only as much as necessary and not more.

[ post Bellevue: ]

Position taken in prior reviews is that the idea of a table of header dependencies is a good one. Our view is that a full paper is needed to do justice to this, and we've made that recommendation to the issue author.

Proposed resolution:

For every C++ library header, supply a minimum set of other C++ library headers that are required to be included by that header. The proposed list is below (C++ headers for C Library Facilities, table 12 in 17.4.1.2, p3, are omitted):

+------------+--------------------+
| C++ header |required to include |
+============+====================+
|<algorithm> |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<bitset>    |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<complex>   |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<deque>     |<memory>            |
+------------+--------------------+
|<exception> |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<fstream>   |<ios>               |
+------------+--------------------+
|<functional>|                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<iomanip>   |<ios>               |
+------------+--------------------+
|<ios>       |<streambuf>         |
+------------+--------------------+
|<iosfwd>    |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<iostream>  |<istream>, <ostream>|
+------------+--------------------+
|<istream>   |<ios>               |
+------------+--------------------+
|<iterator>  |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<limits>    |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<list>      |<memory>            |
+------------+--------------------+
|<locale>    |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<map>       |<memory>            |
+------------+--------------------+
|<memory>    |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<new>       |<exception>         |
+------------+--------------------+
|<numeric>   |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<ostream>   |<ios>               |
+------------+--------------------+
|<queue>     |<deque>             |
+------------+--------------------+
|<set>       |<memory>            |
+------------+--------------------+
|<sstream>   |<ios>, <string>     |
+------------+--------------------+
|<stack>     |<deque>             |
+------------+--------------------+
|<stdexcept> |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<streambuf> |<ios>               |
+------------+--------------------+
|<string>    |<memory>            |
+------------+--------------------+
|<strstream> |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<typeinfo>  |<exception>         |
+------------+--------------------+
|<utility>   |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<valarray>  |                    |
+------------+--------------------+
|<vector>    |<memory>            |
+------------+--------------------+

Rationale:

The portability problem is real. A program that works correctly on one implementation might fail on another, because of different header dependencies. This problem was understood before the standard was completed, and it was a conscious design choice.

One possible way to deal with this, as a library extension, would be an <all> header.

Hinnant: It's time we dealt with this issue for C++0X. Reopened.


382. codecvt do_in/out result

Section: 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2002-08-30 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

It seems that the descriptions of codecvt do_in() and do_out() leave sufficient room for interpretation so that two implementations of codecvt may not work correctly with the same filebuf. Specifically, the following seems less than adequately specified:

  1. the conditions under which the functions terminate
  2. precisely when the functions return ok
  3. precisely when the functions return partial
  4. the full set of conditions when the functions return error
  1. 22.4.1.4.2 [locale.codecvt.virtuals], p2 says this about the effects of the function: ...Stops if it encounters a character it cannot convert... This assumes that there *is* a character to convert. What happens when there is a sequence that doesn't form a valid source character, such as an unassigned or invalid UNICODE character, or a sequence that cannot possibly form a character (e.g., the sequence "\xc0\xff" in UTF-8)?
  2. Table 53 says that the function returns codecvt_base::ok to indicate that the function(s) "completed the conversion." Suppose that the source sequence is "\xc0\x80" in UTF-8, with from pointing to '\xc0' and (from_end==from + 1). It is not clear whether the return value should be ok or partial (see below).
  3. Table 53 says that the function returns codecvt_base::partial if "not all source characters converted." With the from pointers set up the same way as above, it is not clear whether the return value should be partial or ok (see above).
  4. Table 53, in the row describing the meaning of error mistakenly refers to a "from_type" character, without the symbol from_type having been defined. Most likely, the word "source" character is intended, although that is not sufficient. The functions may also fail when they encounter an invalid source sequence that cannot possibly form a valid source character (e.g., as explained in bullet 1 above).

Finally, the conditions described at the end of 22.4.1.4.2 [locale.codecvt.virtuals], p4 don't seem to be possible:

"A return value of partial, if (from_next == from_end), indicates that either the destination sequence has not absorbed all the available destination elements, or that additional source elements are needed before another destination element can be produced."

If the value is partial, it's not clear to me that (from_next ==from_end) could ever hold if there isn't enough room in the destination buffer. In order for (from_next==from_end) to hold, all characters in that range must have been successfully converted (according to 22.4.1.4.2 [locale.codecvt.virtuals], p2) and since there are no further source characters to convert, no more room in the destination buffer can be needed.

It's also not clear to me that (from_next==from_end) could ever hold if additional source elements are needed to produce another destination character (not element as incorrectly stated in the text). partial is returned if "not all source characters have been converted" according to Table 53, which also implies that (from_next==from) does NOT hold.

Could it be that the intended qualifying condition was actually (from_next != from_end), i.e., that the sentence was supposed to read

"A return value of partial, if (from_next != from_end),..."

which would make perfect sense, since, as far as I understand it, partial can only occur if (from_next != from_end)?

[Lillehammer: Defer for the moment, but this really needs to be fixed. Right now, the description of codecvt is too vague for it to be a useful contract between providers and clients of codecvt facets. (Note that both vendors and users can be both providers and clients of codecvt facets.) The major philosophical issue is whether the standard should only describe mappings that take a single wide character to multiple narrow characters (and vice versa), or whether it should describe fully general N-to-M conversions. When the original standard was written only the former was contemplated, but today, in light of the popularity of utf8 and utf16, that doesn't seem sufficient for C++0x. Bill supports general N-to-M conversions; we need to make sure Martin and Howard agree.]

Proposed resolution:


394. behavior of formatted output on failure

Section: 27.7.2.6.1 [ostream.formatted.reqmts] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2002-12-27 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

There is a contradiction in Formatted output about what bit is supposed to be set if the formatting fails. On sentence says it's badbit and another that it's failbit.

27.6.2.5.1, p1 says in the Common Requirements on Formatted output functions:

     ... If the generation fails, then the formatted output function
     does setstate(ios::failbit), which might throw an exception.

27.6.2.5.2, p1 goes on to say this about Arithmetic Inserters:

... The formatting conversion occurs as if it performed the following code fragment:

     bool failed =
         use_facet<num_put<charT,ostreambuf_iterator<charT,traits>
         > >
         (getloc()).put(*this, *this, fill(), val). failed();

     ... If failed is true then does setstate(badbit) ...

The original intent of the text, according to Jerry Schwarz (see c++std-lib-10500), is captured in the following paragraph:

In general "badbit" should mean that the stream is unusable because of some underlying failure, such as disk full or socket closure; "failbit" should mean that the requested formatting wasn't possible because of some inconsistency such as negative widths. So typically if you clear badbit and try to output something else you'll fail again, but if you clear failbit and try to output something else you'll succeed.

In the case of the arithmetic inserters, since num_put cannot report failure by any means other than exceptions (in response to which the stream must set badbit, which prevents the kind of recoverable error reporting mentioned above), the only other detectable failure is if the iterator returned from num_put returns true from failed().

Since that can only happen (at least with the required iostream specializations) under such conditions as the underlying failure referred to above (e.g., disk full), setting badbit would seem to be the appropriate response (indeed, it is required in 27.6.2.5.2, p1). It follows that failbit can never be directly set by the arithmetic (it can only be set by the sentry object under some unspecified conditions).

The situation is different for other formatted output functions which can fail as a result of the streambuf functions failing (they may do so by means other than exceptions), and which are then required to set failbit.

The contradiction, then, is that ostream::operator<<(int) will set badbit if the disk is full, while operator<<(ostream&, char) will set failbit under the same conditions. To make the behavior consistent, the Common requirements sections for the Formatted output functions should be changed as proposed below.

[Kona: There's agreement that this is a real issue. What we decided at Kona: 1. An error from the buffer (which can be detected either directly from streambuf's member functions or by examining a streambuf_iterator) should always result in badbit getting set. 2. There should never be a circumstance where failbit gets set. That represents a formatting error, and there are no circumstances under which the output facets are specified as signaling a formatting error. (Even more so for string output that for numeric because there's nothing to format.) If we ever decide to make it possible for formatting errors to exist then the facets can signal the error directly, and that should go in clause 22, not clause 27. 3. The phrase "if generation fails" is unclear and should be eliminated. It's not clear whether it's intended to mean a buffer error (e.g. a full disk), a formatting error, or something else. Most people thought it was supposed to refer to buffer errors; if so, we should say so. Martin will provide wording.]

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:


397. ostream::sentry dtor throws exceptions

Section: 27.7.2.4 [ostream::sentry] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-01-05 Last modified: 2007-07-25

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Discussion:

17.4.4.8, p3 prohibits library dtors from throwing exceptions.

27.6.2.3, p4 says this about the ostream::sentry dtor:

    -4- If ((os.flags() & ios_base::unitbuf) && !uncaught_exception())
        is true, calls os.flush().
    

27.6.2.6, p7 that describes ostream::flush() says:

    -7- If rdbuf() is not a null pointer, calls rdbuf()->pubsync().
        If that function returns ?-1 calls setstate(badbit) (which
        may throw ios_base::failure (27.4.4.3)).
    

That seems like a defect, since both pubsync() and setstate() can throw an exception.

[ The contradiction is real. Clause 17 says destructors may never throw exceptions, and clause 27 specifies a destructor that does throw. In principle we might change either one. We're leaning toward changing clause 17: putting in an "unless otherwise specified" clause, and then putting in a footnote saying the sentry destructor is the only one that can throw. PJP suggests specifying that sentry::~sentry() should internally catch any exceptions it might cause. ]

[ See 418 and 622 for related issues. ]

Proposed resolution:


398. effects of end-of-file on unformatted input functions

Section: 27.7.2.4 [ostream::sentry] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-01-05 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

While reviewing unformatted input member functions of istream for their behavior when they encounter end-of-file during input I found that the requirements vary, sometimes unexpectedly, and in more than one case even contradict established practice (GNU libstdc++ 3.2, IBM VAC++ 6.0, STLPort 4.5, SunPro 5.3, HP aCC 5.38, Rogue Wave libstd 3.1, and Classic Iostreams).

The following unformatted input member functions set eofbit if they encounter an end-of-file (this is the expected behavior, and also the behavior of all major implementations):

    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    get (char_type*, streamsize, char_type);
    

Also sets failbit if it fails to extract any characters.

    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    get (char_type*, streamsize);
    

Also sets failbit if it fails to extract any characters.

    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    getline (char_type*, streamsize, char_type);
    

Also sets failbit if it fails to extract any characters.

    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    getline (char_type*, streamsize);
    

Also sets failbit if it fails to extract any characters.

    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    ignore (int, int_type);
    
    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    read (char_type*, streamsize);
    

Also sets failbit if it encounters end-of-file.

    streamsize readsome (char_type*, streamsize);
    

The following unformated input member functions set failbit but not eofbit if they encounter an end-of-file (I find this odd since the functions make it impossible to distinguish a general failure from a failure due to end-of-file; the requirement is also in conflict with all major implementation which set both eofbit and failbit):

    int_type get();
    
    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    get (char_type&);
    

These functions only set failbit of they extract no characters, otherwise they don't set any bits, even on failure (I find this inconsistency quite unexpected; the requirement is also in conflict with all major implementations which set eofbit whenever they encounter end-of-file):

    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    get (basic_streambuf<charT, traits>&, char_type);
    
    basic_istream<charT, traits>&
    get (basic_streambuf<charT, traits>&);
    

This function sets no bits (all implementations except for STLport and Classic Iostreams set eofbit when they encounter end-of-file):

    int_type peek ();
    

Informally, what we want is a global statement of intent saying that eofbit gets set if we trip across EOF, and then we can take away the specific wording for individual functions. A full review is necessary. The wording currently in the standard is a mishmash, and changing it on an individual basis wouldn't make things better. Dietmar will do this work.

Proposed resolution:


408. Is vector<reverse_iterator<char*> > forbidden?

Section: 24.2 [iterator.concepts] Status: Open Submitter: Nathan Myers Opened: 2003-06-03 Last modified: 2009-03-11

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Discussion:

I've been discussing iterator semantics with Dave Abrahams, and a surprise has popped up. I don't think this has been discussed before.

24.2 [iterator.concepts] says that the only operation that can be performed on "singular" iterator values is to assign a non-singular value to them. (It doesn't say they can be destroyed, and that's probably a defect.) Some implementations have taken this to imply that there is no need to initialize the data member of a reverse_iterator<> in the default constructor. As a result, code like

  std::vector<std::reverse_iterator<char*> > v(7);
  v.reserve(1000);

invokes undefined behavior, because it must default-initialize the vector elements, and then copy them to other storage. Of course many other vector operations on these adapters are also left undefined, and which those are is not reliably deducible from the standard.

I don't think that 24.1 was meant to make standard-library iterator types unsafe. Rather, it was meant to restrict what operations may be performed by functions which take general user- and standard iterators as arguments, so that raw pointers would qualify as iterators. However, this is not clear in the text, others have come to the opposite conclusion.

One question is whether the standard iterator adaptors have defined copy semantics. Another is whether they have defined destructor semantics: is

  { std::vector<std::reverse_iterator<char*> >  v(7); }

undefined too?

Note this is not a question of whether algorithms are allowed to rely on copy semantics for arbitrary iterators, just whether the types we actually supply support those operations. I believe the resolution must be expressed in terms of the semantics of the adapter's argument type. It should make clear that, e.g., the reverse_iterator<T> constructor is actually required to execute T(), and so copying is defined if the result of T() is copyable.

Issue 235, which defines reverse_iterator's default constructor more precisely, has some relevance to this issue. However, it is not the whole story.

The issue was whether

  reverse_iterator() { }

is allowed, vs.

  reverse_iterator() : current() { }

The difference is when T is char*, where the first leaves the member uninitialized, and possibly equal to an existing pointer value, or (on some targets) may result in a hardware trap when copied.

8.5 paragraph 5 seems to make clear that the second is required to satisfy DR 235, at least for non-class Iterator argument types.

But that only takes care of reverse_iterator, and doesn't establish a policy for all iterators. (The reverse iterator adapter was just an example.) In particular, does my function

  template <typename Iterator>
    void f() { std::vector<Iterator>  v(7); } 

evoke undefined behavior for some conforming iterator definitions? I think it does, now, because vector<> will destroy those singular iterator values, and that's explicitly disallowed.

24.1 shouldn't give blanket permission to copy all singular iterators, because then pointers wouldn't qualify as iterators. However, it should allow copying of that subset of singular iterator values that are default-initialized, and it should explicitly allow destroying any iterator value, singular or not, default-initialized or not.

Related issues: 407, 1012

[ We don't want to require all singular iterators to be copyable, because that is not the case for pointers. However, default construction may be a special case. Issue: is it really default construction we want to talk about, or is it something like value initialization? We need to check with core to see whether default constructed pointers are required to be copyable; if not, it would be wrong to impose so strict a requirement for iterators. ]

Proposed resolution:


417. what does ctype::do_widen() return on failure

Section: 22.4.1.1.2 [locale.ctype.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

The Effects and Returns clauses of the do_widen() member function of the ctype facet fail to specify the behavior of the function on failure. That the function may not be able to simply cast the narrow character argument to the type of the result since doing so may yield the wrong value for some wchar_t encodings. Popular implementations of ctype<wchar_t> that use mbtowc() and UTF-8 as the native encoding (e.g., GNU glibc) will fail when the argument's MSB is set. There is no way for the the rest of locale and iostream to reliably detect this failure.

[Kona: This is a real problem. Widening can fail. It's unclear what the solution should be. Returning WEOF works for the wchar_t specialization, but not in general. One option might be to add a default, like narrow. But that's an incompatible change. Using traits::eof might seem like a good idea, but facets don't have access to traits (a recurring problem). We could have widen throw an exception, but that's a scary option; existing library components aren't written with the assumption that widen can throw.]

Proposed resolution:


418. exceptions thrown during iostream cleanup

Section: 27.5.2.1.6 [ios::Init] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2007-07-25

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Discussion:

The dtor of the ios_base::Init object is supposed to call flush() on the 6 standard iostream objects cout, cerr, clog, wcout, wcerr, and wclog. This call may cause an exception to be thrown.

17.4.4.8, p3 prohibits all library destructors from throwing exceptions.

The question is: What should this dtor do if one or more of these calls to flush() ends up throwing an exception? This can happen quite easily if one of the facets installed in the locale imbued in the iostream object throws.

[Kona: We probably can't do much better than what we've got, so the LWG is leaning toward NAD. At the point where the standard stream objects are being cleaned up, the usual error reporting mechanism are all unavailable. And exception from flush at this point will definitely cause problems. A quality implementation might reasonably swallow the exception, or call abort, or do something even more drastic.]

[ See 397 and 622 for related issues. ]

Proposed resolution:


419. istream extractors not setting failbit if eofbit is already set

Section: 27.7.1.1.3 [istream::sentry] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2007-01-30

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Discussion:

27.7.1.1.3 [istream::sentry], p2 says that istream::sentry ctor prepares for input if is.good() is true. p4 then goes on to say that the ctor sets the sentry::ok_ member to true if the stream state is good after any preparation. 27.7.1.2.1 [istream.formatted.reqmts], p1 then says that a formatted input function endeavors to obtain the requested input if the sentry's operator bool() returns true. Given these requirements, no formatted extractor should ever set failbit if the initial stream rdstate() == eofbit. That is contrary to the behavior of all implementations I tested. The program below prints out eof = 1, fail = 0 eof = 1, fail = 1 on all of them.


#include <sstream>
#include <cstdio>

int main()
{
    std::istringstream strm ("1");

    int i = 0;

    strm >> i;

    std::printf ("eof = %d, fail = %d\n",
                 !!strm.eof (), !!strm.fail ());

    strm >> i;

    std::printf ("eof = %d, fail = %d\n",
                 !!strm.eof (), !!strm.fail ());
}


Comments from Jerry Schwarz (c++std-lib-11373):
Jerry Schwarz wrote:
I don't know where (if anywhere) it says it in the standard, but the formatted extractors are supposed to set failbit if they don't extract any characters. If they didn't then simple loops like
while (cin >> x);
would loop forever.
Further comments from Martin Sebor:
The question is which part of the extraction should prevent this from happening by setting failbit when eofbit is already set. It could either be the sentry object or the extractor. It seems that most implementations have chosen to set failbit in the sentry [...] so that's the text that will need to be corrected.

Pre Berlin: This issue is related to 342. If the sentry sets failbit when it finds eofbit already set, then you can never seek away from the end of stream.

Kona: Possibly NAD. If eofbit is set then good() will return false. We then set ok to false. We believe that the sentry's constructor should always set failbit when ok is false, and we also think the standard already says that. Possibly it could be clearer.

Proposed resolution:

Change 27.7.1.1.3 [istream::sentry], p2 to:

explicit sentry(basic_istream<charT,traits>& is , bool noskipws = false);

-2- Effects: If is.good() is true false, calls is.setstate(failbit). Otherwise prepares for formatted or unformatted input. ...


421. is basic_streambuf copy-constructible?

Section: 27.6.2.1 [streambuf.cons] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

The reflector thread starting with c++std-lib-11346 notes that the class template basic_streambuf, along with basic_stringbuf and basic_filebuf, is copy-constructible but that the semantics of the copy constructors are not defined anywhere. Further, different implementations behave differently in this respect: some prevent copy construction of objects of these types by declaring their copy ctors and assignment operators private, others exhibit undefined behavior, while others still give these operations well-defined semantics.

Note that this problem doesn't seem to be isolated to just the three types mentioned above. A number of other types in the library section of the standard provide a compiler-generated copy ctor and assignment operator yet fail to specify their semantics. It's believed that the only types for which this is actually a problem (i.e. types where the compiler-generated default may be inappropriate and may not have been intended) are locale facets. See issue 439.

Proposed resolution:

27.5.2 [lib.streambuf]: Add into the synopsis, public section, just above the destructor declaration:

basic_streambuf(const basic_streambuf& sb);
basic_streambuf& operator=(const basic_streambuf& sb);

Insert after 27.5.2.1, paragraph 2:

basic_streambuf(const basic_streambuf& sb);

Constructs a copy of sb.

Postcondtions:

                eback() == sb.eback()
                gptr()  == sb.gptr()
                egptr() == sb.egptr()
                pbase() == sb.pbase()
                pptr()  == sb.pptr()
                epptr() == sb.epptr()
                getloc() == sb.getloc()
basic_streambuf& operator=(const basic_streambuf& sb);

Assigns the data members of sb to this.

Postcondtions:

                eback() == sb.eback()
                gptr()  == sb.gptr()
                egptr() == sb.egptr()
                pbase() == sb.pbase()
                pptr()  == sb.pptr()
                epptr() == sb.epptr()
                getloc() == sb.getloc()

Returns: *this.

27.7.1 [lib.stringbuf]:

Option A:

Insert into the basic_stringbuf synopsis in the private section:

basic_stringbuf(const basic_stringbuf&);             // not defined
basic_stringbuf& operator=(const basic_stringbuf&);  // not defined

Option B:

Insert into the basic_stringbuf synopsis in the public section:

basic_stringbuf(const basic_stringbuf& sb);
basic_stringbuf& operator=(const basic_stringbuf& sb);

27.7.1.1, insert after paragraph 4:

basic_stringbuf(const basic_stringbuf& sb);

Constructs an independent copy of sb as if with sb.str(), and with the openmode that sb was constructed with.

Postcondtions:

               str() == sb.str()
               gptr()  - eback() == sb.gptr()  - sb.eback()
               egptr() - eback() == sb.egptr() - sb.eback()
               pptr()  - pbase() == sb.pptr()  - sb.pbase()
               getloc() == sb.getloc()

Note: The only requirement on epptr() is that it point beyond the initialized range if an output sequence exists. There is no requirement that epptr() - pbase() == sb.epptr() - sb.pbase().

basic_stringbuf& operator=(const basic_stringbuf& sb);

After assignment the basic_stringbuf has the same state as if it were initially copy constructed from sb, except that the basic_stringbuf is allowed to retain any excess capacity it might have, which may in turn effect the value of epptr().

27.8.1.1 [lib.filebuf]

Insert at the bottom of the basic_filebuf synopsis:

private:
  basic_filebuf(const basic_filebuf&);             // not defined
  basic_filebuf& operator=(const basic_filebuf&);  // not defined

[Kona: this is an issue for basic_streambuf itself and for its derived classes. We are leaning toward allowing basic_streambuf to be copyable, and specifying its precise semantics. (Probably the obvious: copying the buffer pointers.) We are less sure whether the streambuf derived classes should be copyable. Howard will write up a proposal.]

[Sydney: Dietmar presented a new argument against basic_streambuf being copyable: it can lead to an encapsulation violation. Filebuf inherits from streambuf. Now suppose you inhert a my_hijacking_buf from streambuf. You can copy the streambuf portion of a filebuf to a my_hijacking_buf, giving you access to the pointers into the filebuf's internal buffer. Perhaps not a very strong argument, but it was strong enough to make people nervous. There was weak preference for having streambuf not be copyable. There was weak preference for having stringbuf not be copyable even if streambuf is. Move this issue to open for now. ]

[ 2007-01-12, Howard: Rvalue Reference Recommendations for Chapter 27 recommends protected copy constructor and assignment for basic_streambuf with the same semantics as would be generated by the compiler. These members aid in derived classes implementing move semantics. A protected copy constructor and copy assignment operator do not expose encapsulation more so than it is today as each data member of a basic_streambuf is already both readable and writable by derived classes via various get/set protected member functions (eback(), setp(), etc.). Rather a protected copy constructor and copy assignment operator simply make the job of derived classes implementing move semantics less tedious and error prone. ]

Rationale:

27.5.2 [lib.streambuf]: The proposed basic_streambuf copy constructor and assignment operator are the same as currently implied by the lack of declarations: public and simply copies the data members. This resolution is not a change but a clarification of the current standard.

27.7.1 [lib.stringbuf]: There are two reasonable options: A) Make basic_stringbuf not copyable. This is likely the status-quo of current implementations. B) Reasonable copy semantics of basic_stringbuf can be defined and implemented. A copyable basic_streambuf is arguably more useful than a non-copyable one. This should be considered as new functionality and not the fixing of a defect. If option B is chosen, ramifications from issue 432 are taken into account.

27.8.1.1 [lib.filebuf]: There are no reasonable copy semantics for basic_filebuf.


423. effects of negative streamsize in iostreams

Section: 27 [input.output] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

A third party test suite tries to exercise istream::ignore(N) with a negative value of N and expects that the implementation will treat N as if it were 0. Our implementation asserts that (N >= 0) holds and aborts the test.

I can't find anything in section 27 that prohibits such values but I don't see what the effects of such calls should be, either (this applies to a number of unformatted input functions as well as some member functions of the basic_streambuf template).

Proposed resolution:

I propose that we add to each function in clause 27 that takes an argument, say N, of type streamsize a Requires clause saying that "N >= 0." The intent is to allow negative streamsize values in calls to precision() and width() but disallow it in calls to streambuf::sgetn(), istream::ignore(), or ostream::write().

[Kona: The LWG agreed that this is probably what we want. However, we need a review to find all places where functions in clause 27 take arguments of type streamsize that shouldn't be allowed to go negative. Martin will do that review.]


424. normative notes

Section: 17.5.1.2 [structure.summary] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2008-09-22

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Discussion:

The text in 17.3.1.1, p1 says:
"Paragraphs labelled "Note(s):" or "Example(s):" are informative, other paragraphs are normative."
The library section makes heavy use of paragraphs labeled "Notes(s)," some of which are clearly intended to be normative (see list 1), while some others are not (see list 2). There are also those where the intent is not so clear (see list 3).

List 1 -- Examples of (presumably) normative Notes:
20.8.6.1 [allocator.members], p3,
20.8.6.1 [allocator.members], p10,
21.4.2 [string.cons], p11,
22.3.1.2 [locale.cons], p11,
23.3.2.3 [deque.modifiers], p2,
25.5.7 [alg.min.max], p3,
26.4.6 [complex.ops], p15,
27.6.2.4.3 [streambuf.virt.get], p7.

List 2 -- Examples of (presumably) informative Notes:
18.6.1.3 [new.delete.placement], p3,
21.4.6.6 [string::replace], p14,
22.4.1.4.2 [locale.codecvt.virtuals], p3,
25.3.4 [alg.foreach], p4,
26.4.5 [complex.member.ops], p1,
27.5.2.5 [ios.base.storage], p6.

List 3 -- Examples of Notes that are not clearly either normative or informative:
22.3.1.2 [locale.cons], p8,
22.3.1.5 [locale.statics], p6,
27.6.2.4.5 [streambuf.virt.put], p4.

None of these lists is meant to be exhaustive.

[Definitely a real problem. The big problem is there's material that doesn't quite fit any of the named paragraph categories (e.g. Effects). Either we need a new kind of named paragraph, or we need to put more material in unnamed paragraphs jsut after the signature. We need to talk to the Project Editor about how to do this. ]

[ Bellevue: Specifics of list 3: First 2 items correct in std (22.1.1.2, 22.1.1.5) Third item should be non-normative (27.5.2.4.5), which Pete will handle editorially. ]

[ post San Francisco: Howard: reopened, needs attention. ]

Proposed resolution:

[Pete: I changed the paragraphs marked "Note" and "Notes" to use "Remark" and "Remarks". Fixed as editorial. This change has been in the WD since the post-Redmond mailing, in 2004. Recommend NAD.]

[ Batavia: We feel that the references in List 2 above should be changed from Remarks to Notes. We also feel that those items in List 3 need to be double checked for the same change. Alan and Pete to review. ]


427. stage 2 and rationale of DR 221

Section: 22.4.2.1.2 [facet.num.get.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

The requirements specified in Stage 2 and reiterated in the rationale of DR 221 (and echoed again in DR 303) specify that num_get<charT>:: do_get() compares characters on the stream against the widened elements of "012...abc...ABCX+-"

An implementation is required to allow programs to instantiate the num_get template on any charT that satisfies the requirements on a user-defined character type. These requirements do not include the ability of the character type to be equality comparable (the char_traits template must be used to perform tests for equality). Hence, the num_get template cannot be implemented to support any arbitrary character type. The num_get template must either make the assumption that the character type is equality-comparable (as some popular implementations do), or it may use char_traits<charT> to do the comparisons (some other popular implementations do that). This diversity of approaches makes it difficult to write portable programs that attempt to instantiate the num_get template on user-defined types.

[Kona: the heart of the problem is that we're theoretically supposed to use traits classes for all fundamental character operations like assignment and comparison, but facets don't have traits parameters. This is a fundamental design flaw and it appears all over the place, not just in this one place. It's not clear what the correct solution is, but a thorough review of facets and traits is in order. The LWG considered and rejected the possibility of changing numeric facets to use narrowing instead of widening. This may be a good idea for other reasons (see issue 459), but it doesn't solve the problem raised by this issue. Whether we use widen or narrow the num_get facet still has no idea which traits class the user wants to use for the comparison, because only streams, not facets, are passed traits classes. The standard does not require that two different traits classes with the same char_type must necessarily have the same behavior.]

Informally, one possibility: require that some of the basic character operations, such as eq, lt, and assign, must behave the same way for all traits classes with the same char_type. If we accept that limitation on traits classes, then the facet could reasonably be required to use char_traits<charT>.

Proposed resolution:


430. valarray subset operations

Section: 26.6.2.4 [valarray.sub] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2003-09-18 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

The standard fails to specify the behavior of valarray::operator[](slice) and other valarray subset operations when they are passed an "invalid" slice object, i.e., either a slice that doesn't make sense at all (e.g., slice (0, 1, 0) or one that doesn't specify a valid subset of the valarray object (e.g., slice (2, 1, 1) for a valarray of size 1).

[Kona: the LWG believes that invalid slices should invoke undefined behavior. Valarrays are supposed to be designed for high performance, so we don't want to require specific checking. We need wording to express this decision.]

[ Bellevue: ]

Please note that the standard also fails to specify the behavior of slice_array and gslice_array in the valid case. Bill Plauger will endeavor to provide revised wording for slice_array and gslice_array.

[ post-Bellevue: Bill provided wording. ]

Proposed resolution:

Insert after 26.6.2.4 [valarray.sub], paragraph 1:

The member operator is overloaded to provide several ways to select sequences of elements from among those controlled by *this. The first group of five member operators work in conjunction with various overloads of operator= (and other assigning operators) to allow selective replacement (slicing) of the controlled sequence. The selected elements must exist.

The first member operator selects element off. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
v0[3] = 'A';
// v0 == valarray<char>("abcAefghijklmnop", 16)

The second member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by slicearr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
valarray<char> v1("ABCDE", 5);
v0[slice(2, 5, 3)] = v1;
// v0 == valarray<char>("abAdeBghCjkDmnEp", 16)

The third member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by gslicearr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
valarray<char> v1("ABCDEF", 6);
const size_t lv[] = {2, 3};
const size_t dv[] = {7, 2};
const valarray<size_t> len(lv, 2), str(dv, 2);
v0[gslice(3, len, str)] = v1;
// v0 == valarray<char>("abcAeBgCijDlEnFp", 16)

The fourth member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by boolarr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
valarray<char> v1("ABC", 3);
const bool vb[] = {false, false, true, true, false, true};
v0[valarray<bool>(vb, 6)] = v1;
// v0 == valarray<char>("abABeCghijklmnop", 16)

The fifth member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by indarr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
valarray<char> v1("ABCDE", 5);
const size_t vi[] = {7, 5, 2, 3, 8};
v0[valarray<size_t>(vi, 5)] = v1;
// v0 == valarray<char>("abCDeBgAEjklmnop", 16)

The second group of five member operators each construct an object that represents the value(s) selected. The selected elements must exist.

The sixth member operator returns the value of element off. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
// v0[3] returns 'd'

The seventh member operator returns an object of class valarray<Ty> containing those elements of the controlled sequence designated by slicearr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
// v0[slice(2, 5, 3)] returns valarray<char>("cfilo", 5)

The eighth member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by gslicearr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
const size_t lv[] = {2, 3};
const size_t dv[] = {7, 2};
const valarray<size_t> len(lv, 2), str(dv, 2);
// v0[gslice(3, len, str)] returns
//    valarray<char>("dfhkmo", 6)

The ninth member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by boolarr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
const bool vb[] = {false, false, true, true, false, true};
// v0[valarray<bool>(vb, 6)] returns
//    valarray<char>("cdf", 3)

The last member operator selects those elements of the controlled sequence designated by indarr. For example:

valarray<char> v0("abcdefghijklmnop", 16);
const size_t vi[] = {7, 5, 2, 3, 8};
// v0[valarray<size_t>(vi, 5)] returns
//    valarray<char>("hfcdi", 5)

431. Swapping containers with unequal allocators

Section: X [allocator.requirements], 25 [algorithms] Status: Open Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 2003-09-20 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

Clause X [allocator.requirements] paragraph 4 says that implementations are permitted to supply containers that are unable to cope with allocator instances and that container implementations may assume that all instances of an allocator type compare equal. We gave implementers this latitude as a temporary hack, and eventually we want to get rid of it. What happens when we're dealing with allocators that don't compare equal?

In particular: suppose that v1 and v2 are both objects of type vector<int, my_alloc> and that v1.get_allocator() != v2.get_allocator(). What happens if we write v1.swap(v2)? Informally, three possibilities:

1. This operation is illegal. Perhaps we could say that an implementation is required to check and to throw an exception, or perhaps we could say it's undefined behavior.

2. The operation performs a slow swap (i.e. using three invocations of operator=, leaving each allocator with its original container. This would be an O(N) operation.

3. The operation swaps both the vectors' contents and their allocators. This would be an O(1) operation. That is:

    my_alloc a1(...);
    my_alloc a2(...);
    assert(a1 != a2);

    vector<int, my_alloc> v1(a1);
    vector<int, my_alloc> v2(a2);
    assert(a1 == v1.get_allocator());
    assert(a2 == v2.get_allocator());

    v1.swap(v2);
    assert(a1 == v2.get_allocator());
    assert(a2 == v1.get_allocator());
  

[Kona: This is part of a general problem. We need a paper saying how to deal with unequal allocators in general.]

[pre-Sydney: Howard argues for option 3 in N1599. ]

[ 2007-01-12, Howard: This issue will now tend to come up more often with move constructors and move assignment operators. For containers, these members transfer resources (i.e. the allocated memory) just like swap. ]

[ Batavia: There is agreement to overload the container swap on the allocator's Swappable requirement using concepts. If the allocator supports Swappable, then container's swap will swap allocators, else it will perform a "slow swap" using copy construction and copy assignment. ]

[ 2009-04-28 Pablo adds: ]

Fixed in N2525. I argued for marking this Tentatively-Ready right after Bellevue, but there was a concern that N2525 would break in the presence of the RVO. (That breakage had nothing to do with swap, but never-the-less). I addressed that breakage in in N2840 (Summit) my means of a non-normative reference:
[Note: in situations where the copy constructor for a container is elided, this function is not called. The behavior in these cases is as if select_on_container_copy_construction returned xend note]

Proposed resolution:


446. Iterator equality between different containers

Section: 24.2 [iterator.concepts], 23.2 [container.requirements] Status: Open Submitter: Andy Koenig Opened: 2003-12-16 Last modified: 2008-09-30

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Discussion:

What requirements does the standard place on equality comparisons between iterators that refer to elements of different containers. For example, if v1 and v2 are empty vectors, is v1.end() == v2.end() allowed to yield true? Is it allowed to throw an exception?

The standard appears to be silent on both questions.

[Sydney: The intention is that comparing two iterators from different containers is undefined, but it's not clear if we say that, or even whether it's something we should be saying in clause 23 or in clause 24. Intuitively we might want to say that equality is defined only if one iterator is reachable from another, but figuring out how to say it in any sensible way is a bit tricky: reachability is defined in terms of equality, so we can't also define equality in terms of reachability. ]

Proposed resolution:


458. 24.1.5 contains unintented limitation for operator-

Section: 24.2.6 [random.access.iterators] Status: Open Submitter: Daniel Frey Opened: 2004-02-27 Last modified: 2009-03-13

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Discussion:

In 24.1.5 [lib.random.access.iterators], table 76 the operational semantics for the expression "r -= n" are defined as "return r += -n". This means, that the expression -n must be valid, which is not the case for unsigned types.

[ Sydney: Possibly not a real problem, since difference type is required to be a signed integer type. However, the wording in the standard may be less clear than we would like. ]

[ Post Summit Alisdair adds: ]

This issue refers to a requirements table we have removed.

The issue might now relate to 24.2.6 [random.access.iterators] p5. However, the rationale in the issue already recognises that the difference_type must be signed, so this really looks NAD.

Proposed resolution:

To remove this limitation, I suggest to change the operational semantics for this column to:

    { Distance m = n; 
      if (m >= 0) 
        while (m--) --r; 
      else 
        while (m++) ++r;
      return r; }

459. Requirement for widening in stage 2 is overspecification

Section: 22.4.2.1.2 [facet.num.get.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2004-03-16 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

When parsing strings of wide-character digits, the standard requires the library to widen narrow-character "atoms" and compare the widened atoms against the characters that are being parsed. Simply narrowing the wide characters would be far simpler, and probably more efficient. The two choices are equivalent except in convoluted test cases, and many implementations already ignore the standard and use narrow instead of widen.

First, I disagree that using narrow() instead of widen() would necessarily have unfortunate performance implications. A possible implementation of narrow() that allows num_get to be implemented in a much simpler and arguably comparably efficient way as calling widen() allows, i.e. without making a virtual call to do_narrow every time, is as follows:

  inline char ctype<wchar_t>::narrow (wchar_t wc, char dflt) const
  {
      const unsigned wi = unsigned (wc);

      if (wi > UCHAR_MAX)
          return typeid (*this) == typeid (ctype<wchar_t>) ?
                 dflt : do_narrow (wc, dflt);

      if (narrow_ [wi] < 0) {
         const char nc = do_narrow (wc, dflt);
         if (nc == dflt)
             return dflt;
         narrow_ [wi] = nc;
      }

      return char (narrow_ [wi]);
  }

Second, I don't think the change proposed in the issue (i.e., to use narrow() instead of widen() during Stage 2) would be at all drastic. Existing implementations with the exception of libstdc++ currently already use narrow() so the impact of the change on programs would presumably be isolated to just a single implementation. Further, since narrow() is not required to translate alternate wide digit representations such as those mentioned in issue 303 to their narrow equivalents (i.e., the portable source characters '0' through '9'), the change does not necessarily imply that these alternate digits would be treated as ordinary digits and accepted as part of numbers during parsing. In fact, the requirement in 22.4.1.1.2 [locale.ctype.virtuals], p13 forbids narrow() to translate an alternate digit character, wc, to an ordinary digit in the basic source character set unless the expression (ctype<charT>::is(ctype_base::digit, wc) == true) holds. This in turn is prohibited by the C standard (7.25.2.1.5, 7.25.2.1.5, and 5.2.1, respectively) for charT of either char or wchar_t.

[Sydney: To a large extent this is a nonproblem. As long as you're only trafficking in char and wchar_t we're only dealing with a stable character set, so you don't really need either 'widen' or 'narrow': can just use literals. Finally, it's not even clear whether widen-vs-narrow is the right question; arguably we should be using codecvt instead.]

Proposed resolution:

Change stage 2 so that implementations are permitted to use either technique to perform the comparison:

  1. call widen on the atoms and compare (either by using operator== or char_traits<charT>::eq) the input with the widened atoms, or
  2. call narrow on the input and compare the narrow input with the atoms
  3. do (1) or (2) only if charT is not char or wchar_t, respectively; i.e., avoid calling widen or narrow if it the source and destination types are the same

463. auto_ptr usability issues

Section: D.9.1 [auto.ptr] Status: Open Submitter: Rani Sharoni Opened: 2003-12-07 Last modified: 2007-11-15

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Discussion:

TC1 CWG DR #84 effectively made the template<class Y> operator auto_ptr<Y>() member of auto_ptr (20.4.5.3/4) obsolete.

The sole purpose of this obsolete conversion member is to enable copy initialization base from r-value derived (or any convertible types like cv-types) case:

#include <memory>
using std::auto_ptr;

struct B {};
struct D : B {};

auto_ptr<D> source();
int sink(auto_ptr<B>);
int x1 = sink( source() ); // #1 EDG - no suitable copy constructor

The excellent analysis of conversion operations that was given in the final auto_ptr proposal (http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/1997/N1128.pdf) explicitly specifies this case analysis (case 4). DR #84 makes the analysis wrong and actually comes to forbid the loophole that was exploited by the auto_ptr designers.

I didn't encounter any compliant compiler (e.g. EDG, GCC, BCC and VC) that ever allowed this case. This is probably because it requires 3 user defined conversions and in fact current compilers conform to DR #84.

I was surprised to discover that the obsolete conversion member actually has negative impact of the copy initialization base from l-value derived case:

auto_ptr<D> dp;
int x2 = sink(dp); // #2 EDG - more than one user-defined conversion applies

I'm sure that the original intention was allowing this initialization using the template<class Y> auto_ptr(auto_ptr<Y>& a) constructor (20.4.5.1/4) but since in this copy initialization it's merely user defined conversion (UDC) and the obsolete conversion member is UDC with the same rank (for the early overloading stage) there is an ambiguity between them.

Removing the obsolete member will have impact on code that explicitly invokes it:

int y = sink(source().operator auto_ptr<B>());

IMHO no one ever wrote such awkward code and the reasonable workaround for #1 is:

int y = sink( auto_ptr<B>(source()) );

I was even more surprised to find out that after removing the obsolete conversion member the initialization was still ill-formed: int x3 = sink(dp); // #3 EDG - no suitable copy constructor

This copy initialization semantically requires copy constructor which means that both template conversion constructor and the auto_ptr_ref conversion member (20.4.5.3/3) are required which is what was explicitly forbidden in DR #84. This is a bit amusing case in which removing ambiguity results with no candidates.

I also found exception safety issue with auto_ptr related to auto_ptr_ref:

int f(auto_ptr<B>, std::string);
auto_ptr<B> source2();

// string constructor throws while auto_ptr_ref
// "holds" the pointer
int x4 = f(source2(), "xyz"); // #4

The theoretic execution sequence that will cause a leak:

  1. call auto_ptr<B>::operator auto_ptr_ref<B>()
  2. call string::string(char const*) and throw

According to 20.4.5.3/3 and 20.4.5/2 the auto_ptr_ref conversion member returns auto_ptr_ref<Y> that holds *this and this is another defect since the type of *this is auto_ptr<X> where X might be different from Y. Several library vendors (e.g. SGI) implement auto_ptr_ref<Y> with Y* as member which is much more reasonable. Other vendor implemented auto_ptr_ref as defectively required and it results with awkward and catastrophic code: int oops = sink(auto_ptr<B>(source())); // warning recursive on all control paths

Dave Abrahams noticed that there is no specification saying that auto_ptr_ref copy constructor can't throw.

My proposal comes to solve all the above issues and significantly simplify auto_ptr implementation. One of the fundamental requirements from auto_ptr is that it can be constructed in an intuitive manner (i.e. like ordinary pointers) but with strict ownership semantics which yield that source auto_ptr in initialization must be non-const. My idea is to add additional constructor template with sole propose to generate ill-formed, diagnostic required, instance for const auto_ptr arguments during instantiation of declaration. This special constructor will not be instantiated for other types which is achievable using 14.8.2/2 (SFINAE). Having this constructor in hand makes the constructor template<class Y> auto_ptr(auto_ptr<Y> const&) legitimate since the actual argument can't be const yet non const r-value are acceptable.

This implementation technique makes the "private auxiliary class" auto_ptr_ref obsolete and I found out that modern C++ compilers (e.g. EDG, GCC and VC) consume the new implementation as expected and allow all intuitive initialization and assignment cases while rejecting illegal cases that involve const auto_ptr arguments.

The proposed auto_ptr interface:

namespace std {
    template<class X> class auto_ptr {
    public:
        typedef X element_type;

        // 20.4.5.1 construct/copy/destroy:
        explicit auto_ptr(X* p=0) throw();
        auto_ptr(auto_ptr&) throw();
        template<class Y> auto_ptr(auto_ptr<Y> const&) throw();
        auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr&) throw();
        template<class Y> auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr<Y>) throw();
        ~auto_ptr() throw();

        // 20.4.5.2 members:
        X& operator*() const throw();
        X* operator->() const throw();
        X* get() const throw();
        X* release() throw();
        void reset(X* p=0) throw();

    private:
        template<class U>
        auto_ptr(U& rhs, typename
unspecified_error_on_const_auto_ptr<U>::type = 0);
    };
}

One compliant technique to implement the unspecified_error_on_const_auto_ptr helper class is using additional private auto_ptr member class template like the following:

template<typename T> struct unspecified_error_on_const_auto_ptr;

template<typename T>
struct unspecified_error_on_const_auto_ptr<auto_ptr<T> const>
{ typedef typename auto_ptr<T>::const_auto_ptr_is_not_allowed type; };

There are other techniques to implement this helper class that might work better for different compliers (i.e. better diagnostics) and therefore I suggest defining its semantic behavior without mandating any specific implementation. IMO, and I didn't found any compiler that thinks otherwise, 14.7.1/5 doesn't theoretically defeat the suggested technique but I suggest verifying this with core language experts.

Further changes in standard text:

Remove section 20.4.5.3

Change 20.4.5/2 to read something like: Initializing auto_ptr<X> from const auto_ptr<Y> will result with unspecified ill-formed declaration that will require unspecified diagnostic.

Change 20.4.5.1/4,5,6 to read:

template<class Y> auto_ptr(auto_ptr<Y> const& a) throw();

4 Requires: Y* can be implicitly converted to X*.

5 Effects: Calls const_cast<auto_ptr<Y>&>(a).release().

6 Postconditions: *this holds the pointer returned from a.release().

Change 20.4.5.1/10

template<class Y> auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr<Y> a) throw();

10 Requires: Y* can be implicitly converted to X*. The expression delete get() is well formed.

LWG TC DR #127 is obsolete.

Notice that the copy constructor and copy assignment operator should remain as before and accept non-const auto_ptr& since they have effect on the form of the implicitly declared copy constructor and copy assignment operator of class that contains auto_ptr as member per 12.8/5,10:

struct X {
    // implicit X(X&)
    // implicit X& operator=(X&)
    auto_ptr<D> aptr_;
};

In most cases this indicates about sloppy programming but preserves the current auto_ptr behavior.

Dave Abrahams encouraged me to suggest fallback implementation in case that my suggestion that involves removing of auto_ptr_ref will not be accepted. In this case removing the obsolete conversion member to auto_ptr<Y> and 20.4.5.3/4,5 is still required in order to eliminate ambiguity in legal cases. The two constructors that I suggested will co exist with the current members but will make auto_ptr_ref obsolete in initialization contexts. auto_ptr_ref will be effective in assignment contexts as suggested in DR #127 and I can't see any serious exception safety issues in those cases (although it's possible to synthesize such). auto_ptr_ref<X> semantics will have to be revised to say that it strictly holds pointer of type X and not reference to an auto_ptr for the favor of cases in which auto_ptr_ref<Y> is constructed from auto_ptr<X> in which X is different from Y (i.e. assignment from r-value derived to base).

[Redmond: punt for the moment. We haven't decided yet whether we want to fix auto_ptr for C++-0x, or remove it and replace it with move_ptr and unique_ptr.]

[ Oxford 2007: Recommend NAD. We're just going to deprecate it. It still works for simple use cases and people know how to deal with it. Going forward unique_ptr is the recommended tool. ]

[ 2007-11-09: Reopened at the request of David Abrahams, Alisdair Meredith and Gabriel Dos Reis. ]

Proposed resolution:

Change the synopsis in D.9.1 [auto.ptr]:

namespace std { 
  template <class Y> struct auto_ptr_ref {};

  // exposition only
  template <class T> struct constant_object;

  // exposition only
  template <class T>
  struct cannot_transfer_ownership_from
    : constant_object<T> {};

  template <class X> class auto_ptr { 
  public: 
    typedef X element_type; 

    // D.9.1.1 construct/copy/destroy: 
    explicit auto_ptr(X* p =0) throw(); 
    auto_ptr(auto_ptr&) throw(); 
    template<class Y> auto_ptr(auto_ptr<Y> const&) throw(); 
    auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr&) throw(); 
    template<class Y> auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr<Y>&) throw();
    auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr_ref<X> r) throw();
    ~auto_ptr() throw(); 

    // D.9.1.2 members: 
    X& operator*() const throw();
    X* operator->() const throw();
    X* get() const throw();
    X* release() throw();
    void reset(X* p =0) throw();

    // D.9.1.3 conversions:
    auto_ptr(auto_ptr_ref<X>) throw();
    template<class Y> operator auto_ptr_ref<Y>() throw();
    template<class Y> operator auto_ptr<Y>() throw();

    // exposition only
    template<class U>
    auto_ptr(U& rhs, typename cannot_transfer_ownership_from<U>::error = 0);
  }; 

  template <> class auto_ptr<void> 
  { 
  public: 
    typedef void element_type; 
  }; 

}

Remove D.9.1.3 [auto.ptr.conv].

Change D.9.1 [auto.ptr], p3:

The auto_ptr provides a semantics of strict ownership. An auto_ptr owns the object it holds a pointer to. Copying an auto_ptr copies the pointer and transfers ownership to the destination. If more than one auto_ptr owns the same object at the same time the behavior of the program is undefined. Templates constant_object and cannot_transfer_ownership_from, and the final constructor of auto_ptr are for exposition only. For any types X and Y, initializing auto_ptr<X> from const auto_ptr<Y> is ill-formed, diagnostic required. [Note: The uses of auto_ptr include providing temporary exception-safety for dynamically allocated memory, passing ownership of dynamically allocated memory to a function, and returning dynamically allocated memory from a function. auto_ptr does not meet the CopyConstructible and Assignable requirements for Standard Library container elements and thus instantiating a Standard Library container with an auto_ptr results in undefined behavior. -- end note]

Change D.9.1.1 [auto.ptr.cons], p5:

template<class Y> auto_ptr(auto_ptr<Y> const& a) throw();

Requires: Y* can be implicitly converted to X*.

Effects: Calls const_cast<auto_ptr<Y>&>(a).release().

Postconditions: *this holds the pointer returned from a.release().

Change D.9.1.1 [auto.ptr.cons], p10:

template<class Y> auto_ptr& operator=(auto_ptr<Y>& a) throw();

Requires: Y* can be implicitly converted to X*. The expression delete get() is well formed.

Effects: Calls reset(a.release()).

Returns: *this.


466. basic_string ctor should prevent null pointer error

Section: 21.4.1 [string.require] Status: Open Submitter: Daniel Frey Opened: 2004-06-10 Last modified: 2009-03-22

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Discussion:

Today, my colleagues and me wasted a lot of time. After some time, I found the problem. It could be reduced to the following short example:

  #include <string>
  int main() { std::string( 0 ); }

The problem is that the tested compilers (GCC 2.95.2, GCC 3.3.1 and Comeau online) compile the above without errors or warnings! The programs (at least for the GCC) resulted in a SEGV.

I know that the standard explicitly states that the ctor of string requires a char* which is not zero. STLs could easily detect the above case with a private ctor for basic_string which takes a single 'int' argument. This would catch the above code at compile time and would not ambiguate any other legal ctors.

[Redmond: No great enthusiasm for doing this. If we do, however, we want to do it for all places that take charT* pointers, not just the single-argument constructor. The other question is whether we want to catch this at compile time (in which case we catch the error of a literal 0, but not an expression whose value is a null pointer), at run time, or both.]

[ Post Summit Alisdair requests this be re-opened as several new language facilities are designed to solve exactly this kind of problem. ]

Proposed resolution:

Add to the synopsis in 21.4 [basic.string]

basic_string( nullptr_t ) = delete;

Rationale:

Recommend NAD. Relegate this functionality to debugging implementations.


471. result of what() implementation-defined

Section: 18.7.1 [type.info] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2004-06-28 Last modified: 2008-06-11

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Discussion:

[lib.exception] specifies the following:

    exception (const exception&) throw();
    exception& operator= (const exception&) throw();

    -4- Effects: Copies an exception object.
    -5- Notes: The effects of calling what() after assignment
        are implementation-defined.

First, does the Note only apply to the assignment operator? If so, what are the effects of calling what() on a copy of an object? Is the returned pointer supposed to point to an identical copy of the NTBS returned by what() called on the original object or not?

Second, is this Note intended to extend to all the derived classes in section 19? I.e., does the standard provide any guarantee for the effects of what() called on a copy of any of the derived class described in section 19?

Finally, if the answer to the first question is no, I believe it constitutes a defect since throwing an exception object typically implies invoking the copy ctor on the object. If the answer is yes, then I believe the standard ought to be clarified to spell out exactly what the effects are on the copy (i.e., after the copy ctor was called).

[Redmond: Yes, this is fuzzy. The issue of derived classes is fuzzy too.]

[ Batavia: Howard provided wording. ]

[ Bellevue: ]

Eric concerned this is unimplementable, due to nothrow guarantees. Suggested implementation would involve reference counting.

Is the implied reference counting subtle enough to call out a note on implementation? Probably not.

If reference counting required, could we tighten specification further to require same pointer value? Probably an overspecification, especially if exception classes defer evalutation of final string to calls to what().

Remember issue moved open and not resolved at Batavia, but cannot remember who objected to canvas a disenting opinion - please speak up if you disagree while reading these minutes!

Move to Ready as we are accepting words unmodified.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

The issue was pulled from Ready. It needs to make clear that only homogenous copying is intended to be supported. Not coping from a dervied to a base.

Proposed resolution:

Change 18.8.1 [exception] to:

exception(const exception& e) throw();
exception& operator=(const exception& e) throw();

-4- Effects: Copies an exception object.

-5- Remarks: The effects of calling what() after assignment are implementation-defined.

-5- Throws: Nothing. This also applies to all standard library-defined classes that derive from exception.

-7- Postcondition: strcmp(what(), e.what()) == 0. This also applies to all standard library-defined classes that derive from exception.


473. underspecified ctype calls

Section: 22.4.1.1 [locale.ctype] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2004-07-01 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

Most ctype member functions come in two forms: one that operates on a single character at a time and another form that operates on a range of characters. Both forms are typically described by a single Effects and/or Returns clause.

The Returns clause of each of the single-character non-virtual forms suggests that the function calls the corresponding single character virtual function, and that the array form calls the corresponding virtual array form. Neither of the two forms of each virtual member function is required to be implemented in terms of the other.

There are three problems:

1. One is that while the standard does suggest that each non-virtual member function calls the corresponding form of the virtual function, it doesn't actually explicitly require it.

Implementations that cache results from some of the virtual member functions for some or all values of their arguments might want to call the array form from the non-array form the first time to fill the cache and avoid any or most subsequent virtual calls. Programs that rely on each form of the virtual function being called from the corresponding non-virtual function will see unexpected behavior when using such implementations.

2. The second problem is that either form of each of the virtual functions can be overridden by a user-defined function in a derived class to return a value that is different from the one produced by the virtual function of the alternate form that has not been overriden.

Thus, it might be possible for, say, ctype::widen(c) to return one value, while for ctype::widen(&c, &c + 1, &wc) to set wc to another value. This is almost certainly not intended. Both forms of every function should be required to return the same result for the same character, otherwise the same program using an implementation that calls one form of the functions will behave differently than when using another implementation that calls the other form of the function "under the hood."

3. The last problem is that the standard text fails to specify whether one form of any of the virtual functions is permitted to be implemented in terms of the other form or not, and if so, whether it is required or permitted to call the overridden virtual function or not.

Thus, a program that overrides one of the virtual functions so that it calls the other form which then calls the base member might end up in an infinite loop if the called form of the base implementation of the function in turn calls the other form.

Lillehammer: Part of this isn't a real problem. We already talk about caching. 22.1.1/6 But part is a real problem. ctype virtuals may call each other, so users don't know which ones to override to avoid avoid infinite loops.

This is a problem for all facet virtuals, not just ctype virtuals, so we probably want a blanket statement in clause 22 for all facets. The LWG is leaning toward a blanket prohibition, that a facet's virtuals may never call each other. We might want to do that in clause 27 too, for that matter. A review is necessary. Bill will provide wording.

Proposed resolution:


485. output iterator insufficently constrained

Section: 24.2.3 [output.iterators] Status: Open Submitter: Chris Jefferson Opened: 2004-10-13 Last modified: 2006-12-27

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Discussion:

The note on 24.1.2 Output iterators insufficently limits what can be performed on output iterators. While it requires that each iterator is progressed through only once and that each iterator is written to only once, it does not require the following things:

Note: Here it is assumed that x is an output iterator of type X which has not yet been assigned to.

a) That each value of the output iterator is written to: The standard allows: ++x; ++x; ++x;

b) That assignments to the output iterator are made in order X a(x); ++a; *a=1; *x=2; is allowed

c) Chains of output iterators cannot be constructed: X a(x); ++a; X b(a); ++b; X c(b); ++c; is allowed, and under the current wording (I believe) x,a,b,c could be written to in any order.

I do not believe this was the intension of the standard?

[Lillehammer: Real issue. There are lots of constraints we intended but didn't specify. Should be solved as part of iterator redesign.]

Proposed resolution:


492. Invalid iterator arithmetic expressions

Section: 23 [containers], 24 [iterators], 25 [algorithms] Status: Open Submitter: Thomas Mang Opened: 2004-12-12 Last modified: 2008-02-27

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Discussion:

Various clauses other than clause 25 make use of iterator arithmetic not supported by the iterator category in question. Algorithms in clause 25 are exceptional because of 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9, but this paragraph does not provide semantics to the expression "iterator - n", where n denotes a value of a distance type between iterators.

1) Examples of current wording:

Current wording outside clause 25:

23.2.2.4 [lib.list.ops], paragraphs 19-21: "first + 1", "(i - 1)", "(last - first)" 23.3.1.1 [lib.map.cons], paragraph 4: "last - first" 23.3.2.1 [lib.multimap.cons], paragraph 4: "last - first" 23.3.3.1 [lib.set.cons], paragraph 4: "last - first" 23.3.4.1 [lib.multiset.cons], paragraph 4: "last - first" 24.4.1 [lib.reverse.iterators], paragraph 1: "(i - 1)"

[Important note: The list is not complete, just an illustration. The same issue might well apply to other paragraphs not listed here.]

None of these expressions is valid for the corresponding iterator category.

Current wording in clause 25:

25.1.1 [lib.alg.foreach], paragraph 1: "last - 1" 25.1.3 [lib.alg.find.end], paragraph 2: "[first1, last1 - (last2-first2))" 25.2.8 [lib.alg.unique], paragraph 1: "(i - 1)" 25.2.8 [lib.alg.unique], paragraph 5: "(i - 1)"

However, current wording of 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9 covers neither of these four cases:

Current wording of 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9:

"In the description of the algorithms operator + and - are used for some of the iterator categories for which they do not have to be defined. In these cases the semantics of a+n is the same as that of

{X tmp = a;
advance(tmp, n);
return tmp;
}

and that of b-a is the same as of return distance(a, b)"

This paragrpah does not take the expression "iterator - n" into account, where n denotes a value of a distance type between two iterators [Note: According to current wording, the expression "iterator - n" would be resolved as equivalent to "return distance(n, iterator)"]. Even if the expression "iterator - n" were to be reinterpreted as equivalent to "iterator + -n" [Note: This would imply that "a" and "b" were interpreted implicitly as values of iterator types, and "n" as value of a distance type], then 24.3.4/2 interfers because it says: "Requires: n may be negative only for random access and bidirectional iterators.", and none of the paragraphs quoted above requires the iterators on which the algorithms operate to be of random access or bidirectional category.

2) Description of intended behavior:

For the rest of this Defect Report, it is assumed that the expression "iterator1 + n" and "iterator1 - iterator2" has the semantics as described in current 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9, but applying to all clauses. The expression "iterator1 - n" is equivalent to an result-iterator for which the expression "result-iterator + n" yields an iterator denoting the same position as iterator1 does. The terms "iterator1", "iterator2" and "result-iterator" shall denote the value of an iterator type, and the term "n" shall denote a value of a distance type between two iterators.

All implementations known to the author of this Defect Report comply with these assumptions. No impact on current code is expected.

3) Proposed fixes:

Change 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9 to:

"In the description of the algorithms operator + and - are used for some of the iterator categories for which they do not have to be defined. In this paragraph, a and b denote values of an iterator type, and n denotes a value of a distance type between two iterators. In these cases the semantics of a+n is the same as that of

{X tmp = a;
advance(tmp, n);
return tmp;
}

,the semantics of a-n denotes the value of an iterator i for which the following condition holds: advance(i, n) == a, and that of b-a is the same as of return distance(a, b)".

Comments to the new wording:

a) The wording " In this paragraph, a and b denote values of an iterator type, and n denotes a value of a distance type between two iterators." was added so the expressions "b-a" and "a-n" are distinguished regarding the types of the values on which they operate. b) The wording ",the semantics of a-n denotes the value of an iterator i for which the following condition holds: advance(i, n) == a" was added to cover the expression 'iterator - n'. The wording "advance(i, n) == a" was used to avoid a dependency on the semantics of a+n, as the wording "i + n == a" would have implied. However, such a dependency might well be deserved. c) DR 225 is not considered in the new wording.

Proposed fixes regarding invalid iterator arithmetic expressions outside clause 25:

Either a) Move modified 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9 (as proposed above) before any current invalid iterator arithmetic expression. In that case, the first sentence of 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9, need also to be modified and could read: "For the rest of this International Standard, ...." / "In the description of the following clauses including this ...." / "In the description of the text below ..." etc. - anyways substituting the wording "algorithms", which is a straight reference to clause 25. In that case, 25 [lib.algorithms] paragraph 9 will certainly become obsolete. Alternatively, b) Add an appropiate paragraph similar to resolved 25 [lib.algorithms], paragraph 9, to the beginning of each clause containing invalid iterator arithmetic expressions. Alternatively, c) Fix each paragraph (both current wording and possible resolutions of DRs) containing invalid iterator arithmetic expressions separately.

5) References to other DRs:

See DR 225. See DR 237. The resolution could then also read "Linear in last - first".

[ Bellevue: ]

Keep open and ask Bill to provide wording.

Proposed resolution:

[Lillehammer: Minor issue, but real. We have a blanket statement about this in 25/11. But (a) it should be in 17, not 25; and (b) it's not quite broad enough, because there are some arithmetic expressions it doesn't cover. Bill will provide wording.]


498. Requirements for partition() and stable_partition() too strong

Section: 25.4.13 [alg.partitions] Status: Open Submitter: Sean Parent, Joe Gottman Opened: 2005-05-04 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

Problem: The iterator requirements for partition() and stable_partition() [25.2.12] are listed as BidirectionalIterator, however, there are efficient algorithms for these functions that only require ForwardIterator that have been known since before the standard existed. The SGI implementation includes these (see http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/partition.html and http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/stable_partition.html).

[ 2009-04-30 Alisdair adds: ]

Now we have concepts this is easier to express!

Proposed resolution:

Add the following signature to:

Header <algorithm> synopsis 25.2 [algorithms.syn]
p3 Partitions 25.4.13 [alg.partitions]

 template<ForwardIterator Iter, Predicate<auto, Iter::value_type> Pred>
   requires ShuffleIterator<Iter>
         && CopyConstructible<Pred>
   Iter partition(Iter first, Iter last, Pred pred);

Update p3 Partitions 25.4.13 [alg.partitions]:

Complexity: At most (last - first)/2 swaps. Exactly last - first applications of the predicate are done. If Iter satisfies BidirectionalIterator, at most (last - first)/2 swaps. Exactly last - first applications of the predicate are done.

If Iter merely satisfied ForwardIterator at most (last - first) swaps are done. Exactly (last - first) applications of the predicate are done.

[Editorial note: I looked for existing precedent in how we might call out distinct overloads overloads from a set of constrained templates, but there is not much existing practice to lean on. advance/distance were the only algorithms I could find, and that wording is no clearer.]

Proposed resolution:

Change 25.2.12 from

template<class BidirectionalIterator, class Predicate> 
BidirectionalIterator partition(BidirectionalIterato r first, 
                                BidirectionalIterator last, 
                                Predicate pred); 

to

template<class ForwardIterator, class Predicate> 
ForwardIterator partition(ForwardIterator first, 
                          ForwardIterator last, 
                          Predicate pred); 

Change the complexity from

At most (last - first)/2 swaps are done. Exactly (last - first) applications of the predicate are done.

to

If ForwardIterator is a bidirectional_iterator, at most (last - first)/2 swaps are done; otherwise at most (last - first) swaps are done. Exactly (last - first) applications of the predicate are done.

Rationale:

Partition is a "foundation" algorithm useful in many contexts (like sorting as just one example) - my motivation for extending it to include forward iterators is foward_list - without this extension you can't partition an foward_list (without writing your own partition). Holes like this in the standard library weaken the argument for generic programming (ideally I'd be able to provide a library that would refine std::partition() to other concepts without fear of conflicting with other libraries doing the same - but that is a digression). I consider the fact that partition isn't defined to work for ForwardIterator a minor embarrassment.

[Mont Tremblant: Moved to Open, request motivation and use cases by next meeting. Sean provided further rationale by post-meeting mailing.]


502. Proposition: Clarification of the interaction between a facet and an iterator

Section: 22.3.1.1.1 [locale.category] Status: Open Submitter: Christopher Conrade Zseleghovski Opened: 2005-06-07 Last modified: 2008-03-13

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Discussion:

Motivation:

This requirement seems obvious to me, it is the essence of code modularity. I have complained to Mr. Plauger that the Dinkumware library does not observe this principle but he objected that this behaviour is not covered in the standard.

Proposed resolution:

Append the following point to 22.1.1.1.1:

6. The implementation of a facet of Table 52 parametrized with an InputIterator/OutputIterator should use that iterator only as character source/sink respectively. For a *_get facet, it means that the value received depends only on the sequence of input characters and not on how they are accessed. For a *_put facet, it means that the sequence of characters output depends only on the value to be formatted and not of how the characters are stored.

[ Berlin: Moved to Open, Need to clean up this area to make it clear locales don't have to contain open ended sets of facets. Jack, Howard, Bill. ]


503. more on locales

Section: 22.4 [locale.categories] Status: Open Submitter: P.J. Plauger Opened: 2005-06-20 Last modified: 2008-03-13

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Discussion:

a) In 22.2.1.1 para. 2 we refer to "the instantiations required in Table 51" to refer to the facet *objects* associated with a locale. And we almost certainly mean just those associated with the default or "C" locale. Otherwise, you can't switch to a locale that enforces a different mapping between narrow and wide characters, or that defines additional uppercase characters.

b) 22.2.1.5 para. 3 (codecvt) has the same issues.

c) 22.2.1.5.2 (do_unshift) is even worse. It *forbids* the generation of a homing sequence for the basic character set, which might very well need one.

d) 22.2.1.5.2 (do_length) likewise dictates that the default mapping between wide and narrow characters be taken as one-for-one.

e) 22.2.2 para. 2 (num_get/put) is both muddled and vacuous, as far as I can tell. The muddle is, as before, calling Table 51 a list of instantiations. But the constraint it applies seems to me to cover *all* defined uses of num_get/put, so why bother to say so?

f) 22.2.3.1.2 para. 1(do_decimal_point) says "The required instantiations return '.' or L'.'.) Presumably this means "as appropriate for the character type. But given the vague definition of "required" earlier, this overrules *any* change of decimal point for non "C" locales. Surely we don't want to do that.

g) 22.2.3.1.2 para. 2 (do_thousands_sep) says "The required instantiations return ',' or L','.) As above, this probably means "as appropriate for the character type. But this overrules the "C" locale, which requires *no* character ('\0') for the thousands separator. Even if we agree that we don't mean to block changes in decimal point or thousands separator, we should also eliminate this clear incompatibility with C.

h) 22.2.3.1.2 para. 2 (do_grouping) says "The required instantiations return the empty string, indicating no grouping." Same considerations as for do_decimal_point.

i) 22.2.4.1 para. 1 (collate) refers to "instantiations required in Table 51". Same bad jargon.

j) 22.2.4.1.2 para. 1 (do_compare) refers to "instantiations required in Table 51". Same bad jargon.

k) 22.2.5 para. 1 (time_get/put) uses the same muddled and vacuous as num_get/put.

l) 22.2.6 para. 2 (money_get/put) uses the same muddled and vacuous as num_get/put.

m) 22.2.6.3.2 (do_pos/neg_format) says "The instantiations required in Table 51 ... return an object of type pattern initialized to {symbol, sign, none, value}." This once again *overrides* the "C" locale, as well as any other locale."

3) We constrain the use_facet calls that can be made by num_get/put, so why don't we do the same for money_get/put? Or for any of the other facets, for that matter?

4) As an almost aside, we spell out when a facet needs to use the ctype facet, but several also need to use a codecvt facet and we don't say so.

[ Berlin: Bill to provide wording. ]

Proposed resolution:


523. regex case-insensitive character ranges are unimplementable as specified

Section: 28 [re] Status: Open Submitter: Eric Niebler Opened: 2005-07-01 Last modified: 2008-03-13

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Discussion:

A problem with TR1 regex is currently being discussed on the Boost developers list. It involves the handling of case-insensitive matching of character ranges such as [Z-a]. The proper behavior (according to the ECMAScript standard) is unimplementable given the current specification of the TR1 regex_traits<> class template. John Maddock, the author of the TR1 regex proposal, agrees there is a problem. The full discussion can be found at http://lists.boost.org/boost/2005/06/28850.php (first message copied below). We don't have any recommendations as yet.

-- Begin original message --

The situation of interest is described in the ECMAScript specification (ECMA-262), section 15.10.2.15:

"Even if the pattern ignores case, the case of the two ends of a range is significant in determining which characters belong to the range. Thus, for example, the pattern /[E-F]/i matches only the letters E, F, e, and f, while the pattern /[E-f]/i matches all upper and lower-case ASCII letters as well as the symbols [, \, ], ^, _, and `."

A more interesting case is what should happen when doing a case-insentitive match on a range such as [Z-a]. It should match z, Z, a, A and the symbols [, \, ], ^, _, and `. This is not what happens with Boost.Regex (it throws an exception from the regex constructor).

The tough pill to swallow is that, given the specification in TR1, I don't think there is any effective way to handle this situation. According to the spec, case-insensitivity is handled with regex_traits<>::translate_nocase(CharT) -- two characters are equivalent if they compare equal after both are sent through the translate_nocase function. But I don't see any way of using this translation function to make character ranges case-insensitive. Consider the difficulty of detecting whether "z" is in the range [Z-a]. Applying the transformation to "z" has no effect (it is essentially std::tolower). And we're not allowed to apply the transformation to the ends of the range, because as ECMA-262 says, "the case of the two ends of a range is significant."

So AFAICT, TR1 regex is just broken, as is Boost.Regex. One possible fix is to redefine translate_nocase to return a string_type containing all the characters that should compare equal to the specified character. But this function is hard to implement for Unicode, and it doesn't play nice with the existing ctype facet. What a mess!

-- End original message --

[ John Maddock adds: ]

One small correction, I have since found that ICU's regex package does implement this correctly, using a similar mechanism to the current TR1.Regex.

Given an expression [c1-c2] that is compiled as case insensitive it:

Enumerates every character in the range c1 to c2 and converts it to it's case folded equivalent. That case folded character is then used a key to a table of equivalence classes, and each member of the class is added to the list of possible matches supported by the character-class. This second step isn't possible with our current traits class design, but isn't necessary if the input text is also converted to a case-folded equivalent on the fly.

ICU applies similar brute force mechanisms to character classes such as [[:lower:]] and [[:word:]], however these are at least cached, so the impact is less noticeable in this case.

Quick and dirty performance comparisons show that expressions such as "[X-\\x{fff0}]+" are indeed very slow to compile with ICU (about 200 times slower than a "normal" expression). For an application that uses a lot of regexes this could have a noticeable performance impact. ICU also has an advantage in that it knows the range of valid characters codes: code points outside that range are assumed not to require enumeration, as they can not be part of any equivalence class. I presume that if we want the TR1.Regex to work with arbitrarily large character sets enumeration really does become impractical.

Finally note that Unicode has:

Three cases (upper, lower and title). One to many, and many to one case transformations. Character that have context sensitive case translations - for example an uppercase sigma has two different lowercase forms - the form chosen depends on context(is it end of a word or not), a caseless match for an upper case sigma should match either of the lower case forms, which is why case folding is often approximated by tolower(toupper(c)).

Probably we need some way to enumerate character equivalence classes, including digraphs (either as a result or an input), and some way to tell whether the next character pair is a valid digraph in the current locale.

Hoping this doesn't make this even more complex that it was already,

[ Portland: Alisdair: Detect as invalid, throw an exception. Pete: Possible general problem with case insensitive ranges. ]

Proposed resolution:


539. partial_sum and adjacent_difference should mention requirements

Section: 26.7.3 [partial.sum] Status: Open Submitter: Marc Schoolderman Opened: 2006-02-06 Last modified: 2008-06-18

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

There are some problems in the definition of partial_sum and adjacent_difference in 26.4 [lib.numeric.ops]

Unlike accumulate and inner_product, these functions are not parametrized on a "type T", instead, 26.4.3 [lib.partial.sum] simply specifies the effects clause as;

Assigns to every element referred to by iterator i in the range [result,result + (last - first)) a value correspondingly equal to

((...(* first + *( first + 1)) + ...) + *( first + ( i - result )))

And similarly for BinaryOperation. Using just this definition, it seems logical to expect that:

char i_array[4] = { 100, 100, 100, 100 };
int  o_array[4];

std::partial_sum(i_array, i_array+4, o_array);

Is equivalent to

int o_array[4] = { 100, 100+100, 100+100+100, 100+100+100+100 };

i.e. 100, 200, 300, 400, with addition happening in the result type, int.

Yet all implementations I have tested produce 100, -56, 44, -112, because they are using an accumulator of the InputIterator's value_type, which in this case is char, not int.

The issue becomes more noticeable when the result of the expression *i + *(i+1) or binary_op(*i, *i-1) can't be converted to the value_type. In a contrived example:

enum not_int { x = 1, y = 2 };
...
not_int e_array[4] = { x, x, y, y };
std::partial_sum(e_array, e_array+4, o_array);

Is it the intent that the operations happen in the input type, or in the result type?

If the intent is that operations happen in the result type, something like this should be added to the "Requires" clause of 26.4.3/4 [lib.partial.sum]:

The type of *i + *(i+1) or binary_op(*i, *(i+1)) shall meet the requirements of CopyConstructible (20.1.3) and Assignable (23.1) types.

(As also required for T in 26.4.1 [lib.accumulate] and 26.4.2 [lib.inner.product].)

The "auto initializer" feature proposed in N1894 is not required to implement partial_sum this way. The 'narrowing' behaviour can still be obtained by using the std::plus<> function object.

If the intent is that operations happen in the input type, then something like this should be added instead;

The type of *first shall meet the requirements of CopyConstructible (20.1.3) and Assignable (23.1) types. The result of *i + *(i+1) or binary_op(*i, *(i+1)) shall be convertible to this type.

The 'widening' behaviour can then be obtained by writing a custom proxy iterator, which is somewhat involved.

In both cases, the semantics should probably be clarified.

26.4.4 [lib.adjacent.difference] is similarly underspecified, although all implementations seem to perform operations in the 'result' type:

unsigned char i_array[4] = { 4, 3, 2, 1 };
int o_array[4];

std::adjacent_difference(i_array, i_array+4, o_array);

o_array is 4, -1, -1, -1 as expected, not 4, 255, 255, 255.

In any case, adjacent_difference doesn't mention the requirements on the value_type; it can be brought in line with the rest of 26.4 [lib.numeric.ops] by adding the following to 26.4.4/2 [lib.adjacent.difference]:

The type of *first shall meet the requirements of CopyConstructible (20.1.3) and Assignable (23.1) types."

[ Berlin: Giving output iterator's value_types very controversial. Suggestion of adding signatures to allow user to specify "accumulator". ]

[ Bellevue: ]

The intent of the algorithms is to perform their calculations using the type of the input iterator. Proposed wording provided.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

We did not agree that the proposed resolution was correct. For example, when the arguments are types (float*, float*, double*), the highest-quality solution would use double as the type of the accumulator. If the intent of the wording is to require that the type of the accumulator must be the input_iterator's value_type, the wording should specify it.

Proposed resolution:

Add to section 26.7.3 [partial.sum] paragraph 4 the following two sentences:

The type of *first shall meet the requirements of CopyConstructible? (20.1.3?) and Assignable (23.1?) types. The result of *i + *(i+1) or binary_op(*i, *(i+1)) shall be convertible to this type.

Add to section 26.7.4 [adjacent.difference] paragraph 2 the following sentence:

The type of *first shall meet the requirements of CopyConstructible? (20.1.3) and Assignable (23.1) types.

546. _Longlong and _ULonglong are integer types

Section: TR1 5.1.1 [tr.rand.req] Status: Open Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 2006-01-10 Last modified: 2007-10-09

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

The TR sneaks in two new integer types, _Longlong and _Ulonglong, in [tr.c99]. The rest of the TR should use that type. I believe this affects two places. First, the random number requirements, 5.1.1/10-11, lists all of the types with which template parameters named IntType and UIntType may be instantiated. _Longlong (or "long long", assuming it is added to C++0x) should be added to the IntType list, and UIntType (again, or "unsigned long long") should be added to the UIntType list. Second, 6.3.2 lists the types for which hash<> is required to be instantiable. _Longlong and _Ulonglong should be added to that list, so that people may use long long as a hash key.

Proposed resolution:


564. stringbuf seekpos underspecified

Section: 27.8.1.4 [stringbuf.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2006-02-23 Last modified: 2007-10-10

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Discussion:

The effects of the seekpos() member function of basic_stringbuf simply say that the function positions the input and/or output sequences but fail to spell out exactly how. This is in contrast to the detail in which seekoff() is described.

Proposed resolution:

Change 27.7.1.3, p13 to read:

-13- Effects: Same as seekoff(off_type(sp), ios_base::beg, which). Alters the stream position within the controlled sequences, if possible, to correspond to the stream position stored in sp (as described below).

[ Kona (2007): A pos_type is a position in a stream by definition, so there is no ambiguity as to what it means. Proposed Disposition: NAD ]

[ Post-Kona Martin adds: I'm afraid I disagree with the Kona '07 rationale for marking it NAD. The only text that describes precisely what it means to position the input or output sequence is in seekoff(). The seekpos() Effects clause is inadequate in comparison and the proposed resolution plugs the hole by specifying seekpos() in terms of seekoff(). ]


565. xsputn inefficient

Section: 27.6.2.4.5 [streambuf.virt.put] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2006-02-23 Last modified: 2007-10-09

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

streambuf::xsputn() is specified to have the effect of "writing up to n characters to the output sequence as if by repeated calls to sputc(c)."

Since sputc() is required to call overflow() when (pptr() == epptr()) is true, strictly speaking xsputn() should do the same. However, doing so would be suboptimal in some interesting cases, such as in unbuffered mode or when the buffer is basic_stringbuf.

Assuming calling overflow() is not really intended to be required and the wording is simply meant to describe the general effect of appending to the end of the sequence it would be worthwhile to mention in xsputn() that the function is not actually required to cause a call to overflow().

Proposed resolution:

Add the following sentence to the xsputn() Effects clause in 27.5.2.4.5, p1 (N1804):

-1- Effects: Writes up to n characters to the output sequence as if by repeated calls to sputc(c). The characters written are obtained from successive elements of the array whose first element is designated by s. Writing stops when either n characters have been written or a call to sputc(c) would return traits::eof(). It is uspecified whether the function calls overflow() when (pptr() == epptr()) becomes true or whether it achieves the same effects by other means.

In addition, I suggest to add a footnote to this function with the same text as Footnote 292 to make it extra clear that derived classes are permitted to override xsputn() for efficiency.

[ Kona (2007): We want to permit a streambuf that streams output directly to a device without making calls to sputc or overflow. We believe that has always been the intention of the committee. We believe that the proposed wording doesn't accomplish that. Proposed Disposition: Open ]


568. log2 overloads missing

Section: TR1 8.16.4 [tr.c99.cmath.over] Status: New Submitter: Paolo Carlini Opened: 2006-03-07 Last modified: 2007-05-11

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Discussion:

log2 is missing from the list of "additional overloads" in TR1 8.16.4 [tr.c99.cmath.over] p1.

Hinnant: This is a TR1 issue only. It is fixed in the current (N2135) WD.

Proposed resolution:

Add log2 to the list of functions in TR1 8.16.4 [tr.c99.cmath.over] p1.


573. C++0x file positioning should handle modern file sizes

Section: 27.5.3 [fpos] Status: Open Submitter: Beman Dawes Opened: 2006-04-12 Last modified: 2007-10-09

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Discussion:

There are two deficiencies related to file sizes:

  1. It doesn't appear that the Standard Library is specified in a way that handles modern file sizes, which are often too large to be represented by an unsigned long.
  2. The std::fpos class does not currently have the ability to set/get file positions.

The Dinkumware implementation of the Standard Library as shipped with the Microsoft compiler copes with these issues by:

  1. Defining fpos_t be long long, which is large enough to represent any file position likely in the foreseeable future.
  2. Adding member functions to class fpos. For example,
    fpos_t seekpos() const;
    

Because there are so many types relating to file positions and offsets (fpos_t, fpos, pos_type, off_type, streamoff, streamsize, streampos, wstreampos, and perhaps more), it is difficult to know if the Dinkumware extensions are sufficient. But they seem a useful starting place for discussions, and they do represent existing practice.

[ Kona (2007): We need a paper. It would be nice if someone proposed clarifications to the definitions of pos_type and off_type. Currently these definitions are horrible. Proposed Disposition: Open ]

Proposed resolution:


580. unused allocator members

Section: 23.2.1 [container.requirements.general] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2006-06-14 Last modified: 2009-05-01

View other active issues in [container.requirements.general].

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Duplicate of: 479

Discussion:

C++ Standard Library templates that take an allocator as an argument are required to call the allocate() and deallocate() members of the allocator object to obtain storage. However, they do not appear to be required to call any other allocator members such as construct(), destroy(), address(), and max_size(). This makes these allocator members less than useful in portable programs.

It's unclear to me whether the absence of the requirement to use these allocator members is an unintentional omission or a deliberate choice. However, since the functions exist in the standard allocator and since they are required to be provided by any user-defined allocator I believe the standard ought to be clarified to explictly specify whether programs should or should not be able to rely on standard containers calling the functions.

I propose that all containers be required to make use of these functions.

[ Batavia: We support this resolution. Martin to provide wording. ]

[ pre-Oxford: Martin provided wording. ]

[ 2009-04-28 Pablo adds: ]

N2554 (scoped allocators), N2768 (allocator concepts), and N2810 (allocator defects), address all of these points EXCEPT max_size(). So, I would add a note to that affect and re-class the defect as belonging to section 23.2.1 [container.requirements.general].

Proposed resolution:

Specifically, I propose to change 23.2 [container.requirements], p9 as follows:

-9- Copy constructors for all container types defined in this clause that are parametrized on Allocator copy anthe allocator argument from their respective first parameters. All other constructors for these container types take an const Allocator& argument (20.1.6), an allocator whose value_type is the same as the container's value_type. A copy of this argument isshall be used for any memory allocation and deallocation performed, by these constructors and by all member functions, during the lifetime of each container object. Allocation shall be performed "as if" by calling the allocate() member function on a copy of the allocator object of the appropriate type New Footnote), and deallocation "as if" by calling deallocate() on a copy of the same allocator object of the corresponding type. A copy of this argument shall also be used to construct and destroy objects whose lifetime is managed by the container, including but not limited to those of the container's value_type, and to obtain their address. All objects residing in storage allocated by a container's allocator shall be constructed "as if" by calling the construct() member function on a copy of the allocator object of the appropriate type. The same objects shall be destroyed "as if" by calling destroy() on a copy of the same allocator object of the same type. The address of such objects shall be obtained "as if" by calling the address() member function on a copy of the allocator object of the appropriate type. Finally, a copy of this argument shall be used by its container object to determine the maximum number of objects of the container's value_type the container may store at the same time. The container member function max_size() obtains this number from the value returned by a call to get_allocator().max_size(). In all container types defined in this clause that are parametrized on Allocator, the member get_allocator() returns a copy of the Allocator object used to construct the container.258)

New Footnote: This type may be different from Allocator: it may be derived from Allocator via Allocator::rebind<U>::other for the appropriate type U.

The proposed wording seems cumbersome but I couldn't think of a better way to describe the requirement that containers use their Allocator to manage only objects (regardless of their type) that persist over their lifetimes and not, for example, temporaries created on the stack. That is, containers shouldn't be required to call Allocator::construct(Allocator::allocate(1), elem) just to construct a temporary copy of an element, or Allocator::destroy(Allocator::address(temp), 1) to destroy temporaries.

[ Howard: This same paragraph will need some work to accommodate 431. ]

[ post Oxford: This would be rendered NAD Editorial by acceptance of N2257. ]


582. specialized algorithms and volatile storage

Section: 20.8.11.2 [uninitialized.copy] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2006-06-14 Last modified: 2009-03-14

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Discussion:

Related to 1029

The specialized algorithms [lib.specialized.algorithms] are specified as having the general effect of invoking the following expression:


new (static_cast<void*>(&*i))
    typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::value_type (x)

            

This expression is ill-formed when the type of the subexpression &*i is some volatile-qualified T.

[ Batavia: Lack of support for proposed resolution but agree there is a defect. Howard to look at wording. Concern that move semantics properly expressed if iterator returns rvalue. ]

Proposed resolution:

In order to allow these algorithms to operate on volatile storage I propose to change the expression so as to make it well-formed even for pointers to volatile types. Specifically, I propose the following changes to clauses 20 and 24. Change 20.6.4.1, p1 to read:


Effects:

typedef typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::pointer    pointer;
typedef typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::value_type value_type;

for (; first != last; ++result, ++first)
    new (static_cast<void*>(const_cast<pointer>(&*result))
        value_type (*first);

            

change 20.6.4.2, p1 to read


Effects:

typedef typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::pointer    pointer;
typedef typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::value_type value_type;

for (; first != last; ++result, ++first)
    new (static_cast<void*>(const_cast<pointer>(&*first))
        value_type (*x);

            

and change 20.6.4.3, p1 to read


Effects:

typedef typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::pointer    pointer;
typedef typename iterator_traits<ForwardIterator>::value_type value_type;

for (; n--; ++first)
    new (static_cast<void*>(const_cast<pointer>(&*first))
        value_type (*x);

            

In addition, since there is no partial specialization for iterator_traits<volatile T*> I propose to add one to parallel such specialization for <const T*>. Specifically, I propose to add the following text to the end of 24.3.1, p3:

and for pointers to volatile as


namespace std {
template<class T> struct iterator_traits<volatile T*> {
typedef ptrdiff_t difference_type;
typedef T value_type;
typedef volatile T* pointer;
typedef volatile T& reference;
typedef random_access_iterator_tag iterator_category;
};
}

            

Note that the change to iterator_traits isn't necessary in order to implement the specialized algorithms in a way that allows them to operate on volatile strorage. It is only necesassary in order to specify their effects in terms of iterator_traits as is done here. Implementations can (and some do) achieve the same effect by means of function template overloading.


585. facet error reporting

Section: 22.4 [locale.categories] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor, Paolo Carlini Opened: 2006-06-22 Last modified: 2007-10-09

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Discussion:

Section 22.2, paragraph 2 requires facet get() members that take an ios_base::iostate& argument, err, to ignore the (initial) value of the argument, but to set it to ios_base::failbit in case of a parse error.

We believe there are a few minor problems with this blanket requirement in conjunction with the wording specific to each get() member function.

First, besides get() there are other member functions with a slightly different name (for example, get_date()). It's not completely clear that the intent of the paragraph is to include those as well, and at least one implementation has interpreted the requirement literally.

Second, the requirement to "set the argument to ios_base::failbit suggests that the functions are not permitted to set it to any other value (such as ios_base::eofbit, or even ios_base::eofbit | ios_base::failbit).

However, 22.2.2.1.2, p5 (Stage 3 of num_get parsing) and p6 (bool parsing) specifies that the do_get functions perform err |= ios_base::eofbit, which contradicts the earlier requirement to ignore err's initial value.

22.2.6.1.2, p1 (the Effects clause of the money_get facet's do_get member functions) also specifies that err's initial value be used to compute the final value by ORing it with either ios_base::failbit or withios_base::eofbit | ios_base::failbit.

Proposed resolution:

We believe the intent is for all facet member functions that take an ios_base::iostate& argument to:

To that effect we propose to change 22.2, p2 as follows:

The put() members make no provision for error reporting. (Any failures of the OutputIterator argument must be extracted from the returned iterator.) Unless otherwise specified, the get() members that take an ios_base::iostate& argument whose value they ignore, but set to ios_base::failbit in case of a parse error., err, start by evaluating err = ios_base::goodbit, and may subsequently set err to either ios_base::eofbit, or ios_base::failbit, or ios_base::eofbit | ios_base::failbit in response to reaching the end-of-file or in case of a parse error, or both, respectively.

[ Kona (2007): We need to change the proposed wording to clarify that the phrase "the get members" actually denotes get(), get_date(), etc. Proposed Disposition: Open ]


588. requirements on zero sized tr1::arrays and other details

Section: 23.3.1 [array] Status: Open Submitter: Gennaro Prota Opened: 2006-07-18 Last modified: 2007-10-09

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Discussion:

The wording used for section 23.2.1 [lib.array] seems to be subtly ambiguous about zero sized arrays (N==0). Specifically:

* "An instance of array<T, N> stores N elements of type T, so that [...]"

Does this imply that a zero sized array object stores 0 elements, i.e. that it cannot store any element of type T? The next point clarifies the rationale behind this question, basically how to implement begin() and end():

* 23.2.1.5 [lib.array.zero], p2: "In the case that N == 0, begin() == end() == unique value."

What does "unique" mean in this context? Let's consider the following possible implementations, all relying on a partial specialization:

a)
    template< typename T >
    class array< T, 0 > {
    
        ....

        iterator begin()
        { return iterator( reinterpret_cast< T * >( this ) ); }
        ....

    };

This has been used in boost, probably intending that the return value had to be unique to the specific array object and that array couldn't store any T. Note that, besides relying on a reinterpret_cast, has (more than potential) alignment problems.

b)
    template< typename T >
    class array< T, 0 > {
    
        T t;

        iterator begin()
        { return iterator( &t ); }
        ....

    };

This provides a value which is unique to the object and to the type of the array, but requires storing a T. Also, it would allow the user to mistakenly provide an initializer list with one element.

A slight variant could be returning *the* null pointer of type T

    return static_cast<T*>(0);

In this case the value would be unique to the type array<T, 0> but not to the objects (all objects of type array<T, 0> with the same value for T would yield the same pointer value).

Furthermore this is inconsistent with what the standard requires from allocation functions (see library issue 9).

c) same as above but with t being a static data member; again, the value would be unique to the type, not to the object.

d) to avoid storing a T *directly* while disallowing the possibility to use a one-element initializer list a non-aggregate nested class could be defined

    struct holder { holder() {} T t; } h;

and then begin be defined as

 iterator begin() { return &h.t; }

But then, it's arguable whether the array stores a T or not. Indirectly it does.

-----------------------------------------------------

Now, on different issues:

* what's the effect of calling assign(T&) on a zero-sized array? There seems to be only mention of front() and back(), in 23.2.1 [lib.array] p4 (I would also suggest to move that bullet to section 23.2.1.5 [lib.array.zero], for locality of reference)

* (minor) the opening paragraph of 23.2.1 [lib.array] wording is a bit inconsistent with that of other sequences: that's not a problem in itself, but compare it for instance with "A vector is a kind of sequence that supports random access iterators"; though the intent is obvious one might argue that the wording used for arrays doesn't tell what an array is, and relies on the reader to infer that it is what the <array> header defines.

* it would be desiderable to have a static const data member of type std::size_t, with value N, for usage as integral constant expression

* section 23.1 [lib.container.requirements] seem not to consider fixed-size containers at all, as it says: "[containers] control allocation and deallocation of these objects [the contained objects] through constructors, destructors, *insert and erase* operations"

* max_size() isn't specified: the result is obvious but, technically, it relies on table 80: "size() of the largest possible container" which, again, doesn't seem to consider fixed size containers

Proposed resolution:

[ Kona (2007): requirements on zero sized tr1::arrays and other details Issue 617: std::array is a sequence that doesn't satisfy the sequence requirements? Alisdair will prepare a paper. Proposed Disposition: Open ]


597. Decimal: The notion of 'promotion' cannot be emulated by user-defined types.

Section: TRDecimal 3.2 [trdec.types.types] Status: Open Submitter: Daveed Vandevoorde Opened: 2006-04-05 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

In a private email, Daveed writes:

I am not familiar with the C TR, but my guess is that the class type approach still won't match a built-in type approach because the notion of "promotion" cannot be emulated by user-defined types.

Here is an example:


         struct S {
           S(_Decimal32 const&);  // Converting constructor
         };
         void f(S);

         void f(_Decimal64);

         void g(_Decimal32 d) {
           f(d);
         }

If _Decimal32 is a built-in type, the call f(d) will likely resolve to f(_Decimal64) because that requires only a promotion, whereas f(S) requires a user-defined conversion.

If _Decimal32 is a class type, I think the call f(d) will be ambiguous because both the conversion to _Decimal64 and the conversion to S will be user-defined conversions with neither better than the other.

Robert comments:

In general, a library of arithmetic types cannot exactly emulate the behavior of the intrinsic numeric types. There are several ways to tell whether an implementation of the decimal types uses compiler intrinisics or a library. For example:

                 _Decimal32 d1;
                 d1.operator+=(5);  // If d1 is a builtin type, this won't compile.

In preparing the decimal TR, we have three options:

  1. require that the decimal types be class types
  2. require that the decimal types be builtin types, like float and double
  3. specify a library of class types, but allow enough implementor latitude that a conforming implementation could instead provide builtin types

We decided as a group to pursue option #3, but that approach implies that implementations may not agree on the semantics of certain use cases (first example, above), or on whether certain other cases are well-formed (second example). Another potentially important problem is that, under the present definition of POD, the decimal classes are not POD types, but builtins will be.

Note that neither example above implies any problems with respect to C-to-C++ compatibility, since neither example can be expressed in C.

Proposed resolution:


606. Decimal: allow narrowing conversions

Section: TRDecimal 3.2 [trdec.types.types] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2006-06-15 Last modified: 2007-01-15

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Discussion:

In c++std-lib-17205, Martin writes:

...was it a deliberate design choice to make narrowing assignments ill-formed while permitting narrowing compound assignments? For instance:

      decimal32 d32;
      decimal64 d64;

      d32 = 64;     // error
      d32 += 64;    // okay

In c++std-lib-17229, Robert responds:

It is a vestige of an old idea that I forgot to remove from the paper. Narrowing assignments should be permitted. The bug is that the converting constructors that cause narrowing should not be explicit. Thanks for pointing this out.

Proposed resolution:

1. In "3.2.2 Class decimal32" synopsis, remove the explicit specifier from the narrowing conversions:

                // 3.2.2.2 conversion from floating-point type:
                explicit decimal32(decimal64 d64);
                explicit decimal32(decimal128 d128);

2. Do the same thing in "3.2.2.2. Conversion from floating-point type."

3. In "3.2.3 Class decimal64" synopsis, remove the explicit specifier from the narrowing conversion:

                // 3.2.3.2 conversion from floating-point type:
                explicit decimal64(decimal128 d128);

4. Do the same thing in "3.2.3.2. Conversion from floating-point type."

[ Redmond: We prefer explicit conversions for narrowing and implicit for widening. ]


614. std::string allocator requirements still inconsistent

Section: 21.4 [basic.string] Status: Open Submitter: Bo Persson Opened: 2006-12-05 Last modified: 2008-03-12

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Discussion:

This is based on N2134, where 21.3.1/2 states: "... The Allocator object used shall be a copy of the Allocator object passed to the basic_string object's constructor or, if the constructor does not take an Allocator argument, a copy of a default-constructed Allocator object."

Section 21.3.2/1 lists two constructors:

basic_string(const basic_string<charT,traits,Allocator>& str );

basic_string(const basic_string<charT,traits,Allocator>& str ,
             size_type pos , size_type n = npos,
             const Allocator& a = Allocator());

and then says "In the first form, the Allocator value used is copied from str.get_allocator().", which isn't an option according to 21.3.1.

[ Batavia: We need blanket statement to the effect of: ]

  1. If an allocator is passed in, use it, or,
  2. If a string is passed in, use its allocator.

[ Review constructors and functions that return a string; make sure we follow these rules (substr, operator+, etc.). Howard to supply wording. ]

[ Bo adds: The new container constructor which takes only a size_type is not consistent with 23.2 [container.requirements], p9 which says in part:

All other constructors for these container types take an Allocator& argument (20.1.2), an allocator whose value type is the same as the container's value type. A copy of this argument is used for any memory allocation performed, by these constructors and by all member functions, during the lifetime of each container object.
]

[ post Bellevue: We re-confirm that the issue is real. Pablo will provide wording. ]

Proposed resolution:


617. std::array is a sequence that doesn't satisfy the sequence requirements?

Section: 23.3.1 [array] Status: Open Submitter: Bo Persson Opened: 2006-12-30 Last modified: 2008-03-14

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Discussion:

The <array> header is given under 23.3 [sequences]. 23.3.1 [array]/paragraph 3 says:

"Unless otherwise specified, all array operations are as described in 23.2 [container.requirements]".

However, array isn't mentioned at all in section 23.2 [container.requirements]. In particular, Table 82 "Sequence requirements" lists several operations (insert, erase, clear) that std::array does not have in 23.3.1 [array].

Also, Table 83 "Optional sequence operations" lists several operations that std::array does have, but array isn't mentioned.

Proposed resolution:


625. mixed up Effects and Returns clauses

Section: 17 [library] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2007-01-20 Last modified: 2008-09-22

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Discussion:

Many member functions of basic_string are overloaded, with some of the overloads taking a string argument, others value_type*, others size_type, and others still iterators. Often, the requirements on one of the overloads are expressed in the form of Effects, Throws, and in the Working Paper (N2134) also Remark clauses, while those on the rest of the overloads via a reference to this overload and using a Returns clause.

The difference between the two forms of specification is that per 17.5.1.4 [structure.specifications], p3, an Effects clause specifies "actions performed by the functions," i.e., its observable effects, while a Returns clause is "a description of the return value(s) of a function" that does not impose any requirements on the function's observable effects.

Since only Notes are explicitly defined to be informative and all other paragraphs are explicitly defined to be normative, like Effects and Returns, the new Remark clauses also impose normative requirements.

So by this strict reading of the standard there are some member functions of basic_string that are required to throw an exception under some conditions or use specific traits members while many other otherwise equivalent overloads, while obliged to return the same values, aren't required to follow the exact same requirements with regards to the observable effects.

Here's an example of this problem that was precipitated by the change from informative Notes to normative Remarks (presumably made to address 424):

In the Working Paper, find(string, size_type) contains a Remark clause (which is just a Note in the current standard) requiring it to use traits::eq().

find(const charT *s, size_type pos) is specified to return find(string(s), pos) by a Returns clause and so it is not required to use traits::eq(). However, the Working Paper has replaced the original informative Note about the function using traits::length() with a normative requirement in the form of a Remark. Calling traits::length() may be suboptimal, for example when the argument is a very long array whose initial substring doesn't appear anywhere in *this.

Here's another similar example, one that existed even prior to the introduction of Remarks:

insert(size_type pos, string, size_type, size_type) is required to throw out_of_range if pos > size().

insert(size_type pos, string str) is specified to return insert(pos, str, 0, npos) by a Returns clause and so its effects when pos > size() are strictly speaking unspecified.

I believe a careful review of the current Effects and Returns clauses is needed in order to identify all such problematic cases. In addition, a review of the Working Paper should be done to make sure that the newly introduced normative Remark clauses do not impose any undesirable normative requirements in place of the original informative Notes.

[ Batavia: Alan and Pete to work. ]

[ Bellevue: Marked as NAD Editorial. ]

[ Post-Sophia Antipolis: Martin indicates there is still work to be done on this issue. Reopened. ]

Proposed resolution:


630. arrays of valarray

Section: 26.6.2.1 [valarray.cons] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2007-01-28 Last modified: 2008-06-02

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Discussion:

Section 26.2 [numeric.requirements], p1 suggests that a valarray specialization on a type T that satisfies the requirements enumerated in the paragraph is itself a valid type on which valarray may be instantiated (Footnote 269 makes this clear). I.e., valarray<valarray<T> > is valid as long as T is valid. However, since implementations of valarray are permitted to initialize storage allocated by the class by invoking the default ctor of T followed by the copy assignment operator, such implementations of valarray wouldn't work with (perhaps user-defined) specializations of valarray whose assignment operator had undefined behavior when the size of its argument didn't match the size of *this. By "wouldn't work" I mean that it would be impossible to resize such an array of arrays by calling the resize() member function on it if the function used the copy assignment operator after constructing all elements using the default ctor (e.g., by invoking new value_type[N]) to obtain default-initialized storage) as it's permitted to do.

Stated more generally, the problem is that valarray<valarray<T> >::resize(size_t) isn't required or guaranteed to have well-defined semantics for every type T that satisfies all requirements in 26.2 [numeric.requirements].

I believe this problem was introduced by the adoption of the resolution outlined in N0857, Assignment of valarrays, from 1996. The copy assignment operator of the original numerical array classes proposed in N0280, as well as the one proposed in N0308 (both from 1993), had well-defined semantics for arrays of unequal size (the latter explicitly only when *this was empty; assignment of non empty arrays of unequal size was a runtime error).

The justification for the change given in N0857 was the "loss of performance [deemed] only significant for very simple operations on small arrays or for architectures with very few registers."

Since tiny arrays on a limited subset of hardware architectures are likely to be an exceedingly rare case (despite the continued popularity of x86) I propose to revert the resolution and make the behavior of all valarray assignment operators well-defined even for non-conformal arrays (i.e., arrays of unequal size). I have implemented this change and measured no significant degradation in performance in the common case (non-empty arrays of equal size). I have measured a 50% (and in some cases even greater) speedup in the case of assignments to empty arrays versus calling resize() first followed by an invocation of the copy assignment operator.

[ Bellevue: ]

If no proposed wording by June meeting, this issue should be closed NAD.

Proposed resolution:

Change 26.6.2.2 [valarray.assign], p1 as follows:

valarray<T>& operator=(const valarray<T>& x);

-1- Each element of the *this array is assigned the value of the corresponding element of the argument array. The resulting behavior is undefined if When the length of the argument array is not equal to the length of the *this array. resizes *this to make the two arrays the same length, as if by calling resize(x.size()), before performing the assignment.

And add a new paragraph just below paragraph 1 with the following text:

-2- Postcondition: size() == x.size().

Also add the following paragraph to 26.6.2.2 [valarray.assign], immediately after p4:

-?- When the length, N of the array referred to by the argument is not equal to the length of *this, the operator resizes *this to make the two arrays the same length, as if by calling resize(N), before performing the assignment.

[ pre-Sophia Antipolis, Martin adds the following compromise wording, but prefers the original proposed resolution: ]

Change 26.6.2.2 [valarray.assign], p1 as follows:

-1- Requires: size() == 0 || size() == x.size().

-2- Effects: If size() == 0 calls x.resize(x.size()) first. Each element of the *this array is assigned the value of the corresponding element of the argument array.

-3- Postcondition: size() == x.size().

Add the following paragraph to 26.6.2.2 [valarray.assign], immediately after p4:

-?- When size() == 0 and the length, N of the array referred to by the argument is not equal to the length of *this, the operator resizes *this to make the two arrays the same length, as if by calling resize(N), before performing the assignment. Otherwise, when size() > 0 and size() != N, the behavior is undefined.

[ Kona (2007): Gaby to propose wording for an alternative resolution in which you can assign to a valarray of size 0, but not to any other valarray whose size is unequal to the right hand side of the assignment. ]


632. Time complexity of size() for std::set

Section: 23.2 [container.requirements] Status: Open Submitter: Lionel B Opened: 2007-02-01 Last modified: 2008-03-12

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Discussion:

A recent news group discussion:

Anyone know if the Standard has anything to say about the time complexity of size() for std::set? I need to access a set's size (/not/ to know if it is empty!) heavily during an algorithm and was thus wondering whether I'd be better off tracking the size "manually" or whether that'd be pointless.

That would be pointless. size() is O(1).

Nit: the standard says "should" have constant time. Implementations may take license to do worse. I know that some do this for std::list<> as a part of some trade-off with other operation.

I was aware of that, hence my reluctance to use size() for std::set.

However, this reason would not apply to std::set<> as far as I can see.

Ok, I guess the only option is to try it and see...

If I have any recommendation to the C++ Standards Committee it is that implementations must (not "should"!) document clearly[1], where known, the time complexity of *all* container access operations.

[1] In my case (gcc 4.1.1) I can't swear that the time complexity of size() for std::set is not documented... but if it is it's certainly well hidden away.

Proposed resolution:

[ Kona (2007): This issue affects all the containers. We'd love to see a paper dealing with the broad issue. We think that the complexity of the size() member of every container -- except possibly list -- should be O(1). Alan has volunteered to provide wording. ]

[ Bellevue: ]

Mandating O(1) size will not fly, too many implementations would be invalidated. Alan to provide wording that toughens wording, but that does not absolutely mandate O(1).

635. domain of allocator::address

Section: X [allocator.requirements] Status: Open Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2007-02-08 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

The table of allocator requirements in X [allocator.requirements] describes allocator::address as:

a.address(r)
a.address(s)

where r and s are described as:

a value of type X::reference obtained by the expression *p.

and p is

a value of type X::pointer, obtained by calling a1.allocate, where a1 == a

This all implies that to get the address of some value of type T that value must have been allocated by this allocator or a copy of it.

However sometimes container code needs to compare the address of an external value of type T with an internal value. For example list::remove(const T& t) may want to compare the address of the external value t with that of a value stored within the list. Similarly vector or deque insert may want to make similar comparisons (to check for self-referencing calls).

Mandating that allocator::address can only be called for values which the allocator allocated seems overly restrictive.

[ post San Francisco: ]

Pablo recommends NAD Editorial, solved by N2768.

[ 2009-04-28 Pablo adds: ]

Tentatively-ready NAD Editorial as fixed by N2768.

Proposed resolution:

Change X [allocator.requirements]:

r : a value of type X::reference obtained by the expression *p.

s : a value of type X::const_reference obtained by the expression *q or by conversion from a value r.

[ post Oxford: This would be rendered NAD Editorial by acceptance of N2257. ]

[ Kona (2007): This issue is section 8 of N2387. There was some discussion of it but no resolution to this issue was recorded. Moved to Open. ]


644. Possible typos in 'function' description

Section: 20.7.16.2 [func.wrap.func] Status: Open Submitter: Bo Persson Opened: 2007-02-25 Last modified: 2008-09-30

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Discussion:

20.7.16.2 [func.wrap.func]

The note in paragraph 2 refers to 'undefined void operators', while the section declares a pair of operators returning bool.

[ Post-Sophia Antipolis: ]

Changed from Pending WP to Open. This issue was voted to WP at the same time the operators were changed from private to deleted. The two issues stepped on each other. What do we want the return type of these deleted functions to be?

Proposed resolution:

Change 20.7.16.2 [func.wrap.func]

...
private:
   // 20.7.16.2 [func.wrap.func], undefined operators:
   template<class Function2> bool void operator==(const function<Function2>&);
   template<class Function2> bool void operator!=(const function<Function2>&);
};

Change 20.7.16.2 [func.wrap.func]

template<class Function2> bool void operator==(const function<Function2>&);
template<class Function2> bool void operator!=(const function<Function2>&);

659. istreambuf_iterator should have an operator->()

Section: 24.6.3 [istreambuf.iterator] Status: Open Submitter: Niels Dekker Opened: 2007-03-25 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

Greg Herlihy has clearly demonstrated that a user defined input iterator should have an operator->(), even if its value type is a built-in type (comp.std.c++, "Re: Should any iterator have an operator->() in C++0x?", March 2007). And as Howard Hinnant remarked in the same thread that the input iterator istreambuf_iterator doesn't have one, this must be a defect!

Based on Greg's example, the following code demonstrates the issue:

 #include <iostream> 
 #include <fstream>
 #include <streambuf> 

 typedef char C;
 int main ()
 {
   std::ifstream s("filename", std::ios::in);
   std::istreambuf_iterator<char> i(s);

   (*i).~C();  // This is well-formed...
   i->~C();  // ... so this should be supported!
 }

Of course, operator-> is also needed when the value_type of istreambuf_iterator is a class.

The operator-> could be implemented in various ways. For instance, by storing the current value inside the iterator, and returning its address. Or by returning a proxy, like operator_arrow_proxy, from http://www.boost.org/boost/iterator/iterator_facade.hpp

I hope that the resolution of this issue will contribute to getting a clear and consistent definition of iterator concepts.

[ 2009-04-30 Alisdair adds: ]

Note that operator-> is now a requirement in the InputIterator concept, so this issue cannot be ignored or existing valid programs will break when compiled with an 0x library.

Proposed resolution:

Add to the synopsis in 24.6.3 [istreambuf.iterator]:

charT operator*() const;
pointer operator->() const;
istreambuf_iterator<charT,traits>& operator++();

Change 24.6.3 [istreambuf.iterator], p1:

The class template istreambuf_iterator reads successive characters from the streambuf for which it was constructed. operator* provides access to the current input character, if any. operator-> may return a proxy. Each time operator++ is evaluated, the iterator advances to the next input character. If the end of stream is reached (streambuf_type::sgetc() returns traits::eof()), the iterator becomes equal to the end of stream iterator value. The default constructor istreambuf_iterator() and the constructor istreambuf_iterator(0) both construct an end of stream iterator object suitable for use as an end-of-range.

[ Kona (2007): The proposed resolution is inconsistent because the return type of istreambuf_iterator::operator->() is specified to be pointer, but the proposed text also states that "operator-> may return a proxy." ]

[ Niels Dekker (mailed to Howard Hinnant): ]

The proposed resolution does not seem inconsistent to me. istreambuf_iterator::operator->() should have istreambuf_iterator::pointer as return type, and this return type may in fact be a proxy.

AFAIK, the resolution of 445 ("iterator_traits::reference unspecified for some iterator categories") implies that for any iterator class Iter, the return type of operator->() is Iter::pointer, by definition. I don't think Iter::pointer needs to be a raw pointer.

Still I wouldn't mind if the text "operator-> may return a proxy" would be removed from the resolution. I think it's up to the library implementation, how to implement istreambuf_iterator::operator->(). As longs as it behaves as expected: i->m should have the same effect as (*i).m. Even for an explicit destructor call, i->~C(). The main issue is just: istreambuf_iterator should have an operator->()!


667. money_get's widened minus sign

Section: 22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Thomas Plum Opened: 2007-04-16 Last modified: 2008-03-12

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Discussion:

22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals], para 1 says:

The result is returned as an integral value stored in units or as a sequence of digits possibly preceded by a minus sign (as produced by ct.widen(c) where c is '-' or in the range from '0' through '9', inclusive) stored in digits.

The following objection has been raised:

Some implementations interpret this to mean that a facet derived from ctype<wchar_t> can provide its own member do_widen(char) which produces e.g. L'@' for the "widened" minus sign, and that the '@' symbol will appear in the resulting sequence of digits. Other implementations have assumed that one or more places in the standard permit the implementation to "hard-wire" L'-' as the "widened" minus sign. Are both interpretations permissible, or only one?

[Plum ref _222612Y14]

Furthermore: if ct.widen('9') produces L'X' (a non-digit), does a parse fail if a '9' appears in the subject string? [Plum ref _22263Y33]

[ Kona (2007): Bill and Dietmar to provide proposed wording. ]

[ post Bellevue: Bill adds: ]

The Standard is clear that the minus sign stored in digits is ct.widen('-'). The subject string must contain characters c in the set [-0123456789] which are translated by ct.widen(c) calls before being stored in digits; the widened characters are not relevant to the parsing of the subject string.

Proposed resolution:


668. money_get's empty minus sign

Section: 22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Thomas Plum Opened: 2007-04-16 Last modified: 2008-01-14

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Discussion:

22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals], para 3 says:

If pos or neg is empty, the sign component is optional, and if no sign is detected, the result is given the sign that corresponds to the source of the empty string.

The following objection has been raised:

A negative_sign of "" means "there is no way to write a negative sign" not "any null sequence is a negative sign, so it's always there when you look for it".

[Plum ref _222612Y32]

[ Kona (2007): Bill to provide proposed wording and interpretation of existing wording. ]

Proposed resolution:


669. Equivalent postive and negative signs in money_get

Section: 22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Thomas Plum Opened: 2007-04-16 Last modified: 2008-01-14

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Discussion:

22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals], para 3 sentence 4 says:

If the first character of pos is equal to the first character of neg, or if both strings are empty, the result is given a positive sign.

One interpretation is that an input sequence must match either the positive pattern or the negative pattern, and then in either event it is interpreted as positive. The following objections has been raised:

The input can successfully match only a positive sign, so the negative pattern is an unsuccessful match.

[Plum ref _222612Y34, 222612Y51b]

[ Bill to provide proposed wording and interpretation of existing wording. ]

Proposed resolution:


671. precision of hexfloat

Section: 22.4.2.2.2 [facet.num.put.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: John Salmon Opened: 2007-04-20 Last modified: 2009-03-12

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Discussion:

I am trying to understand how TR1 supports hex float (%a) output.

As far as I can tell, it does so via the following:

8.15 Additions to header <locale> [tr.c99.locale]

In subclause 22.4.2.2.2 [facet.num.put.virtuals], Table 58 Floating-point conversions, after the line: floatfield == ios_base::scientific %E

add the two lines:

floatfield == ios_base::fixed | ios_base::scientific && !uppercase %a
floatfield == ios_base::fixed | ios_base::scientific %A 2

[Note: The additional requirements on print and scan functions, later in this clause, ensure that the print functions generate hexadecimal floating-point fields with a %a or %A conversion specifier, and that the scan functions match hexadecimal floating-point fields with a %g conversion specifier. end note]

Following the thread, in 22.4.2.2.2 [facet.num.put.virtuals], we find:

For conversion from a floating-point type, if (flags & fixed) != 0 or if str.precision() > 0, then str.precision() is specified in the conversion specification.

This would seem to imply that when floatfield == fixed|scientific, the precision of the conversion specifier is to be taken from str.precision(). Is this really what's intended? I sincerely hope that I'm either missing something or this is an oversight. Please tell me that the committee did not intend to mandate that hex floats (and doubles) should by default be printed as if by %.6a.

[ Howard: I think the fundamental issue we overlooked was that with %f, %e, %g, the default precision was always 6. With %a the default precision is not 6, it is infinity. So for the first time, we need to distinguish between the default value of precision, and the precision value 6. ]

Proposed resolution:

[ Kona (2007): Robert volunteers to propose wording. ]


688. reference_wrapper, cref unsafe, allow binding to rvalues

Section: 20.7.5.1 [refwrap.const] Status: Open Submitter: Peter Dimov Opened: 2007-05-10 Last modified: 2008-03-26

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Discussion:

A reference_wrapper can be constructed from an rvalue, either by using the constructor, or via cref (and ref in some corner cases). This leads to a dangling reference being stored into the reference_wrapper object. Now that we have a mechanism to detect an rvalue, we can fix them to disallow this source of undefined behavior.

Also please see the thread starting at c++std-lib-17398 for some good discussion on this subject.

Proposed resolution:

In 20.7 [function.objects], add the following two signatures to the synopsis:

template <class T> void ref(const T&& t) = delete;
template <class T> void cref(const T&& t) = delete;

[ N2292 addresses the first part of the resolution but not the second. ]

[ Bellevue: Doug noticed problems with the current wording. ]

[ post Bellevue: Howard and Peter provided revised wording. ]

[ This resolution depends on a "favorable" resolution of CWG 606: that is, the "special deduction rule" is disabled with the const T&& pattern. ]


696. istream::operator>>(int&) broken

Section: 27.7.1.2.2 [istream.formatted.arithmetic] Status: New Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2007-06-23 Last modified: 2007-06-23

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Discussion:

From message c++std-lib-17897:

The code shown in 27.7.1.2.2 [istream.formatted.arithmetic] as the "as if" implementation of the two arithmetic extractors that don't have a corresponding num_get interface (i.e., the short and int overloads) is subtly buggy in how it deals with EOF, overflow, and other similar conditions (in addition to containing a few typos).

One problem is that if num_get::get() reaches the EOF after reading in an otherwise valid value that exceeds the limits of the narrower type (but not LONG_MIN or LONG_MAX), it will set err to eofbit. Because of the if condition testing for (err == 0), the extractor won't set failbit (and presumably, return a bogus value to the caller).

Another problem with the code is that it never actually sets the argument to the extracted value. It can't happen after the call to setstate() since the function may throw, so we need to show when and how it's done (we can't just punt as say: "it happens afterwards"). However, it turns out that showing how it's done isn't quite so easy since the argument is normally left unchanged by the facet on error except when the error is due to a misplaced thousands separator, which causes failbit to be set but doesn't prevent the facet from storing the value.

Proposed resolution:


701. assoc laguerre poly's

Section: TR1 5.2.1.1 [tr.num.sf.Lnm] Status: New Submitter: Christopher Crawford Opened: 2007-06-30 Last modified: 2008-03-12

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Discussion:

I see that the definition the associated Laguerre polynomials TR1 5.2.1.1 [tr.num.sf.Lnm] has been corrected since N1687. However, the draft standard only specifies ranks of integer value m, while the associated Laguerre polynomials are actually valid for real values of m > -1. In the case of non-integer values of m, the definition Ln(m) = (1/n!)exx-m (d/dx)n (e-xxm+n) must be used, which also holds for integer values of m. See Abramowitz & Stegun, 22.11.6 for the general case, and 22.5.16-17 for the integer case. In fact fractional values are most commonly used in physics, for example to m = +/- 1/2 to describe the harmonic oscillator in 1 dimension, and 1/2, 3/2, 5/2, ... in 3 dimensions.

If I am correct, the calculation of the more general case is no more difficult, and is in fact the function implemented in the GNU Scientific Library. I would urge you to consider upgrading the standard, either adding extra functions for real m or switching the current ones to double.

Proposed resolution:


702. Restriction in associated Legendre functions

Section: TR1 5.2.1.2 [tr.num.sf.Plm] Status: New Submitter: Christopher Crawford Opened: 2007-06-30 Last modified: 2008-03-12

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Discussion:

One other small thing, in TR1 5.2.1.2 [tr.num.sf.Plm], the restriction should be |x| <= 1, not x >= 0.

Proposed resolution:


708. Locales need to be per thread and updated for POSIX changes

Section: 22 [localization] Status: Open Submitter: Peter Dimov Opened: 2007-07-28 Last modified: 2008-09-17

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Discussion:

The POSIX "Extended API Set Part 4,"

http://www.opengroup.org/sib/details.tpl?id=C065

introduces extensions to the C locale mechanism that allow multiple concurrent locales to be used in the same application by introducing a type locale_t that is very similar to std::locale, and a number of _l functions that make use of it.

The global locale (set by setlocale) is now specified to be per- process. If a thread does not call uselocale, the global locale is in effect for that thread. It can install a per-thread locale by using uselocale.

There is also a nice querylocale mechanism by which one can obtain the name (such as "de_DE") for a specific facet, even for combined locales, with no std::locale equivalent.

std::locale should be harmonized with the new POSIX locale_t mechanism and provide equivalents for uselocale and querylocale.

[ Kona (2007): Bill and Nick to provide wording. ]

[ San Francisco: Bill and Nick still intend to provide wording, but this is a part of the task to be addressed by the group that will look into issue 860. ]

Proposed resolution:


711. Contradiction in empty shared_ptr

Section: 20.8.13.2.5 [util.smartptr.shared.obs] Status: Open Submitter: Peter Dimov Opened: 2007-08-24 Last modified: 2008-06-18

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Discussion:

A discussion on comp.std.c++ has identified a contradiction in the shared_ptr specification. The note:

[ Note: this constructor allows creation of an empty shared_ptr instance with a non-NULL stored pointer. -end note ]

after the aliasing constructor

template<class Y> shared_ptr(shared_ptr<Y> const& r, T *p);

reflects the intent of N2351 to, well, allow the creation of an empty shared_ptr with a non-NULL stored pointer.

This is contradicted by the second sentence in the Returns clause of 20.8.13.2.5 [util.smartptr.shared.obs]:

T* get() const;

Returns: the stored pointer. Returns a null pointer if *this is empty.

[ Bellevue: ]

Adopt option 1 and move to review, not ready.

There was a lot of confusion about what an empty shared_ptr is (the term isn't defined anywhere), and whether we have a good mental model for how one behaves. We think it might be possible to deduce what the definition should be, but the words just aren't there. We need to open an issue on the use of this undefined term. (The resolution of that issue might affect the resolution of issue 711.)

The LWG is getting more uncomfortable with the aliasing proposal (N2351) now that we realize some of its implications, and we need to keep an eye on it, but there isn't support for removing this feature at this time.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

We heard from Peter Dimov, who explained his reason for preferring solution 1.

Because it doesn't seem to add anything. It simply makes the behavior for p = 0 undefined. For programmers who don't create empty pointers with p = 0, there is no difference. Those who do insist on creating them presumably have a good reason, and it costs nothing for us to define the behavior in this case.

The aliasing constructor is sharp enough as it is, so "protecting" users doesn't make much sense in this particular case.

> Do you have a use case for r being empty and r being non-null?

I have received a few requests for it from "performance-conscious" people (you should be familiar with this mindset) who don't like the overhead of allocating and maintaining a control block when a null deleter is used to approximate a raw pointer. It is obviously an "at your own risk", low-level feature; essentially a raw pointer behind a shared_ptr facade.

We could not agree upon a resolution to the issue; some of us thought that Peter's description above is supporting an undesirable behavior.

Proposed resolution:

In keeping the N2351 spirit and obviously my preference, change 20.8.13.2.5 [util.smartptr.shared.obs]:

T* get() const;

Returns: the stored pointer. Returns a null pointer if *this is empty.

Alternative proposed resolution: (I won't be happy if we do this, but it's possible):

Change 20.8.13.2.1 [util.smartptr.shared.const]:

template<class Y> shared_ptr(shared_ptr<Y> const& r, T *p);

Requires: If r is empty, p shall be 0.

[ Note: this constructor allows creation of an empty shared_ptr instance with a non-NULL stored pointer. -- end note ]


716. Production in [re.grammar] not actually modified

Section: 28.14 [re.grammar] Status: New Submitter: Stephan T. Lavavej Opened: 2007-08-31 Last modified: 2007-09-04

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Discussion:

TR1 7.13 [tr.re.grammar]/3 and C++0x WP 28.14 [re.grammar]/3 say:

The following productions within the ECMAScript grammar are modified as follows:

CharacterClass ::
[ [lookahead ∉ {^}] ClassRanges ]
[ ^ ClassRanges ]

This definition for CharacterClass appears to be exactly identical to that in ECMA-262.

Was an actual modification intended here and accidentally omitted, or was this production accidentally included?

Proposed resolution:

Remove this mention of the CharacterClass production.

CharacterClass ::
[ [lookahead ∉ {^}] ClassRanges ]
[ ^ ClassRanges ]

718. basic_string is not a sequence

Section: 21.4 [basic.string] Status: Open Submitter: Bo Persson Opened: 2007-08-18 Last modified: 2008-03-12

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Discussion:

Paragraph 21.4 [basic.string]/3 states:

The class template basic_string conforms to the requirements for a Sequence (23.1.1) and for a Reversible Container (23.1).

First of all, 23.2.3 [sequence.reqmts] is no longer "Sequence" but "Sequence container". Secondly, after the resent changes to containers (emplace, push_back, const_iterator parameters to insert and erase), basic_string is not even close to conform to the current requirements.

[ Bellevue: ]

General consensus is to suggest option 2.

Proposed resolution:

Remove this sentence, in recognition of the fact that basic_string is not just a vector-light for literal types, but something quite different, a string abstraction in its own right.


719. std::is_literal type traits should be provided

Section: 20.6 [meta] Status: Open Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2007-08-25 Last modified: 2009-03-14

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Discussion:

Since the inclusion of constexpr in the standard draft N2369 we have a new type category "literal", which is defined in 3.9 [basic.types]/p.11:

-11- A type is a literal type if it is:

I strongly suggest that the standard provides a type traits for literal types in 20.6.4.3 [meta.unary.prop] for several reasons:

  1. To keep the traits in sync with existing types.
  2. I see many reasons for programmers to use this trait in template code to provide optimized template definitions for these types, see below.
  3. A user-provided definition of this trait is practically impossible to write portably.

The special problem of reason (c) is that I don't see currently a way to portably test the condition for literal class types:

[ Alisdair is considering preparing a paper listing a number of missing type traits, and feels that it might be useful to handle them all together rather than piecemeal. This would affect issue 719 and 750. These two issues should move to OPEN pending AM paper on type traits. ]

Proposed resolution:

In 20.6.2 [meta.type.synop] in the group "type properties", just below the line

template <class T> struct is_pod;

add a new one:

template <class T> struct is_literal;

In 20.6.4.3 [meta.unary.prop], table Type Property Predicates, just below the line for the is_pod property add a new line:

TemplateConditionPreconditions
template <class T> struct is_literal; T is a literal type (3.9) T shall be a complete type, an array of unknown bound, or (possibly cv-qualified) void.

721. wstring_convert inconsistensies

Section: 22.3.3.2.2 [conversions.string] Status: Open Submitter: Bo Persson Opened: 2007-08-27 Last modified: 2008-09-18

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Discussion:

Paragraph 3 says that the Codecvt template parameter shall meet the requirements of std::codecvt, even though std::codecvt itself cannot be used (because of a protected destructor).

How are we going to explain this code to beginning programmers?

template<class I, class E, class S>
struct codecvt : std::codecvt<I, E, S>
{
    ~codecvt()
    { }
};

void main()
{
    std::wstring_convert<codecvt<wchar_t, char, std::mbstate_t> > compiles_ok;
    
    std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt<wchar_t, char, std::mbstate_t> >   not_ok;
}

[ San Francisco: ]

Bill will propose a resolution.

Proposed resolution:


723. basic_regex should be moveable

Section: 28.9 [re.regex] Status: Open Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2007-08-29 Last modified: 2009-03-13

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Discussion:

Addresses UK 316

According to the current state of the standard draft, the class template basic_regex, as described in 28.9 [re.regex]/3, is neither MoveConstructible nor MoveAssignable. IMO it should be, because typical regex state machines tend to have a rather large data quantum and I have seen several use cases, where a factory function returns regex values, which would take advantage of moveabilities.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

Needs wording for the semantics, the idea is agreed upon.

[ Post Summit Daniel updated wording to reflect new "swap rules". ]

Proposed resolution:

In the class definition of basic_regex, just below 28.9 [re.regex]/3, perform the following changes:

  1. Just after basic_regex(const basic_regex&); insert:

    basic_regex(basic_regex&&);
    
  2. Just after basic_regex& operator=(const basic_regex&); insert:

    basic_regex& operator=(basic_regex&&);
    
  3. Just after basic_regex& assign(const basic_regex& that); insert:

    basic_regex& assign(basic_regex&& that);
    
  4. In 28.9.2 [re.regex.construct], just after p.11 add the following new member definition:

    basic_regex(basic_regex&& e);
    

    Effects: Move-constructs a basic_regex instance from e.

    Postconditions: flags() and mark_count() return e.flags() and e.mark_count(), respectively, that e had before construction, leaving e in a valid state with an unspecified value.

    Throws: nothing.

  5. Also in 28.9.2 [re.regex.construct], just after p.18 add the following new member definition:

    basic_regex& operator=(basic_regex&& e);
    
    Effects: Returns the result of assign(std::move(e)).
  6. In 28.9.3 [re.regex.assign], just after p. 2 add the following new member definition:

    basic_regex& assign(basic_regex&& rhs);
    

    Effects: Move-assigns a basic_regex instance from rhs and returns *this.

    Postconditions: flags() and mark_count() return rhs.flags() and rhs.mark_count(), respectively, that rhs had before assignment, leaving rhs in a valid state with an unspecified value.

    Throws: nothing.


726. Missing regex_replace() overloads

Section: 28.12.4 [re.alg.replace] Status: Open Submitter: Stephan T. Lavavej Opened: 2007-09-22 Last modified: 2008-06-18

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Discussion:

Two overloads of regex_replace() are currently provided:

template <class OutputIterator, class BidirectionalIterator, 
    class traits, class charT> 
  OutputIterator 
  regex_replace(OutputIterator out, 
                BidirectionalIterator first, BidirectionalIterator last, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const basic_string<charT>& fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);
 
template <class traits, class charT> 
  basic_string<charT> 
  regex_replace(const basic_string<charT>& s, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const basic_string<charT>& fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);
  1. Overloads taking const charT * are provided for regex_match() and regex_search(), but not regex_replace(). This is inconsistent.
  2. The absence of const charT * overloads prevents ordinary-looking code from compiling, such as:

    const string s("kitten");
    const regex r("en");
    cout << regex_replace(s, r, "y") << endl;
    

    The compiler error message will be something like "could not deduce template argument for 'const std::basic_string<_Elem> &' from 'const char[1]'".

    Users expect that anything taking a basic_string<charT> can also take a const charT *. In their own code, when they write a function taking std::string (or std::wstring), they can pass a const char * (or const wchar_t *), thanks to basic_string's implicit constructor. Because the regex algorithms are templated on charT, they can't rely on basic_string's implicit constructor (as the compiler error message indicates, template argument deduction fails first).

    If a user figures out what the compiler error message means, workarounds are available - but they are all verbose. Explicit template arguments could be given to regex_replace(), allowing basic_string's implicit constructor to be invoked - but charT is the last template argument, not the first, so this would be extremely verbose. Therefore, constructing a basic_string from each C string is the simplest workaround.

  3. There is an efficiency consideration: constructing basic_strings can impose performance costs that could be avoided by a library implementation taking C strings and dealing with them directly. (Currently, for replacement sources, C strings can be converted into iterator pairs at the cost of verbosity, but for format strings, there is no way to avoid constructing a basic_string.)

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

We note that Boost already has these overloads. However, the proposed wording is provided only for 28.12.4 [re.alg.replace]; wording is needed for the synopsis as well. We also note that this has impact on match_results::format, which may require further overloads.

Proposed resolution:

Provide additional overloads for regex_replace(): one additional overload of the iterator-based form (taking const charT* fmt), and three additional overloads of the convenience form (one taking const charT* str, another taking const charT* fmt, and the third taking both const charT* str and const charT* fmt). 28.12.4 [re.alg.replace]:

template <class OutputIterator, class BidirectionalIterator, 
    class traits, class charT> 
  OutputIterator 
  regex_replace(OutputIterator out, 
                BidirectionalIterator first, BidirectionalIterator last, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const basic_string<charT>& fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);

template <class OutputIterator, class BidirectionalIterator, 
    class traits, class charT> 
  OutputIterator 
  regex_replace(OutputIterator out, 
                BidirectionalIterator first, BidirectionalIterator last, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const charT* fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);

...

template <class traits, class charT> 
  basic_string<charT> 
  regex_replace(const basic_string<charT>& s, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const basic_string<charT>& fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);

template <class traits, class charT> 
  basic_string<charT> 
  regex_replace(const basic_string<charT>& s, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const charT* fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);

template <class traits, class charT> 
  basic_string<charT> 
  regex_replace(const charT* s, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const basic_string<charT>& fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);

template <class traits, class charT> 
  basic_string<charT> 
  regex_replace(const charT* s, 
                const basic_regex<charT, traits>& e, 
                const charT* fmt, 
                regex_constants::match_flag_type flags = 
                  regex_constants::match_default);

727. regex_replace() doesn't accept basic_strings with custom traits and allocators

Section: 28.12.4 [re.alg.replace] Status: New Submitter: Stephan T. Lavavej Opened: 2007-09-22 Last modified: 2008-01-14

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Discussion:

regex_match() and regex_search() take const basic_string<charT, ST, SA>&. regex_replace() takes const basic_string<charT>&. This prevents regex_replace() from accepting basic_strings with custom traits and allocators.

Proposed resolution:

Overloads of regex_replace() taking basic_string should be additionally templated on class ST, class SA and take const basic_string<charT, ST, SA>&. Consistency with regex_match() and regex_search() would place class ST, class SA as the first template arguments; compatibility with existing code using TR1 and giving explicit template arguments to regex_replace() would place class ST, class SA as the last template arguments.


747. We have 3 separate type traits to identify classes supporting no-throw operations

Section: 20.6.4.3 [meta.unary.prop] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2007-10-10 Last modified: 2008-03-11

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Discussion:

We have 3 separate type traits to identify classes supporting no-throw operations, which are very useful when trying to provide exception safety guarantees. However, I'm not entirely clear on what the current wording requires of a conforming implementation. To quote from has_nothrow_default_constructor:

or T is a class type with a default constructor that is known not to throw any exceptions

What level of magic do we expect to deduce if this is known?

E.g.

struct test{
 int x;
 test() : x() {}
};

Should I expect a conforming compiler to assert( has_nothrow_constructor<test>::value )

Is this a QoI issue?

Should I expect to 'know' only if-and-only-if there is an inline definition available?

Should I never expect that to be true, and insist that the user supplies an empty throw spec if they want to assert the no-throw guarantee?

It would be helpful to maybe have a footnote explaining what is required, but right now I don't know what to suggest putting in the footnote.

(agreement since is that trivial ops and explicit no-throws are required. Open if QoI should be allowed to detect further)

[ Bellevue: ]

This looks like a QoI issue. In the case of trivial and nothrow it is known. Static analysis of the program is definitely into QoI. Move to OPEN. Need to talk to Core about this.

Proposed resolution:


750. The current definition for is_convertible requires that the type be implicitly convertible, so explicit constructors are ignored.

Section: 20.6.5 [meta.rel] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2007-10-10 Last modified: 2008-03-11

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Discussion:

With the pending arrival of explicit conversion functions though, I'm wondering if we want an additional trait, is_explictly_convertible?

[ Bellevue: ]

Alisdair is considering preparing a paper listing a number of missing type traits, and feels that it might be useful to handle them all together rather than piecemeal. This would affect issue 719 and 750. These two issues should move to OPEN pending AM paper on type traits.

Proposed resolution:


751. change pass-by-reference members of vector<bool> to pass-by-value?

Section: 23.3.7 [vector.bool] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2007-10-10 Last modified: 2008-09-22

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Discussion:

A number of vector<bool> members take const bool& as arguments. Is there any chance we could change them to pass-by-value or would I be wasting everyone's time if wrote up an issue?

[ post Bellevue: ]

As we understand it, the original requester (Martin Sebor) would like for implementations to be permitted to pass-by-value. Alisdair suggests that if this is to be resolved, it should be resolved more generally, e.g. in other containers as well.

We note that this would break ABI. However, we also suspect that this might be covered under the "as-if" rule in section 1.9.

Many in the group feel that for vector<bool>, this is a "don't care", and that at this point in the process it's not worth the bandwidth.

Issue 679 -- which was in ready status pre-Bellevue and is now in the working paper -- is related to this, though not a duplicate.

Moving to Open with a task for Alisdair to craft a informative note to be put whereever appropriate in the WP. This note would clarify places where pass-by-const-ref can be transformed to pass-by-value under the as-if rule.

[ San Francisco: ]

This is really a clause 17 issue, rather than something specific to vector<bool>.

Move to Open. Alisdair to provide a resolution. Alternately, Howard can close this as NAD and then open a new issue to handle the general issue (rather than the vector<bool> one).

Howard: Haven't yet opened new issue. Lacking wording for it.

Proposed resolution:


760. The emplace issue

Section: 23.2 [container.requirements] Status: Open Submitter: Paolo Carlini Opened: 2007-11-11 Last modified: 2008-06-02

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Discussion:

In an emplace member function the function parameter pack may be bound to a priori unlimited number of objects: some or all of them can be elements of the container itself. Apparently, in order to conform to the blanket statement 23.2 [container.requirements]/11, the implementation must check all of them for that possibility. A possible solution can involve extending the exception in 23.2 [container.requirements]/12 also to the emplace member. As a side note, the push_back and push_front member functions are luckily not affected by this problem, can be efficiently implemented anyway

[ Related to 767 ]

[ Bellevue: ]

The proposed addition (13) is partially redundant with the existing paragraph 12. Why was the qualifier "rvalues" added to paragraph 12? Why does it not cover subelements and pointers?

Resolution: Alan Talbot to rework language, then set state to Review.

Proposed resolution:

Add after 23.2 [container.requirements]/12:

-12- Objects passed to member functions of a container as rvalue references shall not be elements of that container. No diagnostic required.

-13- Objects bound to the function parameter pack of the emplace member function shall not be elements or sub-objects of elements of the container. No diagnostic required.


765. more on iterator validity

Section: 24.2 [iterator.concepts] Status: Tentatively Ready Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2007-12-14 Last modified: 2009-03-09

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Discussion:

Issue 278 defines the meaning of the term "invalid iterator" as one that may be singular.

Consider the following code:

   std::deque<int> x, y;
   std::deque<int>::iterator i = x.end(), j = y.end();
   x.swap(y);
       

Given that swap() is required not to invalidate iterators and using the definition above, what should be the expected result of comparing i and j to x.end() and y.end(), respectively, after the swap()?

I.e., is the expression below required to evaluate to true?

   i == y.end() && j == x.end()
       

(There are at least two implementations where the expression returns false.)

More generally, is the definition introduced in issue 278 meant to make any guarantees about whether iterators actually point to the same elements or be associated with the same containers after a non-invalidating operation as they did before?

Here's a motivating example intended to demonstrate the importance of the question:

   Container x, y ({ 1, 2});   // pseudocode to initialize y with { 1, 2 }
   Container::iterator i = y.begin() + 1;
   Container::iterator j = y.end();
   std::swap(x, y);
   std::find(i, j, 3);
       

swap() guarantees that i and j continue to be valid. Unless the spec says that even though they are valid they may no longer denote a valid range the code above must be well-defined. Expert opinions on this differ as does the behavior of popular implementations for some standard Containers.

[ San Francisco: ]

Pablo: add a note to the last bullet of paragraph 11 of 23.1.1 clarifying that the end() iterator doesn't refer to an element and that it can therefore be invalidated.

Proposed wording:

[Note: The end() iterator does not refer to any element and can therefore be invalidated. -- end note]

Howard will add this proposed wording to the issue and then move it to Review.

[ Post Summit: ]

Lawrence: suggestion: "Note: The end() iterator does not refer to any element"

Walter: "Note: The end() iterator can nevertheless be invalidated, because it does not refer to any element."

Nick: "The end() iterator does not refer to any element. It is therefore subject to being invalidated."

Consensus: go with Nick

With that update, Recommend Tentatively Ready.

Proposed resolution:

Add to 23.2.1 [container.requirements.general], p11:

Unless otherwise specified (see 23.1.4.1, 23.1.5.1, 23.2.2.3, and 23.2.6.4) all container types defined in this Clause meet the following additional requirements:


774. Member swap undefined for most containers

Section: 23 [containers] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2008-01-14 Last modified: 2008-05-11

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Discussion:

It appears most containers declare but do not define a member-swap function.

This is unfortunate, as all overload the swap algorithm to call the member-swap function! (required for swappable guarantees [Table 37] and Container Requirements [Table 87])

Note in particular that Table 87 gives semantics of a.swap(b) as swap(a,b), yet for all containers we define swap(a,b) to call a.swap(b) - a circular definition.

A quick survey of clause 23 shows that the following containers provide a definition for member-swap:

array
queue
stack
vector

Whereas the following declare it, but do not define the semantics:

deque
list
map
multimap
multiset
priority_queue
set
unordered_map
unordered_multi_map
unordered_multi_set
unordered_set

Suggested resolution:

Provide a definition for each of the affected containers...

[ Bellevue: ]

Move to Open and ask Alisdair to provide wording.

Proposed resolution:

Wording provided in N2590.


780. std::merge() specification incorrect/insufficient

Section: 25.5.4 [alg.merge] Status: New Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2008-01-25 Last modified: 2009-03-14

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Discussion:

Though issue 283 has fixed many open issues, it seems that some are still open:

Both 25.3.4 [lib.alg.merge] in 14882:2003 and 25.5.4 [alg.merge] in N2461 have no Requires element and the Effects element contains some requirements, which is probably editorial. Worse is that:

[ Post Summit Alisdair adds: ]

Suggest:

(where last is equal to next(result, distance(first1, last1) + distance(first2, last2)), such that resulting range will be sorted in non-decreasing order; that is, for every iterator i in [result,last) other than result, the condition *i < *prev(i) or, respectively, comp(*i, *prev(i)) will be false.

Note that this might still not be technically accurate in the case of InputIterators, depending on other resolutions working their way through the system (1011).

[ Post Summit Daniel adds: ]

If we want to use prev and next here (Note: merge is sufficiently satisfied with InputIterator) we should instead *add* more to 25 [algorithms]/6, but I can currently not propose any good wording for this.

Proposed resolution:

In 25.5.4 [alg.merge] replace p.1+ 2:

Effects: Merges Copies all the elements of the two sorted ranges [first1,last1) and [first2,last2) into the range [result,result + (last1 - first1) + (last2 - first2)) [result, last) (where last is equal to result + (last1 - first1) + (last2 - first2)), such that resulting range will be sorted in non-decreasing order; that is, for every iterator i in [result,last) other than result, the condition *i < *(i - 1) or, respectively, comp(*i, *(i - 1)) will be false.

Requires: The resulting range shall not overlap with either of the original ranges. The list will be sorted in non-decreasing order according to the ordering defined by comp; that is, for every iterator i in [first,last) other than first, the condition *i < *(i - 1) or comp(*i, *(i - 1)) will be false.

[N.B.: I attempted to reuse the wording style of inplace_merge, therefore proposing to insert ", respectively," between both predicate tests. This is no strictly necessary as other parts of <algorithm> show, just a matter of consistency]


785. Random Number Requirements in TR1

Section: TR1 5.1.4.5 [tr.rand.eng.disc], TR1 5.1.4.6 [tr.rand.eng.xor] Status: New Submitter: John Maddock Opened: 2008-01-15 Last modified: 2009-03-15

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Discussion:

Table 16 of TR1 requires that all Pseudo Random Number generators have a

seed(integer-type s)

member function that is equivalent to:

mygen = Generator(s)

But the generators xor_combine and discard_block have no such seed member, only the

template <class Gen>
seed(Gen&);

member, which will not accept an integer literal as an argument: something that appears to violate the intent of Table 16.

So... is this a bug in TR1?

This is a real issue BTW, since the Boost implementation does adhere to the requirements of Table 16, while at least one commercial implementation does not and follows a strict adherence to sections 5.1.4.5 and 5.1.4.6 instead.

[ Jens adds: ]

Both engines do have the necessary constructor, therefore the omission of the seed() member functions appears to be an oversight.

[ Post Summit Daniel adds: ]

Recommend NAD: xor_combine does no longer exist and discard_block[_engine] has now the required seed overload accepting a result_type, which shall be an unsigned integral type.

Proposed resolution:

NAD Recommended.


788. ambiguity in [istream.iterator]

Section: 24.6.1 [istream.iterator] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2008-02-06 Last modified: 2009-03-14

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Discussion:

Addresses UK 287

It is not clear what the initial state of an istream_iterator should be. Is _value_ initialized by reading the stream, or default/value initialized? If it is initialized by reading the stream, what happens if the initialization is deferred until first dereference, when ideally the iterator value should have been that of an end-of-stream iterator which is not safely dereferencable?

Recommendation: Specify _value_ is initialized by reading the stream, or the iterator takes on the end-of-stream value if the stream is empty.

The description of how an istream_iterator object becomes an end-of-stream iterator is a) ambiguous and b) out of date WRT issue 468:

istream_iterator reads (using operator>>) successive elements from the input stream for which it was constructed. After it is constructed, and every time ++ is used, the iterator reads and stores a value of T. If the end of stream is reached (operator void*() on the stream returns false), the iterator becomes equal to the end-of-stream iterator value. The constructor with no arguments istream_iterator() always constructs an end of stream input iterator object, which is the only legitimate iterator to be used for the end condition. The result of operator* on an end of stream is not defined. For any other iterator value a const T& is returned. The result of operator-> on an end of stream is not defined. For any other iterator value a const T* is returned. It is impossible to store things into istream iterators. The main peculiarity of the istream iterators is the fact that ++ operators are not equality preserving, that is, i == j does not guarantee at all that ++i == ++j. Every time ++ is used a new value is read.

istream::operator void*() returns null if istream::fail() is true, otherwise non-null. istream::fail() returns true if failbit or badbit is set in rdstate(). Reaching the end of stream doesn't necessarily imply that failbit or badbit is set (e.g., after extracting an int from stringstream("123") the stream object will have reached the end of stream but fail() is false and operator void*() will return a non-null value).

Also I would prefer to be explicit about calling fail() here (there is no operator void*() anymore.)

[ Summit: ]

Moved from Ready to Open for the purposes of using this issue to address NB UK 287. Martin to handle.

Proposed resolution:

Change 24.6.1 [istream.iterator]/1:

istream_iterator reads (using operator>>) successive elements from the input stream for which it was constructed. After it is constructed, and every time ++ is used, the iterator reads and stores a value of T. If the end of stream is reached the iterator fails to read and store a value of T (operator void*() fail() on the stream returns false true), the iterator becomes equal to the end-of-stream iterator value. The constructor with no arguments istream_iterator() always constructs an end of stream input iterator object, which is the only legitimate iterator to be used for the end condition. The result of operator* on an end of stream is not defined. For any other iterator value a const T& is returned. The result of operator-> on an end of stream is not defined. For any other iterator value a const T* is returned. It is impossible to store things into istream iterators. The main peculiarity of the istream iterators is the fact that ++ operators are not equality preserving, that is, i == j does not guarantee at all that ++i == ++j. Every time ++ is used a new value is read.

801. tuple and pair trivial members

Section: 20.5 [tuple] Status: Open Submitter: Lawrence Crowl Opened: 2008-02-18 Last modified: 2008-02-27

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Discussion:

Classes with trivial special member functions are inherently more efficient than classes without such functions. This efficiency is particularly pronounced on modern ABIs that can pass small classes in registers. Examples include value classes such as complex numbers and floating-point intervals. Perhaps more important, though, are classes that are simple collections, like pair and tuple. When the parameter types of these classes are trivial, the pairs and tuples themselves can be trivial, leading to substantial performance wins.

The current working draft make specification of trivial functions (where possible) much easer through defaulted and deleted functions. As long as the semantics of defaulted and deleted functions match the intended semantics, specification of defaulted and deleted functions will yield more efficient programs.

There are at least two cases where specification of an explicitly defaulted function may be desirable.

First, the std::pair template has a non-trivial default constructor, which prevents static initialization of the pair even when the types are statically initializable. Changing the definition to

pair() = default;

would enable such initialization. Unfortunately, the change is not semantically neutral in that the current definition effectively forces value initialization whereas the change would not value initialize in some contexts.

** Does the committee confirm that forced value initialization was the intent? If not, does the committee wish to change the behavior of std::pair in C++0x?

Second, the same default constructor issue applies to std::tuple. Furthermore, the tuple copy constructor is current non-trivial, which effectively prevents passing it in registers. To enable passing tuples in registers, the copy constructor should be make explicitly defaulted. The new declarations are:

tuple() = default;
tuple(const tuple&) = default;

This changes is not implementation neutral. In particular, it prevents implementations based on pointers to the parameter types. It does however, permit implementations using the parameter types as bases.

** How does the committee wish to trade implementation efficiency versus implementation flexibility?

[ Bellevue: ]

General agreement; the first half of the issue is NAD.

Before voting on the second half, it was agreed that a "Strongly Favor" vote meant support for trivial tuples (assuming usual requirements met), even at the expense of other desired qualities. A "Weakly Favor" vote meant support only if not at the expense of other desired qualities.

Concensus: Go forward, but not at expense of other desired qualities.

It was agreed to Alisdair should fold this work in with his other pair/tuple action items, above, and that issue 801 should be "open", but tabled until Alisdair's proposals are disposed of.

Proposed resolution:


810. Missing traits dependencies in operational semantics of extended manipulators

Section: 27.7.4 [ext.manip] Status: New Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2008-03-01 Last modified: 2009-03-14

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Discussion:

The recent draft (as well as the original proposal n2072) uses an operational semantic for get_money ([ext.manip]/4) and put_money ([ext.manip]/6), which uses

istreambuf_iterator<charT>

and

ostreambuf_iterator<charT>

resp, instead of the iterator instances, with explicitly provided traits argument (The operational semantic defined by f is also traits dependent). This is an obvious oversight because both *stream_buf c'tors expect a basic_streambuf<charT,traits> as argument.

The same problem occurs within the get_time and put_time semantic where additional to the problem we have an editorial issue in get_time (streambuf_iterator instead of istreambuf_iterator).

Proposed resolution:

In 27.7.4 [ext.manip]/4 within function f replace the first line

template <class charT, class traits, class moneyT> 
void f(basic_ios<charT, traits>& str, moneyT& mon, bool intl) { 
   typedef istreambuf_iterator<charT, traits> Iter;
   ...

In 27.7.4 [ext.manip]/5 remove the first template charT parameter:

template <class charT, class moneyT> unspecified put_money(const moneyT& mon, bool intl = false);

In 27.7.4 [ext.manip]/6 within function f replace the first line

template <class charT, class traits, class moneyT> 
void f(basic_ios<charT, traits>& str, const moneyT& mon, bool intl) { 
  typedef ostreambuf_iterator<charT, traits> Iter;
  ...

In 27.7.4 [ext.manip]/8 within function f replace the first line

template <class charT, class traits> 
void f(basic_ios<charT, traits>& str, struct tm *tmb, const charT *fmt) { 
  typedef istreambuf_iterator<charT, traits> Iter;
  ...

In 27.7.4 [ext.manip]/10 within function f replace the first line

template <class charT, class traits> 
void f(basic_ios<charT, traits>& str, const struct tm *tmb, const charT *fmt) { 
  typedef ostreambuf_iterator<charT, traits> Iter;
  ...

In 27.7 [iostream.format], Header <iomanip> synopsis change:

template <class charT, class moneyT> T8 put_money(const moneyT& mon, bool intl = false);

814. vector<bool>::swap(reference, reference) not defined

Section: 23.3.7 [vector.bool] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2008-03-17 Last modified: 2009-03-14

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Discussion:

vector<bool>::swap(reference, reference) has no definition.

[ San Francisco: ]

Move to Open. Alisdair to provide a resolution.

[ Post Summit Daniel provided wording. ]

Proposed resolution:

Just after 23.3.7 [vector.bool]/5 add the following prototype and description:

static void swap(reference x, reference y);

-6- Effects: Exchanges the contents of x and y as-if


bool b = x;
x = y;
y = b;

815. std::function and reference_closure do not use perfect forwarding

Section: 20.7.16.2.4 [func.wrap.func.inv] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2008-03-16 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

std::function and reference_closure should use "perfect forwarding" as described in the rvalue core proposal.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

According to Doug Gregor, as far as std::function is concerned, perfect forwarding can not be obtained because of type erasure. Not everyone agreed with this diagnosis of forwarding.

[ 2009-05-01 Howard adds: ]

Sebastian Gesemann brought to my attention that the CopyConstructible requirement on function's ArgTypes... is an unnecessary restriction.

template<Returnable R, CopyConstructible... ArgTypes>
class function<R(ArgTypes...)>
...

On further investigation, this complaint seemed to be the same issue as this one. I believe the reason CopyConstructible was put on ArgTypes in the first place was because of the nature of the invoke member:

template<class R, class ...ArgTypes>
R
function<R(ArgTypes...)>::operator()(ArgTypes... arg) const
{
    if (f_ == 0)
        throw bad_function_call();
    return (*f_)(arg...);
}

However now with rvalue-refs, "by value" no longer implies CopyConstructible (as Sebastian correctly points out). If rvalue arguments are supplied, MoveConstructible is sufficient. Furthermore, the constraint need not be applied in function if I understand correctly. Rather the client must apply the proper constraints at the call site. Therefore, at the very least, I recommend that CopyConstructible be removed from the template class function.

Furthermore we need to mandate that the invoker is coded as:

template<class R, class ...ArgTypes>
R
function<R(ArgTypes...)>::operator()(ArgTypes... arg) const
{
    if (f_ == 0)
        throw bad_function_call();
    return (*f_)(std::forward<ArgTypes>(arg)...);
}

Note that ArgTypes&& (the "perfect forwarding signature") is not appropriate here as this is not a deduced context for ArgTypes. Instead the client's arguments must implicitly convert to the non-deduced ArgType type. Catching these arguments by value makes sense to enable decay.

Next forward is used to move the ArgTypes as efficiently as possible, and also with minimum requirements (not CopyConstructible) to the type-erased functor. For object types, this will be a move. For reference type ArgTypes, this will be a copy. The end result must be that the following is a valid program:

#include <functional>
#include <memory>
#include <cassert>

std::unique_ptr<int>
f(std::unique_ptr<int> p, int& i)
{
    ++i;
    return std::move(p);
}

int main()
{
    int i = 2;
    std::function<std::unique_ptr<int>(std::unique_ptr<int>, int&)> g(f);
    std::unique_ptr<int> p = g(std::unique_ptr<int>(new int(1)), i);
    assert(*p == 1);
    assert(i == 3);
}

[ Tested in pre-concepts rvalue-ref-enabled compiler. ]

In the example above, the first ArgType is unique_ptr<int> and the second ArgType is int&. Both must work!

Proposed resolution:


816. Should bind()'s returned functor have a nofail copy ctor when bind() is nofail?

Section: 20.7.12.1.3 [func.bind.bind] Status: Open Submitter: Stephan T. Lavavej Opened: 2008-02-08 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

Library Issue 527 notes that bind(f, t1, ..., tN) should be nofail when f, t1, ..., tN have nofail copy ctors.

However, no guarantees are provided for the copy ctor of the functor returned by bind(). (It's guaranteed to have a copy ctor, which can throw implementation-defined exceptions: bind() returns a forwarding call wrapper, TR1 3.6.3/2. A forwarding call wrapper is a call wrapper, TR1 3.3/4. Every call wrapper shall be CopyConstructible, TR1 3.3/4. Everything without an exception-specification may throw implementation-defined exceptions unless otherwise specified, C++03 17.4.4.8/3.)

Should the nofail guarantee requested by Library Issue 527 be extended to cover both calling bind() and copying the returned functor?

[ Howard adds: ]

tuple construction should probably have a similar guarantee.

[ San Francisco: ]

Howard to provide wording.

[ Post Summit, Anthony provided wording. ]

Proposed resolution:

Add a new sentence to the end of paragraphs 2 and 4 of 20.7.12.1.3 [func.bind.bind]:

-2- Returns: A forwarding call wrapper g with a weak result type (20.6.2). The effect of g(u1, u2, ..., uM) shall be INVOKE(f, v1, v2, ..., vN, Callable<F cv,V1, V2, ..., VN>::result_type), where cv represents the cv-qualifiers of g and the values and types of the bound arguments v1, v2, ..., vN are determined as specified below. The copy constructor and move constructor of the forwarding call wrapper shall throw an exception if and only if the corresponding constructor of F or any of the types in BoundArgs... throw an exception.

...

-4- Returns: A forwarding call wrapper g with a nested type result_type defined as a synonym for R. The effect of g(u1, u2, ..., uM) shall be INVOKE(f, v1, v2, ..., vN, R), where the values and types of the bound arguments v1, v2, ..., vN are determined as specified below. The copy constructor and move constructor of the forwarding call wrapper shall throw an exception if and only if the corresponding constructor of F or any of the types in BoundArgs... throw an exception.


817. bind needs to be moved

Section: 20.7.12.1.3 [func.bind.bind] Status: Review Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2008-03-17 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

Addresses US 72, JP 38 and DE 21

The functor returned by bind() should have a move constructor that requires only move construction of its contained functor and bound arguments. That way move-only functors can be passed to objects such as thread.

This issue is related to issue 816.

US 72:

bind should support move-only functors and bound arguments.

JP 38:

add the move requirement for bind's return type.

For example, assume following th1 and th2,

void f(vector<int> v) { }

vector<int> v{ ... };
thread th1([v]{ f(v); });
thread th2(bind(f, v));

When function object are set to thread, v is moved to th1's lambda expression in a Move Constructor of lambda expression becuase th1's lambda expression has a Move Constructor. But bind of th2's return type doesn't have the requirement of Move, so it may not moved but copied.

Add the requirement of move to get rid of this useless copy.

And also, add the MoveConstructible as well as CopyConstructible.

DE 21

The specification for bind claims twice that "the values and types for the bound arguments v1, v2, ..., vN are determined as specified below". No such specification appears to exist.

[ San Francisco: ]

Howard to provide wording.

[ Post Summuit Alisdair and Howard provided wording. ]

Several issues are being combined in this resolution. They are all touching the same words so this is an attempt to keep one issue from stepping on another, and a place to see the complete solution in one place.

  1. bind needs to be "moved".
  2. 20.7.12.1.3 [func.bind.bind]/p3, p6 and p7 were accidently removed from N2798.
  3. Issue 929 argues for a way to pass by && for efficiency but retain the decaying behavior of pass by value for the thread constructor. That same solution is applicable here.

Proposed resolution:

Change 20.7 [function.objects] p2:

template<CopyConstructible MoveConstructible Fn, CopyConstructible MoveConstructible... Types> 
  unspecified bind(Fn&&, Types&&...); 
template<Returnable R, CopyConstructible MoveConstructible Fn, CopyConstructible MoveConstructible... Types> 
  unspecified bind(Fn&&, Types&&...);

Change 20.7.12.1.3 [func.bind.bind]:

template<CopyConstructible MoveConstructible F, CopyConstructible MoveConstructible... BoundArgs>
  unspecified bind(F&& f, BoundArgs&&... bound_args);

Requires: unspecified return type shall be MoveConstructible.

-1- Requires: INVOKE(f, w1, w2, ..., wN) (20.6.2) shall be a valid expression for some values w1, w2, ..., wN, where N == sizeof...(bound_args).

-2- Returns: A forwarding call wrapper g with a weak result type (20.6.2). The effect of g(u1, u2, ..., uM) shall be INVOKE(f, v1, v2, ..., vN, Callable<F cv,V1, V2, ..., VN>::result_type), where cv represents the cv-qualifiers of g and the values and types of the bound arguments v1, v2, ..., vN are determined as specified below.

Throws: Nothing unless the constructor of F or of one of the types in the BoundArgs... pack expansion throws an exception.

template<Returnable R, CopyConstructible MoveConstructible F, CopyConstructible MoveConstructible... BoundArgs>
  unspecified bind(F&& f, BoundArgs&&... bound_args);

Requires: unspecified return type shall be MoveConstructible.

-3- Requires: INVOKE(f, w1, w2, ..., wN) shall be a valid expression for some values w1, w2, ..., wN, where N == sizeof...(bound_args).

-4- Returns: A forwarding call wrapper g with a nested type result_type defined as a synonym for R. The effect of g(u1, u2, ..., uM) shall be INVOKE(f, v1, v2, ..., vN, R), where the values and types of the bound arguments v1, v2, ..., vN are determined as specified below.

Throws: Nothing unless the constructor of F or of one of the types in the BoundArgs... pack expansion throws an exception.

Let the values of bound arguments v1, v2, ..., vN and their corresponding types V1, V2, ..., VN depend on the type of the corresponding argument ti in bound_args in the call to bind and the cv-qualifiers cv of the call wrapper g as follows. Let Ti be an alias for the ith element of the pack expansion decay<BoundArgs>::type...:


819. rethrow_if_nested

Section: 18.8.6 [except.nested] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2008-03-25 Last modified: 2008-09-17

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Discussion:

Looking at the wording I submitted for rethrow_if_nested, I don't think I got it quite right.

The current wording says:

template <class E> void rethrow_if_nested(const E& e);

Effects: Calls e.rethrow_nested() only if e is publicly derived from nested_exception.

This is trying to be a bit subtle, by requiring e (not E) to be publicly derived from nested_exception the idea is that a dynamic_cast would be required to be sure. Unfortunately, if e is dynamically but not statically derived from nested_exception, e.rethrow_nested() is ill-formed.

[ San Francisco: ]

Alisdair was volunteered to provide wording.

Proposed resolution:


822. Object with explicit copy constructor no longer CopyConstructible

Section: X [utility.arg.requirements] Status: Tentatively Ready Submitter: James Kanze Opened: 2008-04-01 Last modified: 2009-03-09

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Discussion:

I just noticed that the following program is legal in C++03, but is forbidden in the current draft:

#include <vector>
#include <iostream>

class Toto
{
public:
    Toto() {}
    explicit Toto( Toto const& ) {}
} ;

int
main()
{
    std::vector< Toto > v( 10 ) ;
    return 0 ;
}

Is this change intentional? (And if so, what is the justification? I wouldn't call such code good, but I don't see any reason to break it unless we get something else in return.)

[ San Francisco: ]

The subgroup that looked at this felt this was a good change, but it may already be handled by incoming concepts (we're not sure).
Original Proposed resolution:

In X [utility.arg.requirements] change Table 33: MoveConstructible requirements [moveconstructible]:

expressionpost-condition
T t(rv) = rvt is equivalent to the value of rv before the construction
...

In X [utility.arg.requirements] change Table 34: CopyConstructible requirements [copyconstructible]:

expressionpost-condition
T t(u) = uthe value of u is unchanged and is equivalent to t
...

[ Post Summit: ]

Alisdair: Proposed resolution kinda funky as these tables no longer exist. Move from direct init to copy init. Clarify with Doug, recommends NAD.

Walter: Suggest NAD via introduction of concepts.

Recommend close as NAD.

Proposed resolution:

Recommend close as NAD.


825. Missing rvalues reference stream insert/extract operators?

Section: 19.5.2.2 [syserr.errcode.overview], 20.8.13.2.8 [util.smartptr.shared.io], 22.4.8 [facets.examples], 20.3.6.3 [bitset.operators], 26.4.6 [complex.ops], 27.6 [stream.buffers], 28.10 [re.submatch] Status: Open Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2008-04-10 Last modified: 2009-02-14

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Discussion:

Should the following use rvalues references to stream in insert/extract operators?

[ Sophia Antipolis ]

Agree with the idea in the issue, Alisdair to provide wording.

[ Daniel adds 2009-02-14: ]

The proposal given in the paper N2831 apparently resolves this issue.

Proposed resolution:


827. constexpr shared_ptr::shared_ptr()?

Section: 20.8.13.2.1 [util.smartptr.shared.const] Status: Open Submitter: Peter Dimov Opened: 2008-04-11 Last modified: 2009-05-01

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Discussion:

Would anyone object to making the default constructor of shared_ptr (and weak_ptr and enable_shared_from_this) constexpr? This would enable static initialization for shared_ptr variables, eliminating another unfair advantage of raw pointers.

[ San Francisco: ]

It's not clear to us that you can initialize a pointer with the literal 0 in a constant expression. We need to ask CWG to make sure this works. Bjarne has been appointed to do this.

Core got back to us and assured as that nullptr would do the job nicely here.

[ 2009-05-01 Alisdair adds: ]

I don't believe that constexpr will buy anything in this case. shared_ptr/weak_ptr/enable_shared_from_this cannot be literal types as they have a non-trivial copy constructor. As they do not produce literal types, then the constexpr default constructor will not guarantee constant initialization, and so not buy the hoped for optimization.

I recommend referring this back to Core to see if we can get static initialization for types with constexpr constructors, even if they are not literal types. Otherwise this should be closed as NAD.

Proposed resolution:


828. Static initialization for std::mutex?

Section: 30.4.1.1 [thread.mutex.class] Status: Review Submitter: Peter Dimov Opened: 2008-04-18 Last modified: 2009-03-09

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Discussion:

[Note: I'm assuming here that 3.6.2 [basic.start.init]/1 will be fixed.]

Currently std::mutex doesn't support static initialization. This is a regression with respect to pthread_mutex_t, which does. I believe that we should strive to eliminate such regressions in expressive power where possible, both to ease migration and to not provide incentives to (or force) people to forego the C++ primitives in favor of pthreads.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

We believe this is implementable on POSIX, because the initializer-list feature and the constexpr feature make this work. Double-check core language about static initialization for this case. Ask core for a core issue about order of destruction of statically-initialized objects wrt. dynamically-initialized objects (should come afterwards). Check non-POSIX systems for implementability.

If ubiquitous implementability cannot be assured, plan B is to introduce another constructor, make this constexpr, which is conditionally-supported. To avoid ambiguities, this new constructor needs to have an additional parameter.

[ Post Summit: ]

Jens: constant initialization seems to be ok core-language wise

Consensus: Defer to threading experts, in particular a Microsoft platform expert.

Lawrence to send e-mail to Herb Sutter, Jonathan Caves, Anthony Wiliams, Paul McKenney, Martin Tusker, Hans Boehm, Bill Plauger, Pete Becker, Peter Dimov to alert them of this issue.

Lawrence: What about header file shared with C? The initialization syntax is different in C and C++.

Recommend Keep in Review

Proposed resolution:

Change 30.4.1.1 [thread.mutex.class]:

class mutex { 
public: 
  constexpr mutex(); 
  ...

830. Incomplete list of char_traits specializations

Section: 21.2 [char.traits] Status: Open Submitter: Dietmar Kühl Opened: 2008-04-23 Last modified: 2008-06-19

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Discussion:

Paragraph 4 of 21.2 [char.traits] mentions that this section specifies two specializations (char_traits<char> and (char_traits<wchar_t>). However, there are actually four specializations provided, i.e. in addition to the two above also char_traits<char16_t> and char_traits<char32_t>). I guess this was just an oversight and there is nothing wrong with just fixing this.

[ Alisdair adds: ]

char_traits< char16/32_t > should also be added to <ios_fwd> in 27.3 [iostream.forward], and all the specializations taking a char_traits parameter in that header.

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

Idea of the issue is ok.

Alisdair to provide wording, once that wording arrives, move to review.

Proposed resolution:

Replace paragraph 4 of 21.2 [char.traits] by:

This subclause specifies a struct template, char_traits<charT>, and four explicit specializations of it, char_traits<char>, char_traits<char16_t>, char_traits<char32_t>, and char_traits<wchar_t>, all of which appear in the header <string> and satisfy the requirements below.


833. Freestanding implementations header list needs review for C++0x

Section: 17.6.1.3 [compliance] Status: Open Submitter: Beman Dawes Opened: 2008-05-14 Last modified: 2009-03-11

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Discussion:

Once the C++0x standard library is feature complete, the LWG needs to review 17.6.1.3 [compliance] Freestanding implementations header list to ensure it reflects LWG consensus.

[ San Francisco: ]

This is a placeholder defect to remind us to review the table once we've stopped adding headers to the library.

Three new headers that need to be added to the list:

<initializer_list> <concept> <iterator_concepts>

<iterator_concepts>, in particular, has lots of stuff that isn't needed, so maybe the stuff that is needed should be broken out into a separate header.

Robert: What about reference_closure? It's currently in <functional>.

[ Post Summit Daniel adds: ]

  1. The comment regarding reference_closure seems moot since it was just recently decided to remove that.
  2. A reference to proposal N2814 ("Fixing freestanding") should be added. This paper e.g. proposes to add only <initializer_list> to the include list of freestanding.

Proposed resolution:


834. Unique_ptr::pointer requirements underspecified

Section: 20.8.12.2 [unique.ptr.single] Status: Open Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2008-05-14 Last modified: 2008-06-19

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Discussion:

Issue 673 (including recent updates by 821) proposes a useful extension point for unique_ptr by granting support for an optional deleter_type::pointer to act as pointer-like replacement for element_type* (In the following: pointer).

Unfortunately no requirements are specified for the type pointer which has impact on at least two key features of unique_ptr:

  1. Operational fail-safety.
  2. (Well-)Definedness of expressions.

Unique_ptr specification makes great efforts to require that essentially *all* operations cannot throw and therefore adds proper wording to the affected operations of the deleter as well. If user-provided pointer-emulating types ("smart pointers") will be allowed, either *all* throw-nothing clauses have to be replaced by weaker "An exception is thrown only if pointer's {op} throws an exception"-clauses or it has to be said explicitly that all used operations of pointer are required *not* to throw. I understand the main focus of unique_ptr to be as near as possible to the advantages of native pointers which cannot fail and thus strongly favor the second choice. Also, the alternative position would make it much harder to write safe and simple template code for unique_ptr. Additionally, I assume that a general statement need to be given that all of the expressions of pointer used to define semantics are required to be well-formed and well-defined (also as back-end for 762).

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

Howard: We maybe need a core concept PointerLike, but we don't need the arithmetic (see shared_ptr vs. vector<T>::iterator.

Howard will go through and enumerate the individual requirements wrt. pointer for each member function.

Proposed resolution:

Add the following sentence just at the end of the newly proposed 20.8.12.2 [unique.ptr.single]/p. 3:

unique_ptr<T, D>::pointer's operations shall be well-formed, shall have well defined behavior, and shall not throw exceptions.

835. tying two streams together (correction to DR 581)

Section: 27.5.4.2 [basic.ios.members] Status: New Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2008-05-17 Last modified: 2008-05-17

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Discussion:

The fix for issue 581, now integrated into the working paper, overlooks a couple of minor problems.

First, being an unformatted function once again, flush() is required to create a sentry object whose constructor must, among other things, flush the tied stream. When two streams are tied together, either directly or through another intermediate stream object, flushing one will also cause a call to flush() on the other tied stream(s) and vice versa, ad infinitum. The program below demonstrates the problem.

Second, as Bo Persson notes in his comp.lang.c++.moderated post, for streams with the unitbuf flag set such as std::stderr, the destructor of the sentry object will again call flush(). This seems to create an infinite recursion for std::cerr << std::flush;

#include <iostream>

int main ()
{
   std::cout.tie (&std::cerr);
   std::cerr.tie (&std::cout);
   std::cout << "cout\n";
   std::cerr << "cerr\n";
} 
           

Proposed resolution:

I think an easy way to plug the first hole is to add a requires clause to ostream::tie(ostream *tiestr) requiring the this pointer not be equal to any pointer on the list starting with tiestr->tie() through tiestr()->tie()->tie() and so on. I am not proposing that we require implementations to traverse this list, although I think we could since the list is unlikely to be very long.

Add a Requires clause to 27.5.4.2 [basic.ios.members] withethe following text:

Requires: If (tiestr != 0) is true, tiestr must not be reachable by traversing the linked list of tied stream objects starting from tiestr->tie().

In addition, to prevent the infinite recursion that Bo writes about in his comp.lang.c++.moderated post, I propose to change 27.7.2.4 [ostream::sentry], p2 like so:

If ((os.flags() & ios_base::unitbuf) && !uncaught_exception()) is true, calls os.flush() os.rdbuf()->pubsync().

836. effects of money_base::space and money_base::none on money_get

Section: 22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2008-05-17 Last modified: 2008-09-22

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Duplicate of: 670

Discussion:

In paragraph 2, 22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals] specifies the following:

Where space or none appears in the format pattern, except at the end, optional white space (as recognized by ct.is) is consumed after any required space.

This requirement can be (and has been) interpreted two mutually exclusive ways by different readers. One possible interpretation is that:

  1. where money_base::space appears in the format, at least one space is required, and
  2. where money_base::none appears in the format, space is allowed but not required.

The other is that:

where either money_base::space or money_base::none appears in the format, white space is optional.

[ San Francisco: ]

Martin will revise the proposed resolution.

Proposed resolution:

I propose to change the text to make it clear that the first interpretation is intended, that is, to make following change to 22.4.6.1.2 [locale.money.get.virtuals], p2:

When money_base::space or money_base::none appears as the last element in the format pattern, except at the end, optional white space (as recognized by ct.is) is consumed after any required space. no white space is consumed. Otherwise, where money_base::space appears in any of the initial elements of the format pattern, at least one white space character is required. Where money_base::none appears in any of the initial elements of the format pattern, white space is allowed but not required. In either case, any required followed by all optional white space (as recognized by ct.is()) is consumed. If (str.flags() & str.showbase) is false, ...

837. basic_ios::copyfmt() overly loosely specified

Section: 27.5.4.2 [basic.ios.members] Status: New Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2008-05-17 Last modified: 2008-05-17

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Discussion:

The basic_ios::copyfmt() member function is specified in 27.5.4.2 [basic.ios.members] to have the following effects:

Effects: If (this == &rhs) does nothing. Otherwise assigns to the member objects of *this the corresponding member objects of rhs, except that

Since the rest of the text doesn't specify what the member objects of basic_ios are this seems a little too loose.

Proposed resolution:

I propose to tighten things up by adding a Postcondition clause to the function like so:

Postconditions:
copyfmt() postconditions
Element Value
rdbuf() unchanged
tie() rhs.tie()
rdstate() unchanged
exceptions() rhs.exceptions()
flags() rhs.flags()
width() rhs.width()
precision() rhs.precision()
fill() rhs.fill()
getloc() rhs.getloc()

The format of the table follows Table 117 (as of N2588): basic_ios::init() effects.

The intent of the new table is not to impose any new requirements or change existing ones, just to be more explicit about what I believe is already there.


838. can an end-of-stream iterator become a non-end-of-stream one?

Section: 24.6.1 [istream.iterator] Status: Open Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2008-05-17 Last modified: 2008-10-27

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Discussion:

From message c++std-lib-20003...

The description of istream_iterator in 24.6.1 [istream.iterator], p1 specifies that objects of the class become the end-of-stream (EOS) iterators under the following condition (see also issue 788 another problem with this paragraph):

If the end of stream is reached (operator void*() on the stream returns false), the iterator becomes equal to the end-of-stream iterator value.

One possible implementation approach that has been used in practice is for the iterator to set its in_stream pointer to 0 when it reaches the end of the stream, just like the default ctor does on initialization. The problem with this approach is that the Effects clause for operator++() says the iterator unconditionally extracts the next value from the stream by evaluating *in_stream >> value, without checking for (in_stream == 0).

Conformance to the requirement outlined in the Effects clause can easily be verified in programs by setting eofbit or failbit in exceptions() of the associated stream and attempting to iterate past the end of the stream: each past-the-end access should trigger an exception. This suggests that some other, more elaborate technique might be intended.

Another approach, one that allows operator++() to attempt to extract the value even for EOS iterators (just as long as in_stream is non-0) is for the iterator to maintain a flag indicating whether it has reached the end of the stream. This technique would satisfy the presumed requirement implied by the Effects clause mentioned above, but it isn't supported by the exposition-only members of the class (no such flag is shown). This approach is also found in existing practice.

The inconsistency between existing implementations raises the question of whether the intent of the specification is that a non-EOS iterator that has reached the EOS become a non-EOS one again after the stream's eofbit flag has been cleared? That is, are the assertions in the program below expected to pass?

   sstream strm ("1 ");
   istream_iterator eos;
   istream_iterator it (strm);
   int i;
   i = *it++
   assert (it == eos);
   strm.clear ();
   strm << "2 3 ";
   assert (it != eos);
   i = *++it;
   assert (3 == i);
     

Or is it intended that once an iterator becomes EOS it stays EOS until the end of its lifetime?

[ San Francisco: ]

We like the direction of the proposed resolution. We're not sure about the wording, and we need more time to reflect on it,

Move to Open. Detlef to rewrite the proposed resolution in such a way that no reference is made to exposition only members of istream_iterator.

Proposed resolution:

The discussion of this issue on the reflector suggests that the intent of the standard is for an istreambuf_iterator that has reached the EOS to remain in the EOS state until the end of its lifetime. Implementations that permit EOS iterators to return to a non-EOS state may only do so as an extension, and only as a result of calling istream_iterator member functions on EOS iterators whose behavior is in this case undefined.

To this end we propose to change 24.6.1 [istream.iterator], p1, as follows:

The result of operator-> on an end-of-stream is not defined. For any other iterator value a const T* is returned. Invoking operator++() on an end-of-stream iterator is undefined. It is impossible to store things into istream iterators...

Add pre/postconditions to the member function descriptions of istream_iterator like so:

istream_iterator();
Effects: Constructs the end-of-stream iterator.
Postcondition: in_stream == 0.
istream_iterator(istream_type &s);
Effects: Initializes in_stream with &s. value may be initialized during construction or the first time it is referenced.
Postcondition: in_stream == &s.
istream_iterator(const istream_iterator &x);
Effects: Constructs a copy of x.
Postcondition: in_stream == x.in_stream.
istream_iterator& operator++();
Requires: in_stream != 0.
Effects: *in_stream >> value.
istream_iterator& operator++(int);
Requires: in_stream != 0.
Effects:
istream_iterator tmp (*this);
*in_stream >> value;
return tmp;
     

839. Maps and sets missing splice operation

Section: 23.4 [associative], 23.5 [unord] Status: Open Submitter: Alan Talbot Opened: 2008-05-18 Last modified: 2008-09-22

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Discussion:

Splice is a very useful feature of list. This functionality is also very useful for any other node based container, and I frequently wish it were available for maps and sets. It seems like an omission that these containers lack this capability. Although the complexity for a splice is the same as for an insert, the actual time can be much less since the objects need not be reallocated and copied. When the element objects are heavy and the compare operations are fast (say a map<int, huge_thingy>) this can be a big win.

Suggested resolution:

Add the following signatures to map, set, multimap, multiset, and the unordered associative containers:

 
void splice(list<T,Allocator>&& x);
void splice(list<T,Allocator>&& x, const_iterator i);
void splice(list<T,Allocator>&& x, const_iterator first, const_iterator last);

Hint versions of these are also useful to the extent hint is useful. (I'm looking for guidance about whether hints are in fact useful.)

 
void splice(const_iterator position, list<T,Allocator>&& x);
void splice(const_iterator position, list<T,Allocator>&& x, const_iterator i);
void splice(const_iterator position, list<T,Allocator>&& x, const_iterator first, const_iterator last);

[ Sophia Antipolis: ]

Don't try to splice "list" into the other containers, it should be container-type.

forward_list already has splice_after.

Would "splice" make sense for an unordered_map?

Jens, Robert: "splice" is not the right term, it implies maintaining ordering in lists.

Howard: adopt?

Jens: absorb?

Alan: subsume?

Robert: recycle?

Howard: transfer? (but no direction)

Jens: transfer_from. No.

Alisdair: Can we give a nothrow guarantee? If your compare() and hash() doesn't throw, yes.

Daniel: For unordered_map, we can't guarantee nothrow.

[ San Francisco: ]

Martin: this would possibly outlaw an implementation technique that is currently in use; caching nodes in containers.

Alan: if you cache in the allocator, rather than the individual container, this proposal doesn't interfere with that.

Martin: I'm not opposed to this, but I'd like to see an implementation that demonstrates that it works.

Proposed resolution:


847. string exception safety guarantees

Section: 21.4.1 [string.require] Status: Open Submitter: Hervé Brönnimann Opened: 2008-06-05 Last modified: 2009-02-14

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Discussion:

In March, on comp.lang.c++.moderated, I asked what were the string exception safety guarantees are, because I cannot see *any* in the working paper, and any implementation I know offers the strong exception safety guarantee (string unchanged if a member throws exception). The closest the current draft comes to offering any guarantees is 21.4 [basic.string], para 3:

The class template basic_string conforms to the requirements for a Sequence Container (23.1.1), for a Reversible Container (23.1), and for an Allocator-aware container (91). The iterators supported by basic_string are random access iterators (24.1.5).

However, the chapter 23 only says, on the topic of exceptions: 23.2 [container.requirements], para 10:

Unless otherwise specified (see 23.2.2.3 and 23.2.6.4) all container types defined in this clause meet the following additional requirements:

I take it as saying that this paragraph has *no* implication on std::basic_string, as basic_string isn't defined in Clause 23 and this paragraph does not define a *requirement* of Sequence nor Reversible Container, just of the models defined in Clause 23. In addition, LWG Issue 718 proposes to remove 23.2 [container.requirements], para 3.

Finally, the fact that no operation on Traits should throw exceptions has no bearing, except to suggest (since the only other throws should be allocation, out_of_range, or length_error) that the strong exception guarantee can be achieved.

The reaction in that group by Niels Dekker, Martin Sebor, and Bo Persson, was all that this would be worth an LWG issue.

A related issue is that erase() does not throw. This should be stated somewhere (and again, I don't think that the 23.2 [container.requirements], para 1 applies here).

[ San Francisco: ]

Implementors will study this to confirm that it is actually possible.

[ Daniel adds 2009-02-14: ]

The proposed resolution of paper N2815 interacts with this issue (the paper does not refer to this issue).

Proposed resolution:

Add a blanket statement in 21.4.1 [string.require]:

- if any member function or operator of basic_string<charT, traits, Allocator> throws, that function or operator has no effect.

- no erase() or pop_back() function throws.

As far as I can tell, this is achieved by any implementation. If I made a mistake and it is not possible to offer this guarantee, then either state all the functions for which this is possible (certainly at least operator+=, append, assign, and insert), or add paragraphs to Effects clauses wherever appropriate.


851. simplified array construction

Section: 23.3.1 [array] Status: Open Submitter: Benjamin Kosnik Opened: 2008-06-05 Last modified: 2008-09-22

View other active issues in [array].

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Discussion:

This is an issue that came up on the libstdc++ list, where a discrepancy between "C" arrays and C++0x's std::array was pointed out.

In "C," this array usage is possible:

int ar[] = {1, 4, 6};

But for C++,

std::array<int> a = { 1, 4, 6 }; // error

Instead, the second parameter of the array template must be explicit, like so:

std::array<int, 3> a = { 1, 4, 6 };

Doug Gregor proposes the following solution, that assumes generalized initializer lists.

template<typename T, typename... Args>
inline array<T, sizeof...(Args)> 
make_array(Args&&... args) 
{ return { std::forward<Args>(args)... };  }

Then, the way to build an array from a list of unknown size is:

auto a = make_array<T>(1, 4, 6);

[ San Francisco: ]

Benjamin: Move to Ready?

Bjarne: I'm not convinced this is useful enough to add, so I'd like us to have time to reflect on it.

Alisdair: the constraints are wrong, they should be

template<ValueType T, ValueType... Args>
requires Convertible<Args, T>...
array<T, sizeof...(Args)> make_array(Args&&... args);

Alidair: this would be useful if we had a constexpr version.

Bjarne: this is probably useful for arrays with a small number of elements, but it's not clearly useful otherwise.

Consensus is to move to Open.

Proposed resolution:

Add to the array synopsis in 23.3 [sequences]:

template<ValueType T, ValueType... Args>
  requires Convertible<Args, T>...
  array<T, sizeof...(Args)> 
  make_array(Args&&... args);

Append after 23.3.1.7 [array.tuple] Tuple interface to class template array the following new section.

23.2.1.7 Convenience interface to class template array [array.tuple]

template<ValueType T, ValueType... Args>
  requires Convertible<Args, T>...
  array<T, sizeof...(Args)> 
  make_array(Args&&... args);

Returns: an array<T, sizeof...(Args)> initialized with {std::forward<T>(args)...}.


853. to_string needs updating with zero and one

Section: 20.3.6 [template.bitset] Status: Tentatively Ready Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2008-06-18 Last modified: 2009-03-13

View all other issues in [template.bitset].

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Discussion:

Issue 396 adds defaulted arguments to the to_string member, but neglects to update the three newer to_string overloads.

[ post San Francisco: ]

Daniel found problems with the wording and provided fixes. Moved from Ready to Review.

[ Post Summit: ]

Alisdair: suggest to not repeat the default arguments in B, C, D (definition of to_string members)

Walter: This is not really a definition.

Consensus: Add note to the editor: Please apply editor's judgement whether default arguments should be repeated for B, C, D changes.

Recommend Tentatively Ready.

Proposed resolution:

  1. replace in 20.3.6 [template.bitset]/1 (class bitset)

    template <class charT, class traits>
      basic_string<charT, traits, allocator<charT> >
      to_string(charT zero = charT('0'), charT one = charT('1')) const;
    template <class charT>
      basic_string<charT, char_traits<charT>, allocator<charT> >
      to_string(charT zero = charT('0'), charT one = charT('1')) const;
    basic_string<char, char_traits<char>, allocator<char> >
      to_string(char zero = '0', char one = '1') const;
    
  2. replace in 20.3.6.2 [bitset.members]/37

    template <class charT, class traits>
      basic_string<charT, traits, allocator<charT> >
      to_string(charT zero = charT('0'), charT one = charT('1')) const;
    
    37 Returns: to_string<charT, traits, allocator<charT> >(zero, one).
  3. replace in 20.3.6.2 [bitset.members]/38

    template <class charT>
      basic_string<charT, char_traits<charT>, allocator<charT> >
      to_string(charT zero = charT('0'), charT one = charT('1')) const;
    
    38 Returns: to_string<charT, char_traits<charT>, allocator<charT> >(zero, one).
  4. replace in 20.3.6.2 [bitset.members]/39

    basic_string<char, char_traits<char>, allocator<char> >
      to_string(char zero = '0', char one = '1') const;
    
    39 Returns: to_string<char, char_traits<char>, allocator<char> >(zero, one).

854. default_delete converting constructor underspecified

Section: 20.8.12.1.1 [unique.ptr.dltr.dflt] Status: Review Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2008-06-18 Last modified: 2009-03-09

View all issues with Review status.

Discussion:

No relationship between U and T in the converting constructor for default_delete template.

Requirements: U* is convertible to T* and has_virtual_destructor<T>; the latter should also become a concept.

Rules out cross-casting.

The requirements for unique_ptr conversions should be the same as those on the deleter.

[ Howard adds 2008-11-26: ]

I believe we need to be careful to not outlaw the following use case, and I believe the current proposed wording (requires Convertible<U*, T*> && HasVirtualDestructor<T>) does so:

#include <memory>

int main()
{
    std::unique_ptr<int> p1(new int(1));
    std::unique_ptr<const int> p2(move(p1));
    int i = *p2;
//    *p2 = i;  // should not compile
}

I've removed "&& HasVirtualDestructor<T>" from the requires clause in the proposed wording.

[ Post Summit: ]

Alisdair: This issue has to stay in review pending a paper constraining unique_ptr.

Consensus: We agree with the resolution, but unique_ptr needs to be constrained, too.

Recommend Keep in Review.

Proposed resolution:

Change 20.8.12.1.1 [unique.ptr.dltr.dflt]:

namespace std { 
  template <class T> struct default_delete { 
    default_delete(); 
    template <class U>
      requires Convertible<U*, T*>
      default_delete(const default_delete<U>&); 
    void operator()(T*) const; 
  }; 
}

...

template <class U>
  requires Convertible<U*, T*>
  default_delete(const default_delete<U>& other);

857. condition_variable::time_wait return bool error prone

Section: 30.5.1 [thread.condition.condvar] Status: Open Submitter: Beman Dawes Opened: 2008-06-13 Last modified: 2008-09-23

View other active issues in [thread.condition.condvar].

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Discussion:

The meaning of the bool returned by condition_variable::timed_wait is so obscure that even the class' designer can't deduce it correctly. Several people have independently stumbled on this issue.

It might be simpler to change the return type to a scoped enum:

enum class timeout { not_reached, reached };

That's the same cost as returning a bool, but not subject to mistakes. Your example below would be:

if (cv.wait_until(lk, time_limit) == timeout::reached )
  throw time_out();

[ Beman to supply exact wording. ]

[ San Francisco: ]

There is concern that the enumeration names are just as confusing, if not more so, as the bool. You might have awoken because of a signal or a spurious wakeup, for example.

Group feels that this is a defect that needs fixing.

Group prefers returning an enum over a void return.

Howard to provide wording.

Proposed resolution:


859. Monotonic Clock is Conditionally Supported?

Section: 30.5 [thread.condition] Status: Open Submitter: Pete Becker Opened: 2008-06-23 Last modified: 2009-03-22

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

Related to 958, 959.

N2661 says that there is a class named monotonic_clock. It also says that this name may be a synonym for system_clock, and that it's conditionally supported. So the actual requirement is that it can be monotonic or not, and you can tell by looking at is_monotonic, or it might not exist at all (since it's conditionally supported). Okay, maybe too much flexibility, but so be it.

A problem comes up in the threading specification, where several variants of wait_for explicitly use monotonic_clock::now(). What is the meaning of an effects clause that says

wait_until(lock, chrono::monotonic_clock::now() + rel_time)

when monotonic_clock is not required to exist?

[ San Francisco: ]

Nick: maybe instead of saying that chrono::monotonic_clock is conditionally supported, we could say that it's always there, but not necessarily supported..

Beman: I'd prefer a typedef that identifies the best clock to use for wait_for locks.

Tom: combine the two concepts; create a duration clock type, but keep the is_monotonic test.

Howard: if we create a duration_clock type, is it a typedef or an entirely true type?

There was broad preference for a typedef.

Move to Open. Howard to provide wording to add a typedef for duration_clock and to replace all uses of monotonic_clock in function calls and signatures with duration_clock.

[ Howard notes post-San Francisco: ]

After further thought I do not believe that creating a duration_clock typedef is the best way to proceed. An implementation may not need to use a time_point to implement the wait_for functions.

For example, on POSIX systems sleep_for can be implemented in terms of nanosleep which takes only a duration in terms of nanoseconds. The current working paper does not describe sleep_for in terms of sleep_until. And paragraph 2 of 30.2.4 [thread.req.timing] has the words strongly encouraging implementations to use monotonic clocks for sleep_for:

2 The member functions whose names end in _for take an argument that specifies a relative time. Implementations should use a monotonic clock to measure time for these functions.

I believe the approach taken in describing the effects of sleep_for and try_lock_for is also appropriate for wait_for. I.e. these are not described in terms of their _until variants.

Proposed resolution:

Change 30.5.1 [thread.condition.condvar], p21-22:

template <class Rep, class Period> 
  bool wait_for(unique_lock<mutex>& lock, 
                const chrono::duration<Rep, Period>& rel_time);

Precondition: lock is locked by the calling thread, and either

21 Effects:

wait_until(lock, chrono::monotonic_clock::now() + rel_time)

Postcondition: lock is locked by the calling thread.

22 Returns: false if the call is returning because the time duration specified by rel_time has elapsed, otherwise true.

Throws: std::system_error when the effects or postcondition cannot be achieved.

Error conditions:

Change 30.5.1 [thread.condition.condvar], p26-p29:

template <class Rep, class Period, class Predicate> 
  bool wait_for(unique_lock<mutex>& lock, 
                const chrono::duration<Rep, Period>& rel_time, 
                Predicate pred);

Precondition: lock is locked by the calling thread, and either

26 Effects:

wait_until(lock, chrono::monotonic_clock::now() + rel_time, std::move(pred))
  • Executes a loop: Within the loop the function first evaluates pred() and exits the loop if the result of pred() is true.
  • Atomically calls lock.unlock() and blocks on *this.
  • When unblocked, calls lock.lock() (possibly blocking on the lock).
  • The function will unblock when signaled by a call to notify_one(), a call to notify_all(), by the elapsed time rel_time passing (30.1.4 [thread.req.timing]), or spuriously.
  • If the function exits via an exception, lock.unlock() shall be called prior to exiting the function scope.
  • The loop terminates when pred() returns true or when the time duration specified by rel_time has elapsed.

27 [Note: There is no blocking if pred() is initially true, even if the timeout has already expired. -- end note]

Postcondition: lock is locked by the calling thread.

28 Returns: pred()

29 [Note: The returned value indicates whether the predicate evaluates to true regardless of whether the timeout was triggered. -- end note]

Throws: std::system_error when the effects or postcondition cannot be achieved.

Error conditions:

Change 30.5.2 [thread.condition.condvarany], p18-19:

template <class Lock, class Rep, class Period> 
  bool wait_for(Lock& lock, const chrono::duration<Rep, Period>& rel_time);

18 Effects:

wait_until(lock, chrono::monotonic_clock::now() + rel_time)

Postcondition: lock is locked by the calling thread.

19 Returns: false if the call is returning because the time duration specified by rel_time has elapsed, otherwise true.

Throws: std::system_error when the returned value, effects, or postcondition cannot be achieved.

Error conditions:

Change 30.5.2 [thread.condition.condvarany], p23-p26:

template <class Lock, class Rep, class Period, class Predicate> 
  bool wait_for(Lock& lock, const chrono::duration<Rep, Period>& rel_time, Predicate pred);

Precondition: lock is locked by the calling thread, and either

23 Effects:

wait_until(lock, chrono::monotonic_clock::now() + rel_time, std::move(pred))
  • Executes a loop: Within the loop the function first evaluates pred() and exits the loop if the result of pred() is true.
  • Atomically calls lock.unlock() and blocks on *this.
  • When unblocked, calls lock.lock() (possibly blocking on the lock).
  • The function will unblock when signaled by a call to notify_one(), a call to notify_all(), by the elapsed time rel_time passing (30.1.4 [thread.req.timing]), or spuriously.
  • If the function exits via an exception, lock.unlock() shall be called prior to exiting the function scope.
  • The loop terminates when pred() returns true or when the time duration specified by rel_time has elapsed.

24 [Note: There is no blocking if pred() is initially true, even if the timeout has already expired. -- end note]

Postcondition: lock is locked by the calling thread.

25 Returns: pred()

26 [Note: The returned value indicates whether the predicate evaluates to true regardless of whether the timeout was triggered. -- end note]

Throws: std::system_error when the effects or postcondition cannot be achieved.

Error conditions:


860. Floating-Point State

Section: 26 [numerics] Status: Open Submitter: Lawrence Crowl Opened: 2008-06-23 Last modified: 2009-03-09

View all issues with Open status.

Discussion:

There are a number of functions that affect the floating point state. These function need to be thread-safe, but I'm unsure of the right approach in the standard, as we inherit them from C.

[ San Francisco: ]

Nick: I think we already say that these functions do not introduce data races; see 17.6.5.6/20

Pete: there's more to it than not introducing data races; are these states maintained per thread?

Howard: 21.5/14 says that strtok and strerror are not required to avoid data races, and 20.9/2 says the same about asctime, gmtime, ctime, and gmtime.

Nick: POSIX has a list of not-safe functions. All other functions are implicitly thread safe.

Lawrence is to form a group between meetings to attack this issue. Nick and Tom volunteered to work with Lawrence.

Move to Open.

[ Post Summit: ]

Hans: Sane oses seem ok. Sensible thing is implementable and makes sense.

Nick: Default wording seems to cover this? Hole in POSIX, these functions need to be added to list of thread-unsafe functions.

Lawrence: Not sufficient, not "thread-safe" per our definition, but think of state as a thread-local variable. Need something like "these functions only affect state in the current thread."

Hans: Suggest the following wording: "The floating point environment is maintained per-thread."

Walter: Any other examples of state being thread safe that are not already covered elsewhere?

Have thread unsafe functions paper which needs to be updated. Should just fold in 26.3 [cfenv] functions.

Recommend Open. Lawrence instead suggests leaving it open until we have suitable wording that may or may not include the thread local commentary.

Proposed resolution:


861. Incomplete specification of EqualityComparable for std::forward_list

Section: 23.2 [container.requirements] Status: Open Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2008-06-24 Last modified: 2008-11-11

View other active issues in [container.requirements].

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Discussion:

Table 89, Container requirements, defines operator== in terms of the container member function size() and the algorithm std::equal:

== is an equivalence relation. a.size() == b.size() && equal(a.begin(), a.end(), b.begin()

The new container forward_list does not provide a size member function by design but does provide operator== and operator!= without specifying it's semantic.

Other parts of the (sequence) container requirements do also depend on size(), e.g. empty() or clear(), but this issue explicitly attempts to solve the missing EqualityComparable specification, because of the special design choices of forward_list.

I propose to apply one of the following resolutions, which are described as:

  1. Provide a definition, which is optimal for this special container without previous size test. This choice prevents two O(N) calls of std::distance() with the corresponding container ranges and instead uses a special equals implementation which takes two container ranges instead of 1 1/2.
  2. The simple fix where the usual test is adapted such that size() is replaced by distance with corresponding performance disadvantages.

Both proposal choices are discussed, the preferred choice of the author is to apply (A).

[ San Francisco: ]

There's an Option C: change the requirements table to use distance().

LWG found Option C acceptable.

Martin will draft the wording for Option C.

[ post San Francisco: ]

Martin provided wording for Option C.

Proposed resolution:

Common part:

Option (A):

Option (B):

Option (C):


862. Impossible complexity for 'includes'

Section: 25.5.5.1 [includes] Status: New Submitter: Alisdair Meredith Opened: 2008-07-02 Last modified: 2009-03-30

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Discussion:

In 25.5.5.1 [includes] the complexity is "at most -1 comparisons" if passed two empty ranges. I don't know how to perform a negative number of comparisions!

This same issue also applies to:

[ 2009-03-30 Beman adds: ]

Suggest NAD. The complexity of empty ranges is -1 in other places in the standard. See 25.5.4 [alg.merge] merge and inplace_merge, and forward_list merge, for example. The time and effort to find and fix all places in the standard where empty range[s] result in negative complexity isn't worth the very limited benefit.

Proposed resolution:

Recommend NAD.


863. What is the state of a stream after close() succeeds

Section: 27.9.1 [fstreams] Status: New Submitter: Steve Clamage Opened: 2008-07-08 Last modified: 2008-07-09

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Discussion:

Suppose writing to an [o]fstream fails and you later close the stream. The overflow() function is called to flush the buffer (if it exists). Then the file is unconditionally closed, as if by calling flcose.

If either overflow or fclose fails, close() reports failure, and clearly the stream should be in a failed or bad state.

Suppose the buffer is empty or non-existent (so that overflow() does not fail), and fclose succeeds. The close() function reports success, but what is the state of the stream?

Proposed resolution:


865. More algorithms that throw away information

Section: 25.4.6 [alg.fill], 25.4.7 [alg.generate] Status: New Submitter: Daniel Krügler Opened: 2008-07-13 Last modified: 2009-03-15

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Discussion:

In regard to library defect 488 I found some more algorithms which unnecessarily throw away information. These are typically algorithms, which sequentially write into an OutputIterator, but do not return the final value of this output iterator. These cases are:

  1. template<class OutputIterator, class Size, class T>
    void fill_n(OutputIterator first, Size n, const T& value);
  2. template<class OutputIterator, class Size, class Generator>
    void generate_n(OutputIterator first, Size n, Generator gen);

In both cases the minimum requirements on the iterator are OutputIterator, which means according to the requirements of 24.2.3 [output.iterators]/2 that only single-pass iterations are guaranteed. So, if users of fill_n and generate_n have *only* an OutputIterator available, they have no chance to continue pushing further values into it, which seems to be a severe limitation to me.

[ Post Summit Daniel "conceptualized" the wording. ]

Proposed resolution:

  1. Replace the current declaration of fill_n in 25 [algorithms]/2, header <algorithm> synopsis and in 25.4.6 [alg.fill] by

    template<class Iter, IntegralLike Size, class T>
      requires OutputIterator<Iter, const T&>
      voidIter fill_n(Iter first, Size n, const T& value);
    

    Just after the effects clause p.1 add a new returns clause saying:

    Returns: For fill_n and n > Size(0), returns first + n. Otherwise returns first for fill_n.
  2. Replace the current declaration of generate_n in 25 [algorithms]/2, header <algorithm> synopsis and in 25.4.7 [alg.generate] by

    template<class Iter, IntegralLike Size, Callable Generator>
      requires OutputIterator<Iter, Generator::result_type>
            && CopyConstructible<Generator>
      voidIter generate_n(Iter first, Size n, Generator gen);
    

    Just after the effects clause p.1 add a new returns clause saying:

    Returns: For generate_n and n > Size(0), returns first + n. Otherwise returns first for generate_n.

867. Valarray and value-initialization

Section: 26.6.2.1 [valarray.cons] Status: New Submitter: Alberto Ganesh Barbati Opened: 2008-07-20 Last modified: 2008-07-22

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Discussion:

From 26.6.2.1 [valarray.cons], paragraph 2:

explicit  valarray(size_t);
The array created by this constructor has a length equal to the value of the argument. The elements of the array are constructed using the default constructor for the instantiating type T.

The problem is that the most obvious Ts for valarray are float and double, they don't have a default constructor. I guess the intent is to value-initialize the elements, so I suggest replacing:

The elements of the array are constructed using the default constructor for the instantiating type T.

with

The elements of the array are value-initialized.

There is another reference to the default constructor of T in the non-normative note in paragraph 9. That reference should also be replaced. (The normative wording in paragraph 8 refers to T() and so it doesn't need changes).

Proposed resolution:

Change 26.6.2.1 [valarray.cons], paragraph 2:

explicit  valarra