🚀 go-pugleaf

tony@online.tmx.com.au (Tony Cook) wrote:

>I've been using the STL a little recently and can't really call
>myself an expert - but I've found that always typing in the
>container's name up to three times for a find or twice for other
>actions is getting a little error-prone, for example:

>	// check if already there
>	vector<int> myVector; // this is a _short_ name
>	if (find(myVector.begin(), myVector.end(), someInt)
>		 == myVector.end())
>	{
>	  // not there
>	}

>I find this more than a little error-prone, why isn't there
>something like:

>	template <class Container, class Item>
>	bool find(Container &c, Item const &v, Container::iterator &i)
>	{
>	    i = find(c.begin(), c.end(), v);
>	    return i != c.end();
>	}

>So the above becomes:
>	Container::iterator i;
>	if (!find(myVector, someInt, i)) 
>	{
>	  // not there
>	}

>One argument against this is 'the programmer can write their own' -
>but this is true for most things - the libraries are there to
>provide a useful (and hopefully less error-prone) implementation so
>the programmer doesn't have to write their own.

One reason is that you may not want to search the entire container but rather a
small portion between two iterators.  The find() algorithm allows for such
flexibility.

                                                         -Jason-

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