🚀 go-pugleaf

Ehud Lamm <mslamm@pluto.MSCC.huji.AC.IL> writes:

>But isn't the standard going to include an 
>implementation of the STL? 

No. The standard doesn't specify implementations of anything.

>It seems to me that only specifing the interface can lead to unexpected 
>problems. 

The standard also specifies semantic behavior and other requirements.
Implementions may differ in various ways so long as they meet the
requirements that are in the standard. The standard tells you what
behavior you can depend on in portable code.

>As far as I know other parts of the standard library are descirbed with 
>the implementation. Or is the implementation I see in magazines just the 
>authors fancy?

The standard contains a few examples of partial implementations to
help describe required behavior. These are clearly marked as
"expository only", or as "Examples". Real implementations
are not required to follow the examples as long as the interface
and behavior are correct. You could ask the authors of magazine
articles where their implementations originated; they did not
come from the draft standard.

>One more question. If the STL is part of the proposed standard, won't 
>compiler vendors HAVE to supply some implemenation of it?

Yes, in the same sense that they should comply with all parts of
the standard.
--
Steve Clamage, stephen.clamage@eng.sun.com
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