Doc. no. D3183=10-0173
Date: 2010-11-29
Project: Programming Language C++
Reply to: Alisdair Meredith <lwgchair@gmail.com>

C++ Standard Library Closed Issues List (Revision D73)

Revised 2010-11-29 at 10:11:56 UTC

Reference ISO/IEC IS 14882:2003(E)

Also see:

This document contains only library issues which have been closed by the Library Working Group as duplicates or not defects. That is, issues which have a status of Dup or NAD. See the Library Active Issues List active issues and more information. See the Library Defect Reports List for issues considered defects. The introductory material in that document also applies to this document.

Revision History

Closed Issues


2. Auto_ptr conversions effects incorrect

Section: D.12.1.3 [auto.ptr.conv] Status: NAD Submitter: Nathan Myers Opened: 1997-12-04 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Paragraph 1 in "Effects", says "Calls p->release()" where it clearly must be "Calls p.release()". (As it is, it seems to require using auto_ptr<>::operator-> to refer to X::release, assuming that exists.)

Proposed resolution:

Change 20.7.4.3 [meta.unary.prop] paragraph 1 Effects from "Calls p->release()" to "Calls p.release()".

Rationale:

Not a defect: the proposed change is already found in the standard. [Originally classified as a defect, later reclassified.]


4. Basic_string size_type and difference_type should be implementation defined

Section: 21.4 [basic.string] Status: NAD Submitter: Beman Dawes Opened: 1997-11-16 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [basic.string].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In Morristown we changed the size_type and difference_type typedefs for all the other containers to implementation defined with a reference to 23.2 [container.requirements]. This should probably also have been done for strings.

Rationale:

Not a defect. [Originally classified as a defect, later reclassified.] basic_string, unlike the other standard library template containers, is severely constrained by its use of char_traits. Those types are dictated by the traits class, and are far from implementation defined.


6. File position not an offset unimplementable

Section: 27.5.3 [fpos] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 1997-12-15 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [fpos].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Table 88, in I/O, is too strict; it's unimplementable on systems where a file position isn't just an offset. It also never says just what fpos<> is really supposed to be. [Here's my summary, which Jerry agrees is more or less accurate. "I think I now know what the class really is, at this point: it's a magic cookie that encapsulates an mbstate_t and a file position (possibly represented as an fpos_t), it has syntactic support for pointer-like arithmetic, and implementors are required to have real, not just syntactic, support for arithmetic." This isn't standardese, of course.]

Rationale:

Not a defect. The LWG believes that the Standard is already clear, and that the above summary is what the Standard in effect says.


10. Codecvt<>::do unclear

Section: 22.4.1.5 [locale.codecvt.byname] Status: Dup Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 1998-01-14 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt.byname].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 19

Discussion:

Section 22.2.1.5.2 says that codecvt<>::do_in and do_out should return the value noconv if "no conversion was needed". However, I don't see anything anywhere that defines what it means for a conversion to be needed or not needed. I can think of several circumstances where one might plausibly think that a conversion is not "needed", but I don't know which one is intended here.

Rationale:


12. Way objects hold allocators unclear

Section: 20.2.5 [allocator.requirements] Status: NAD Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 1998-02-23 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [allocator.requirements].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

I couldn't find a statement in the standard saying whether the allocator object held by a container is held as a copy of the constructor argument or whether a pointer of reference is maintained internal. There is an according statement for compare objects and how they are maintained by the associative containers, but I couldn't find anything regarding allocators.

Did I overlook it? Is it an open issue or known defect? Or is it deliberately left unspecified?

Rationale:

Not a defect. The LWG believes that the Standard is already clear.  See 23.2 [container.requirements], paragraph 8.


43. Locale table correction

Section: 22.4.1.5 [locale.codecvt.byname] Status: Dup Submitter: Brendan Kehoe Opened: 1998-06-01 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt.byname].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 33

Discussion:

Rationale:


45. Stringstreams read/write pointers initial position unclear

Section: 27.8.3 [ostringstream] Status: NAD Submitter: Matthias Mueller Opened: 1998-05-27 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In a comp.lang.c++.moderated Matthias Mueller wrote:

"We are not sure how to interpret the CD2 (see 27.3 [iostream.forward], 27.8.3.1 [ostringstream.cons], 27.8.1.1 [stringbuf.cons]) with respect to the question as to what the correct initial positions of the write and  read pointers of a stringstream should be."

"Is it the same to output two strings or to initialize the stringstream with the first and to output the second?"

[PJ Plauger, Bjarne Stroustrup, Randy Smithey, Sean Corfield, and Jerry Schwarz have all offered opinions; see reflector messages lib-6518, 6519, 6520, 6521, 6523, 6524.]

Rationale:

The LWG believes the Standard is correct as written. The behavior of stringstreams is consistent with fstreams, and there is a constructor which can be used to obtain the desired effect. This behavior is known to be different from strstreams.


58. Extracting a char from a wide-oriented stream

Section: 27.7.1.2.3 [istream::extractors] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 1998-07-01 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream::extractors].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

27.6.1.2.3 has member functions for extraction of signed char and unsigned char, both singly and as strings. However, it doesn't say what it means to extract a char from a basic_streambuf<charT, Traits>.

basic_streambuf, after all, has no members to extract a char, so basic_istream must somehow convert from charT to signed char or unsigned char. The standard doesn't say how it is to perform that conversion.

Rationale:

The Standard is correct as written. There is no such extractor and this is the intent of the LWG.


65. Underspecification of strstreambuf::seekoff

Section: D.9.1.3 [depr.strstreambuf.virtuals] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 1998-08-18 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [depr.strstreambuf.virtuals].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The standard says how this member function affects the current stream position. (gptr or pptr) However, it does not say how this member function affects the beginning and end of the get/put area.

This is an issue when seekoff is used to position the get pointer beyond the end of the current read area. (Which is legal. This is implicit in the definition of seekhigh in D.7.1, paragraph 4.)

Rationale:

The LWG agrees that seekoff() is underspecified, but does not wish to invest effort in this deprecated feature.


67. Setw useless for strings

Section: 21.4.8.9 [string.io] Status: Dup Submitter: Steve Clamage Opened: 1998-07-09 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string.io].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 25

Discussion:

In a comp.std.c++ posting Michel Michaud wrote: What should be output by:

   string text("Hello");
   cout << '[' << setw(10) << right << text << ']';

Shouldn't it be:

   [     Hello]

Another person replied: Actually, according to the FDIS, the width of the field should be the minimum of width and the length of the string, so the output shouldn't have any padding. I think that this is a typo, however, and that what is wanted is the maximum of the two. (As written, setw is useless for strings. If that had been the intent, one wouldn't expect them to have mentioned using its value.)

It's worth pointing out that this is a recent correction anyway; IIRC, earlier versions of the draft forgot to mention formatting parameters whatsoever.

Rationale:


72. Do_convert phantom member function

Section: 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] Status: Dup Submitter: Nathan Myers Opened: 1998-08-24 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 24

Discussion:

In 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] par 3, and in 22.4.1.4.2 [locale.codecvt.virtuals] par 8, a nonexistent member function "do_convert" is mentioned. This member was replaced with "do_in" and "do_out", the proper referents in the contexts above.

Rationale:


73. is_open should be const

Section: 27.9.1 [fstreams] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 1998-08-27 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [fstreams].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Classes basic_ifstream, basic_ofstream, and basic_fstream all have a member function is_open. It should be a const member function, since it does nothing but call one of basic_filebuf's const member functions.

Rationale:

Not a defect. This is a deliberate feature; const streams would be meaningless.


77. Valarray operator[] const returning value

Section: 26.6.2.3 [valarray.access] Status: Dup Submitter: Levente Farkas Opened: 1998-09-09 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [valarray.access].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 389

Discussion:

valarray:

    T operator[] (size_t) const;

why not

    const T& operator[] (size_t) const;

as in vector ???

One can't copy even from a const valarray eg:

    memcpy(ptr, &v[0], v.size() * sizeof(double));

[I] find this bug in valarray is very difficult.

Rationale:

The LWG believes that the interface was deliberately designed that way. That is what valarray was designed to do; that's where the "value array" name comes from. LWG members further comment that "we don't want valarray to be a full STL container." 26.6.2.3 [valarray.access] specifies properties that indicate "an absence of aliasing" for non-constant arrays; this allows optimizations, including special hardware optimizations, that are not otherwise possible.


81. Wrong declaration of slice operations

Section: 26.6.5 [template.slice.array], 26.6.7 [template.gslice.array], 26.6.8 [template.mask.array], 26.6.9 [template.indirect.array] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [template.slice.array].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Isn't the definition of copy constructor and assignment operators wrong?        Instead of

      slice_array(const slice_array&); 
      slice_array& operator=(const slice_array&);

IMHO they have to be

      slice_array(const slice_array<T>&); 
      slice_array& operator=(const slice_array<T>&);

Same for gslice_array.

Rationale:

Not a defect. The Standard is correct as written.


82. Missing constant for set elements

Section: 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View other active issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all other issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Paragraph 5 specifies:

For set and multiset the value type is the same as the key type. For map and multimap it is equal to pair<const Key, T>.

Strictly speaking, this is not correct because for set and multiset the value type is the same as the constant key type.

Rationale:

Not a defect. The Standard is correct as written; it uses a different mechanism (const &) for set and multiset. See issue 103 for a related issue.


84. Ambiguity with string::insert()

Section: 21.4.5 [string.access] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

If I try

    s.insert(0,1,' ');

  I get an nasty ambiguity. It might be

    s.insert((size_type)0,(size_type)1,(charT)' ');

which inserts 1 space character at position 0, or

    s.insert((char*)0,(size_type)1,(charT)' ')

which inserts 1 space character at iterator/address 0 (bingo!), or

    s.insert((char*)0, (InputIterator)1, (InputIterator)' ')

which normally inserts characters from iterator 1 to iterator ' '. But according to 23.1.1.9 (the "do the right thing" fix) it is equivalent to the second. However, it is still ambiguous, because of course I mean the first!

Rationale:

Not a defect. The LWG believes this is a "genetic misfortune" inherent in the design of string and thus not a defect in the Standard as such .


85. String char types

Section: 21 [strings] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [strings].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The standard seems not to require that charT is equivalent to traits::char_type. So, what happens if charT is not equivalent to traits::char_type?

Rationale:

There is already wording in 21.2 [char.traits] paragraph 3 that requires them to be the same.


87. Error in description of string::compare()

Section: 21.4.6.8 [string::swap] Status: Dup Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string::swap].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 5

Discussion:

The following compare() description is obviously a bug:

int compare(size_type pos, size_type n1, 
            charT *s, size_type n2 = npos) const;

because without passing n2 it should compare up to the end of the string instead of comparing npos characters (which throws an exception)

Rationale:


88. Inconsistency between string::insert() and string::append()

Section: 21.4.6.4 [string::insert], 21.4.6.2 [string::append] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string::insert].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Why does

  template<class InputIterator> 
       basic_string& append(InputIterator first, InputIterator last);

return a string, while

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

returns nothing ?

Rationale:

The LWG believes this stylistic inconsistency is not sufficiently serious to constitute a defect.


89. Missing throw specification for string::insert() and string::replace()

Section: 21.4.6.4 [string::insert], 21.4.6.6 [string::replace] Status: Dup Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string::insert].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 83

Discussion:

All insert() and replace() members for strings with an iterator as first argument lack a throw specification. The throw specification should probably be: length_error if size exceeds maximum.

Rationale:

Considered a duplicate because it will be solved by the resolution of issue 83.


93. Incomplete Valarray Subset Definitions

Section: 26.6 [numarray] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1998-09-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [numarray].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

You can easily create subsets, but you can't easily combine them with other subsets. Unfortunately, you almost always needs an explicit type conversion to valarray. This is because the standard does not specify that valarray subsets provide the same operations as valarrays.

For example, to multiply two subsets and assign the result to a third subset, you can't write the following:

va[slice(0,4,3)] = va[slice(1,4,3)] * va[slice(2,4,3)];

Instead, you have to code as follows:

va[slice(0,4,3)] = static_cast<valarray<double> >(va[slice(1,4,3)]) * 
                   static_cast<valarray<double> >(va[slice(2,4,3)]);

This is tedious and error-prone. Even worse, it costs performance because each cast creates a temporary objects, which could be avoided without the cast.

Proposed resolution:

Extend all valarray subset types so that they offer all valarray operations.

Rationale:

This is not a defect in the Standard; it is a request for an extension.


94. May library implementors add template parameters to Standard Library classes?

Section: 17.6.4 [conforming] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 1998-01-22 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Is it a permitted extension for library implementors to add template parameters to standard library classes, provided that those extra parameters have defaults? For example, instead of defining template <class T, class Alloc = allocator<T> > class vector; defining it as template <class T, class Alloc = allocator<T>, int N = 1> class vector;

The standard may well already allow this (I can't think of any way that this extension could break a conforming program, considering that users are not permitted to forward-declare standard library components), but it ought to be explicitly permitted or forbidden.

comment from Steve Cleary via comp.std.c++:

I disagree [with the proposed resolution] for the following reason: consider user library code with template template parameters. For example, a user library object may be templated on the type of underlying sequence storage to use (deque/list/vector), since these classes all take the same number and type of template parameters; this would allow the user to determine the performance tradeoffs of the user library object. A similar example is a user library object templated on the type of underlying set storage (set/multiset) or map storage (map/multimap), which would allow users to change (within reason) the semantic meanings of operations on that object.

I think that additional template parameters should be forbidden in the Standard classes. Library writers don't lose any expressive power, and can still offer extensions because additional template parameters may be provided by a non-Standard implementation class:

 
   template <class T, class Allocator = allocator<T>, int N = 1>
   class __vector
   { ... };
   template <class T, class Allocator = allocator<T> >
   class vector: public __vector<T, Allocator>
   { ... };

Proposed resolution:

Add a new subclause [presumably 17.4.4.9] following 17.6.4.12 [res.on.exception.handling]:

17.4.4.9 Template Parameters

A specialization of a template class described in the C++ Standard Library behaves the same as if the implementation declares no additional template parameters.

Footnote: Additional template parameters with default values are thus permitted.

Add "template parameters" to the list of subclauses at the end of 17.6.4 [conforming] paragraph 1.

[Kona: The LWG agreed the standard needs clarification. After discussion with John Spicer, it seems added template parameters can be detected by a program using template-template parameters. A straw vote - "should implementors be allowed to add template parameters?" found no consensus ; 5 - yes, 7 - no.]

Rationale:

There is no ambiguity; the standard is clear as written. Library implementors are not permitted to add template parameters to standard library classes. This does not fall under the "as if" rule, so it would be permitted only if the standard gave explicit license for implementors to do this. This would require a change in the standard.

The LWG decided against making this change, because it would break user code involving template template parameters or specializations of standard library class templates.


95. Members added by the implementation

Section: 17.6.4.5 [member.functions] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In 17.3.4.4/2 vs 17.3.4.7/0 there is a hole; an implementation could add virtual members a base class and break user derived classes.

Example:

// implementation code:
struct _Base { // _Base is in the implementer namespace
        virtual void foo ();
};
class vector : _Base // deriving from a class is allowed
{ ... };

// user code:
class vector_checking : public vector 
{
        void foo (); // don't want to override _Base::foo () as the 
                     // user doesn't know about _Base::foo ()
};

Proposed resolution:

Clarify the wording to make the example illegal.

Rationale:

This is not a defect in the Standard.  The example is already illegal.  See 17.6.4.5 [member.functions] paragraph 2.


96. Vector<bool> is not a container

Section: 23.4.1 [vector] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [vector].

View all issues with NAD 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.

[ 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.

[ 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.

[ Batavia (2009-05): ]

We note that most of this issue has become moot over time, and agree with Alisdair's recommendations. Move to NAD Future for reconsideration of part (ii).

[ 2009-07-29 Alisdair reopens: ]

This infamous issue was closed as NAD Future when concepts introduced support for proxy iterators, so the only remaining requirement was to provide a better type to support bitsets of dynamic length. I fear we must re-open this issue until the post-concept form of iterators is available, and hopefully will support the necessary proxy functionality to allow us to close this issue as NAD.

I recommend we spawn a separate issue (1184) requesting a dynamic length bitset and pre-emptively file it as NAD Future. It is difficult to resolve #96 when it effectively contains two separate sub-issues.

[ 2009-10 Santa Cruz: ]

Mark as NAD, and give rationale.

Proposed resolution:

We now have: N2050 and N2160.

Rationale:

We want to support proxy iterators but that is going to be separate work. Don't want to see this issue come back in these kinds of terms. We're interested in a separate container, and proxy iterators, but both of those are separate issues.

We've looked at a lot of ways to fix this that would be close to this, but those things would break existing code. Attempts to fix this directly have not been tractable, and removing it has not been tractable. Therefore we are closing.


97. Insert inconsistent definition

Section: 23 [containers] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [containers].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

insert(iterator, const value_type&) is defined both on sequences and on set, with unrelated semantics: insert here (in sequences), and insert with hint (in associative containers). They should have different names (B.S. says: do not abuse overloading).

Rationale:

This is not a defect in the Standard. It is a genetic misfortune of the design, for better or for worse.


99. Reverse_iterator comparisons completely wrong

Section: 24.5.1.3.13 [reverse.iter.op==] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The <, >, <=, >= comparison operator are wrong: they return the opposite of what they should.

Note: same problem in CD2, these were not even defined in CD1. SGI STL code is correct; this problem is known since the Morristown meeting but there it was too late

Rationale:

This is not a defect in the Standard. A careful reading shows the Standard is correct as written. A review of several implementations show that they implement exactly what the Standard says.


100. Insert iterators/ostream_iterators overconstrained

Section: 24.5.2 [insert.iterators], 24.6.4 [ostreambuf.iterator] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [insert.iterators].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Overspecified For an insert iterator it, the expression *it is required to return a reference to it. This is a simple possible implementation, but as the SGI STL documentation says, not the only one, and the user should not assume that this is the case.

Rationale:

The LWG believes this causes no harm and is not a defect in the standard. The only example anyone could come up with caused some incorrect code to work, rather than the other way around.


101. No way to free storage for vector and deque

Section: 23.4.1 [vector], 23.3.1 [array] Status: NAD Editorial Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [vector].

View all issues with NAD Editorial status.

Discussion:

Reserve can not free storage, unlike string::reserve

[ 2010-02-13 Alisdair adds: ]

This issue has been revisited and addressed (755, 850). This issues should be reclassified to NAD Editorial to reflect this action.

Rationale:

This is not a defect in the Standard. The LWG has considered this issue in the past and sees no need to change the Standard. Deque has no reserve() member function. For vector, shrink-to-fit can be expressed in a single line of code (where v is vector<T>):

vector<T>(v).swap(v);  // shrink-to-fit v


102. Bug in insert range in associative containers

Section: 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] Status: Dup Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View other active issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all other issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 264

Discussion:

Table 69 of Containers say that a.insert(i,j) is linear if [i, j) is ordered. It seems impossible to implement, as it means that if [i, j) = [x], insert in an associative container is O(1)!

Proposed resolution:

N+log (size()) if [i,j) is sorted according to value_comp()

Rationale:

Subsumed by issue 264.


104. Description of basic_string::operator[] is unclear

Section: 21.4.4 [string.capacity] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string.capacity].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

It is not clear that undefined behavior applies when pos == size () for the non const version.

Proposed resolution:

Rewrite as: Otherwise, if pos > size () or pos == size () and the non-const version is used, then the behavior is undefined.

Rationale:

The Standard is correct. The proposed resolution already appears in the Standard.


105. fstream ctors argument types desired

Section: 27.9 [file.streams] Status: Dup Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 454

Discussion:

fstream ctors take a const char* instead of string.
fstream ctors can't take wchar_t

An extension to add a const wchar_t* to fstream would make the implementation non conforming.

Rationale:

This is not a defect in the Standard. It might be an interesting extension for the next Standard.


107. Valarray constructor is strange

Section: 26.6.2 [template.valarray] Status: NAD Submitter: AFNOR Opened: 1998-10-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [template.valarray].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The order of the arguments is (elem, size) instead of the normal (size, elem) in the rest of the library. Since elem often has an integral or floating point type, both types are convertible to each other and reversing them leads to a well formed program.

Proposed resolution:

Inverting the arguments could silently break programs. Introduce the two signatures (const T&, size_t) and (size_t, const T&), but make the one we do not want private so errors result in a diagnosed access violation. This technique can also be applied to STL containers.

Rationale:

The LWG believes that while the order of arguments is unfortunate, it does not constitute a defect in the standard. The LWG believes that the proposed solution will not work for valarray<size_t> and perhaps other cases.


111. istreambuf_iterator::equal overspecified, inefficient

Section: 24.6.3.5 [istreambuf.iterator::equal] Status: NAD Submitter: Nathan Myers Opened: 1998-10-15 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istreambuf.iterator::equal].

View all issues with NAD 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 24.2.3 [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.

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

Agree NAD.

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.


113. Missing/extra iostream sync semantics

Section: 27.7.1.1 [istream], 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] Status: NAD Submitter: Steve Clamage Opened: 1998-10-13 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In 27.6.1.1, class basic_istream has a member function sync, described in 27.6.1.3, paragraph 36.

Following the chain of definitions, I find that the various sync functions have defined semantics for output streams, but no semantics for input streams. On the other hand, basic_ostream has no sync function.

The sync function should at minimum be added to basic_ostream, for internal consistency.

A larger question is whether sync should have assigned semantics for input streams.

Classic iostreams said streambuf::sync flushes pending output and attempts to return unread input characters to the source. It is a protected member function. The filebuf version (which is public) has that behavior (it backs up the read pointer). Class strstreambuf does not override streambuf::sync, and so sync can't be called on a strstream.

If we can add corresponding semantics to the various sync functions, we should. If not, we should remove sync from basic_istream.

Rationale:

A sync function is not needed in basic_ostream because the flush function provides the desired functionality.

As for the other points, the LWG finds the standard correct as written.


116. bitset cannot be constructed with a const char*

Section: 20.5 [template.bitset] Status: Dup Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 1998-11-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [template.bitset].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 778

Discussion:

The following code does not compile with the EDG compiler:

#include <bitset>
using namespace std;
bitset<32> b("111111111");

If you cast the ctor argument to a string, i.e.:

bitset<32> b(string("111111111"));

then it will compile. The reason is that bitset has the following templatized constructor:

template <class charT, class traits, class Allocator>
explicit bitset (const basic_string<charT, traits, Allocator>& str, ...);

According to the compiler vendor, Steve Adamcyk at EDG, the user cannot pass this template constructor a const char* and expect a conversion to basic_string. The reason is "When you have a template constructor, it can get used in contexts where type deduction can be done. Type deduction basically comes up with exact matches, not ones involving conversions."

I don't think the intention when this constructor became templatized was for construction from a const char* to no longer work.

Proposed resolution:

Add to 20.5 [template.bitset] a bitset constructor declaration

explicit bitset(const char*);

and in Section 20.5.1 [bitset.cons] add:

explicit bitset(const char* str);

Effects:
    Calls bitset((string) str, 0, string::npos);

Rationale:

Although the problem is real, the standard is designed that way so it is not a defect. Education is the immediate workaround. A future standard may wish to consider the Proposed Resolution as an extension.


121. Detailed definition for ctype<wchar_t> specialization

Section: 22.3.1.1.1 [locale.category] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 1998-12-15 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.category].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Section 22.1.1.1.1 has the following listed in Table 51: ctype<char> , ctype<wchar_t>.

Also Section 22.4.1.1 [locale.ctype] says:

The instantiations required in Table 51 (22.1.1.1.1) namely ctype<char> and ctype<wchar_t> , implement character classing appropriate to the implementation's native character set.

However, Section 22.4.1.3 [facet.ctype.special] only has a detailed description of the ctype<char> specialization, not the ctype<wchar_t> specialization.

Proposed resolution:

Add the ctype<wchar_t> detailed class description to Section 22.4.1.3 [facet.ctype.special].

Rationale:

Specialization for wchar_t is not needed since the default is acceptable.


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: NAD Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 1999-02-22 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string.streams].

View all issues with NAD 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. ]

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

Neither Howard nor Bill has received a customer request for this.

No consensus for change. The programmer can save this information to the side.

Moved to NAD.

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.


131. list::splice throws nothing

Section: 23.3.4.4 [list.ops] Status: NAD Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 1999-03-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [list.ops].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

What happens if a splice operation causes the size() of a list to grow beyond max_size()?

Rationale:

Size() cannot grow beyond max_size(). 


135. basic_iostream doubly initialized

Section: 27.7.1.5.1 [iostream.cons] Status: NAD Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 1999-03-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

-1- Effects Constructs an object of class basic_iostream, assigning initial values to the base classes by calling basic_istream<charT,traits>(sb) (lib.istream) and basic_ostream<charT,traits>(sb) (lib.ostream)

The called for basic_istream and basic_ostream constructors call init(sb). This means that the basic_iostream's virtual base class is initialized twice.

Proposed resolution:

Change 27.6.1.5.1, paragraph 1 to:

-1- Effects Constructs an object of class basic_iostream, assigning initial values to the base classes by calling basic_istream<charT,traits>(sb) (lib.istream).

Rationale:

The LWG agreed that the init() function is called twice, but said that this is harmless and so not a defect in the standard.


138. Class ctype_byname<char> redundant and misleading

Section: 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] Status: NAD Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 1999-03-18 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt].

View all issues with NAD 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.

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

Moved to NAD.

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.


140. map<Key, T>::value_type does not satisfy the assignable requirement

Section: 23.6.1 [map] Status: NAD Editorial Submitter: Mark Mitchell Opened: 1999-04-14 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [map].

View all issues with NAD Editorial status.

Discussion:

23.2 [container.requirements]

expression         return type      pre/post-condition
-------------     -----------      -------------------
X::value_type    T                    T is assignable

23.6.1 [map]

A map satisfies all the requirements of a container.

For a map<Key, T> ... the value_type is pair<const Key, T>.

There's a contradiction here. In particular, `pair<const Key, T>' is not assignable; the `const Key' cannot be assigned to. So,  map<Key, T>::value_type does not satisfy the assignable requirement imposed by a container.

[See issue 103 for the slightly related issue of modification of set keys.]

Rationale:

The LWG believes that the standard is inconsistent, but that this is a design problem rather than a strict defect. May wish to reconsider for the next standard.


143. C .h header wording unclear

Section: D.7 [depr.c.headers] Status: NAD Submitter: Christophe de Dinechin Opened: 1999-05-04 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

[depr.c.headers] paragraph 2 reads:

Each C header, whose name has the form name.h, behaves as if each name placed in the Standard library namespace by the corresponding cname header is also placed within the namespace scope of the namespace std and is followed by an explicit using-declaration (_namespace.udecl_)

I think it should mention the global name space somewhere...  Currently, it indicates that name placed in std is also placed in std...

I don't know what is the correct wording. For instance, if struct tm is defined in time.h, ctime declares std::tm. However, the current wording seems ambiguous regarding which of the following would occur for use of both ctime and time.h:

// version 1:
namespace std {
        struct tm { ... };
}
using std::tm;

// version 2:
struct tm { ... };
namespace std {
        using ::tm;
}

// version 3:
struct tm { ... };
namespace std {
        struct tm { ... };
}

I think version 1 is intended.

[Kona: The LWG agreed that the wording is not clear. It also agreed that version 1 is intended, version 2 is not equivalent to version 1, and version 3 is clearly not intended. The example below was constructed by Nathan Myers to illustrate why version 2 is not equivalent to version 1.

Although not equivalent, the LWG is unsure if (2) is enough of a problem to be prohibited. Points discussed in favor of allowing (2):

]

Example:

#include <time.h>
#include <utility>

int main() {
    std::tm * t;
    make_pair( t, t ); // okay with version 1 due to Koenig lookup
                       // fails with version 2; make_pair not found
    return 0;
}

Proposed resolution:

Replace D.7 [depr.c.headers] paragraph 2 with:

Each C header, whose name has the form name.h, behaves as if each name placed in the Standard library namespace by the corresponding cname header is also placed within the namespace scope of the namespace std by name.h and is followed by an explicit using-declaration (_namespace.udecl_) in global scope.

Rationale:

The current wording in the standard is the result of a difficult compromise that averted delay of the standard. Based on discussions in Tokyo it is clear that there is no still no consensus on stricter wording, so the issue has been closed. It is suggested that users not write code that depends on Koenig lookup of C library functions.


145. adjustfield lacks default value

Section: 27.5.4.1 [basic.ios.cons] Status: NAD Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 1999-05-12 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [basic.ios.cons].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

There is no initial value for the adjustfield defined, although many people believe that the default adjustment were right. This is a common misunderstanding. The standard only defines that, if no adjustment is specified, all the predefined inserters must add fill characters before the actual value, which is "as if" the right flag were set. The flag itself need not be set.

When you implement a user-defined inserter you cannot rely on right being the default setting for the adjustfield. Instead, you must be prepared to find none of the flags set and must keep in mind that in this case you should make your inserter behave "as if" the right flag were set. This is surprising to many people and complicates matters more than necessary.

Unless there is a good reason why the adjustfield should not be initialized I would suggest to give it the default value that everybody expects anyway.

Rationale:

This is not a defect. It is deliberate that the default is no bits set. Consider Arabic or Hebrew, for example. See 22.4.2.2.2 [facet.num.put.virtuals] paragraph 19, Table 61 - Fill padding.


157. Meaningless error handling for pword() and iword()

Section: 27.5.2.5 [ios.base.storage] Status: Dup Submitter: Dietmar Kühl Opened: 1999-07-20 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [ios.base.storage].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 41

Discussion:

According to paragraphs 2 and 4 of 27.5.2.5 [ios.base.storage], the functions iword() and pword() "set the badbit (which might throw an exception)" on failure. ... but what does it mean for ios_base to set the badbit? The state facilities of the IOStream library are defined in basic_ios, a derived class! It would be possible to attempt a down cast but then it would be necessary to know the character type used...

Rationale:


162. Really "formatted input functions"?

Section: 27.7.1.2.3 [istream::extractors] Status: Dup Submitter: Dietmar Kühl Opened: 1999-07-20 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream::extractors].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 60

Discussion:

It appears to be somewhat nonsensical to consider the functions defined in the paragraphs 1 to 5 to be "Formatted input function" but since these functions are defined in a section labeled "Formatted input functions" it is unclear to me whether these operators are considered formatted input functions which have to conform to the "common requirements" from 27.7.1.2.1 [istream.formatted.reqmts]: If this is the case, all manipulators, not just ws, would skip whitespace unless noskipws is set (... but setting noskipws using the manipulator syntax would also skip whitespace :-)

See also issue 166 for the same problem in formatted output

Rationale:


163. Return of gcount() after a call to gcount

Section: 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] Status: Dup Submitter: Dietmar Kühl Opened: 1999-07-20 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream.unformatted].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 60

Discussion:

It is not clear which functions are to be considered unformatted input functions. As written, it seems that all functions in 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] are unformatted input functions. However, it does not really make much sense to construct a sentry object for gcount(), sync(), ... Also it is unclear what happens to the gcount() if eg. gcount(), putback(), unget(), or sync() is called: These functions don't extract characters, some of them even "unextract" a character. Should this still be reflected in gcount()? Of course, it could be read as if after a call to gcount() gcount() return 0 (the last unformatted input function, gcount(), didn't extract any character) and after a call to putback() gcount() returns -1 (the last unformatted input function putback() did "extract" back into the stream). Correspondingly for unget(). Is this what is intended? If so, this should be clarified. Otherwise, a corresponding clarification should be used.

Rationale:


166. Really "formatted output functions"?

Section: 27.7.2.6.3 [ostream.inserters] Status: Dup Submitter: Dietmar Kühl Opened: 1999-07-20 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 60

Discussion:

From 27.7.2.6.1 [ostream.formatted.reqmts] it appears that all the functions defined in 27.7.2.6.3 [ostream.inserters] have to construct a sentry object. Is this really intended?

This is basically the same problem as issue 162 but for output instead of input.

Rationale:


177. Complex operators cannot be explicitly instantiated

Section: 26.4.6 [complex.ops] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 1999-07-02 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [complex.ops].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

A user who tries to explicitly instantiate a complex non-member operator will get compilation errors. Below is a simplified example of the reason why. The problem is that iterator_traits cannot be instantiated on a non-pointer type like float, yet when the compiler is trying to decide which operator+ needs to be instantiated it must instantiate the declaration to figure out the first argument type of a reverse_iterator operator.

namespace std {
template <class Iterator> 
struct iterator_traits
{
    typedef typename Iterator::value_type value_type;
};

template <class T> class reverse_iterator;

// reverse_iterator operator+
template <class T> 
reverse_iterator<T> operator+
(typename iterator_traits<T>::difference_type, const reverse_iterator<T>&);

template <class T> struct complex {};

// complex operator +
template <class T>
complex<T> operator+ (const T& lhs, const complex<T>& rhs) 
{ return complex<T>();} 
}

// request for explicit instantiation
template std::complex<float> std::operator+<float>(const float&, 
     const std::complex<float>&);

See also c++-stdlib reflector messages: lib-6814, 6815, 6816.

Rationale:

Implementors can make minor changes and the example will work. Users are not affected in any case.

According to John Spicer, It is possible to explicitly instantiate these operators using different syntax: change "std::operator+<float>" to "std::operator+".

The proposed resolution of issue 120 is that users will not be able to explicitly instantiate standard library templates. If that resolution is accepted then library implementors will be the only ones that will be affected by this problem, and they must use the indicated syntax.


178. Should clog and cerr initially be tied to cout?

Section: 27.4.1 [narrow.stream.objects] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 1999-07-02 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [narrow.stream.objects].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Section 27.3.1 says "After the object cerr is initialized, cerr.flags() & unitbuf is nonzero. Its state is otherwise the same as required for ios_base::init (lib.basic.ios.cons). It doesn't say anything about the the state of clog. So this means that calling cerr.tie() and clog.tie() should return 0 (see Table 89 for ios_base::init effects).

Neither of the popular standard library implementations that I tried does this, they both tie cerr and clog to &cout. I would think that would be what users expect.

Rationale:

The standard is clear as written.

27.3.1/5 says that "After the object cerr is initialized, cerr.flags() & unitbuf is nonzero. Its state is otherwise the same as required for ios_base::init (27.4.4.1)." Table 89 in 27.4.4.1, which gives the postconditions of basic_ios::init(), says that tie() is 0. (Other issues correct ios_base::init to basic_ios::init().)


188. valarray helpers missing augmented assignment operators

Section: 26.6.2.6 [valarray.cassign] Status: NAD Submitter: Gabriel Dos Reis Opened: 1999-08-15 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [valarray.cassign].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

26.5.2.6 defines augmented assignment operators valarray<T>::op=(const T&), but fails to provide corresponding versions for the helper classes. Thus making the following illegal:

#include <valarray>

int main()
{
std::valarray<double> v(3.14, 1999);

v[99] *= 2.0; // Ok

std::slice s(0, 50, 2);

v[s] *= 2.0; // ERROR
}

I can't understand the intent of that omission. It makes the valarray library less intuitive and less useful.

Rationale:

Although perhaps an unfortunate design decision, the omission is not a defect in the current standard.  A future standard may wish to add the missing operators.


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

Section: 25.4.7 [alg.min.max] Status: NAD Submitter: Mark Rintoul Opened: 1999-08-26 Last modified: 2010-10-29

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

View all issues with NAD 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. ]

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

C++0x has lambdas to address this problem now.

Moved to NAD.

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.


191. Unclear complexity for algorithms such as binary search

Section: 25.4.3 [alg.binary.search] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 1999-10-10 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.binary.search].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The complexity of binary_search() is stated as "At most log(last-first) + 2 comparisons", which seems to say that the algorithm has logarithmic complexity. However, this algorithms is defined for forward iterators. And for forward iterators, the need to step element-by-element results into linear complexity. But such a statement is missing in the standard. The same applies to lower_bound(), upper_bound(), and equal_range(). 

However, strictly speaking the standard contains no bug here. So this might considered to be a clarification or improvement.

Rationale:

The complexity is expressed in terms of comparisons, and that complexity can be met even if the number of iterators accessed is linear. Paragraph 1 already says exactly what happens to iterators.


192. a.insert(p,t) is inefficient and overconstrained

Section: 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] Status: NAD Submitter: Ed Brey Opened: 1999-06-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View other active issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all other issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all issues with NAD status.

Duplicate of: 233

Discussion:

As defined in 23.1.2, paragraph 7 (table 69), a.insert(p,t) suffers from several problems:

expression return type pre/post-condition complexity
a.insert(p,t) iterator inserts t if and only if there is no element with key equivalent to the key of t in containers with unique keys; always inserts t in containers with equivalent keys. always returns the iterator pointing to the element with key equivalent to the key of t . iterator p is a hint pointing to where the insert should start to search. logarithmic in general, but amortized constant if t is inserted right after p .

1. For a container with unique keys, only logarithmic complexity is guaranteed if no element is inserted, even though constant complexity is always possible if p points to an element equivalent to t.

2. For a container with equivalent keys, the amortized constant complexity guarantee is only useful if no key equivalent to t exists in the container. Otherwise, the insertion could occur in one of multiple locations, at least one of which would not be right after p.

3. By guaranteeing amortized constant complexity only when t is inserted after p, it is impossible to guarantee constant complexity if t is inserted at the beginning of the container. Such a problem would not exist if amortized constant complexity was guaranteed if t is inserted before p, since there is always some p immediately before which an insert can take place.

4. For a container with equivalent keys, p does not allow specification of where to insert the element, but rather only acts as a hint for improving performance. This negates the added functionality that p would provide if it specified where within a sequence of equivalent keys the insertion should occur. Specifying the insert location provides more control to the user, while providing no disadvantage to the container implementation.

Proposed resolution:

In 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] paragraph 7, replace the row in table 69 for a.insert(p,t) with the following two rows:

expression return type pre/post-condition complexity
a_uniq.insert(p,t) iterator inserts t if and only if there is no element with key equivalent to the key of t. returns the iterator pointing to the element with key equivalent to the key of t. logarithmic in general, but amortized constant if t is inserted right before p or p points to an element with key equivalent to t.
a_eq.insert(p,t) iterator inserts t and returns the iterator pointing to the newly inserted element. t is inserted right before p if doing so preserves the container ordering. logarithmic in general, but amortized constant if t is inserted right before p.

Rationale:

Too big a change.  Furthermore, implementors report checking both before p and after p, and don't want to change this behavior.


194. rdbuf() functions poorly specified

Section: 27.5.4 [ios] Status: NAD Submitter: Steve Clamage Opened: 1999-09-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In classic iostreams, base class ios had an rdbuf function that returned a pointer to the associated streambuf. Each derived class had its own rdbuf function that returned a pointer of a type reflecting the actual type derived from streambuf. Because in ARM C++, virtual function overrides had to have the same return type, rdbuf could not be virtual.

In standard iostreams, we retain the non-virtual rdbuf function design, and in addition have an overloaded rdbuf function that sets the buffer pointer. There is no need for the second function to be virtual nor to be implemented in derived classes.

Minor question: Was there a specific reason not to make the original rdbuf function virtual?

Major problem: Friendly compilers warn about functions in derived classes that hide base-class overloads. Any standard implementation of iostreams will result in such a warning on each of the iostream classes, because of the ill-considered decision to overload rdbuf only in a base class.

In addition, users of the second rdbuf function must use explicit qualification or a cast to call it from derived classes. An explicit qualification or cast to basic_ios would prevent access to any later overriding version if there was one.

What I'd like to do in an implementation is add a using- declaration for the second rdbuf function in each derived class. It would eliminate warnings about hiding functions, and would enable access without using explicit qualification. Such a change I don't think would change the behavior of any valid program, but would allow invalid programs to compile:

 filebuf mybuf;
 fstream f;
 f.rdbuf(mybuf); // should be an error, no visible rdbuf

I'd like to suggest this problem as a defect, with the proposed resolution to require the equivalent of a using-declaration for the rdbuf function that is not replaced in a later derived class. We could discuss whether replacing the function should be allowed.

Rationale:

For historical reasons, the standard is correct as written. There is a subtle difference between the base class rdbuf() and derived class rdbuf(). The derived class rdbuf() always returns the original streambuf, whereas the base class rdbuf() will return the "current streambuf" if that has been changed by the variant you mention.

Permission is not required to add such an extension. See 17.6.4.5 [member.functions].


196. Placement new example has alignment problems

Section: 18.6.1.3 [new.delete.placement] Status: Dup Submitter: Herb Sutter Opened: 1998-12-15 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [new.delete.placement].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 114

Discussion:

The example in 18.6.1.3 [new.delete.placement] paragraph 4 reads:

[Example: This can be useful for constructing an object at a known address:

   char place[sizeof(Something)];
   Something* p = new (place) Something();

end example]

This example has potential alignment problems.

Rationale:


197. max_size() underspecified

Section: 20.2.5 [allocator.requirements], 23.2 [container.requirements] Status: NAD Submitter: Andy Sawyer Opened: 1999-10-21 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [allocator.requirements].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Must the value returned by max_size() be unchanged from call to call?

Must the value returned from max_size() be meaningful?

Possible meanings identified in lib-6827:

1) The largest container the implementation can support given "best case" conditions - i.e. assume the run-time platform is "configured to the max", and no overhead from the program itself. This may possibly be determined at the point the library is written, but certainly no later than compile time.

2) The largest container the program could create, given "best case" conditions - i.e. same platform assumptions as (1), but take into account any overhead for executing the program itself. (or, roughly "storage=storage-sizeof(program)"). This does NOT include any resource allocated by the program. This may (or may not) be determinable at compile time.

3) The largest container the current execution of the program could create, given knowledge of the actual run-time platform, but again, not taking into account any currently allocated resource. This is probably best determined at program start-up.

4) The largest container the current execution program could create at the point max_size() is called (or more correctly at the point max_size() returns :-), given it's current environment (i.e. taking into account the actual currently available resources). This, obviously, has to be determined dynamically each time max_size() is called.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

max_size() isn't useful for very many things, and the existing wording is sufficiently clear for the few cases that max_size() can be used for. None of the attempts to change the existing wording were an improvement.

It is clear to the LWG that the value returned by max_size() can't change from call to call.


203. basic_istream::sentry::sentry() is uninstantiable with ctype<user-defined type>

Section: 27.7.1.1.3 [istream::sentry] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt McClure and Dietmar Kühl Opened: 2000-01-01 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream::sentry].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

27.6.1.1.2 Paragraph 4 states:

To decide if the character c is a whitespace character, the constructor performs ''as if'' it executes the following code fragment: 

const ctype<charT>& ctype = use_facet<ctype<charT> >(is.getloc());
if (ctype.is(ctype.space,c)!=0)
// c is a whitespace character.

But Table 51 in 22.1.1.1.1 only requires an implementation to provide specializations for ctype<char> and ctype<wchar_t>. If sentry's constructor is implemented using ctype, it will be uninstantiable for a user-defined character type charT, unless the implementation has provided non-working (since it would be impossible to define a correct ctype<charT> specialization for an arbitrary charT) definitions of ctype's virtual member functions.

It seems the intent the standard is that sentry should behave, in every respect, not just during execution, as if it were implemented using ctype, with the burden of providing a ctype specialization falling on the user. But as it is written, nothing requires the translation of sentry's constructor to behave as if it used the above code, and it would seem therefore, that sentry's constructor should be instantiable for all character types.

Note: If I have misinterpreted the intent of the standard with respect to sentry's constructor's instantiability, then a note should be added to the following effect:

An implementation is forbidden from using the above code if it renders the constructor uninstantiable for an otherwise valid character type.

In any event, some clarification is needed.

Rationale:

It is possible but not easy to instantiate on types other than char or wchar_t; many things have to be done first. That is by intention and is not a defect.


204. distance(first, last) when "last" is before "first"

Section: 24.4.4 [iterator.operations] Status: NAD Submitter: Rintala Matti Opened: 2000-01-28 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [iterator.operations].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Section 24.3.4 describes the function distance(first, last) (where first and last are iterators) which calculates "the number of increments or decrements needed to get from 'first' to 'last'".

The function should work for forward, bidirectional and random access iterators, and there is a requirement 24.3.4.5 which states that "'last' must be reachable from 'first'".

With random access iterators the function is easy to implement as "last - first".

With forward iterators it's clear that 'first' must point to a place before 'last', because otherwise 'last' would not be reachable from 'first'.

But what about bidirectional iterators? There 'last' is reachable from 'first' with the -- operator even if 'last' points to an earlier position than 'first'. However, I cannot see how the distance() function could be implemented if the implementation does not know which of the iterators points to an earlier position (you cannot use ++ or -- on either iterator if you don't know which direction is the "safe way to travel").

The paragraph 24.3.4.1 states that "for ... bidirectional iterators they use ++ to provide linear time implementations". However, the ++ operator is not mentioned in the reachability requirement. Furthermore 24.3.4.4 explicitly mentions that distance() returns the number of increments _or decrements_, suggesting that it could return a negative number also for bidirectional iterators when 'last' points to a position before 'first'.

Is a further requirement is needed to state that for forward and bidirectional iterators "'last' must be reachable from 'first' using the ++ operator". Maybe this requirement might also apply to random access iterators so that distance() would work the same way for every iterator category?

Rationale:

"Reachable" is defined in the standard in X [iterator.concepts] paragraph 6. The definition is only in terms of operator++(). The LWG sees no defect in the standard.


205. numeric_limits unclear on how to determine floating point types

Section: 18.3.1.2 [numeric.limits.members] Status: NAD Submitter: Steve Cleary Opened: 2000-01-28 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [numeric.limits.members].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In several places in 18.3.1.2 [numeric.limits.members], a member is described as "Meaningful for all floating point types." However, no clear method of determining a floating point type is provided.

In 18.3.1.5 [numeric.special], paragraph 1 states ". . . (for example, epsilon() is only meaningful if is_integer is false). . ." which suggests that a type is a floating point type if is_specialized is true and is_integer is false; however, this is unclear.

When clarifying this, please keep in mind this need of users: what exactly is the definition of floating point? Would a fixed point or rational representation be considered one? I guess my statement here is that there could also be types that are neither integer or (strictly) floating point.

Rationale:

It is up to the implementor of a user define type to decide if it is a floating point type.


207. ctype<char> members return clause incomplete

Section: 22.4.1.3.2 [facet.ctype.char.members] Status: Dup Submitter: Robert Klarer Opened: 1999-11-02 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [facet.ctype.char.members].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 153

Discussion:

The widen and narrow member functions are described in 22.2.1.3.2, paragraphs 9-11. In each case we have two overloaded signatures followed by a Returns clause. The Returns clause only describes one of the overloads.

Proposed resolution:

Change the returns clause in 22.4.1.3.2 [facet.ctype.char.members] paragraph 10 from:

    Returns: do_widen(low, high, to).

to:

    Returns: do_widen(c) or do_widen(low, high, to), respectively.

Change the returns clause in 22.4.1.3.2 [facet.ctype.char.members] paragraph 11 from:

    Returns: do_narrow(low, high, to).

to:

    Returns: do_narrow(c) or do_narrow(low, high, to), respectively.

Rationale:

Subsumed by issue 153, which addresses the same paragraphs.


213. Math function overloads ambiguous

Section: 26.8 [c.math] Status: NAD Submitter: Nico Josuttis Opened: 2000-02-26 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [c.math].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Due to the additional overloaded versions of numeric functions for float and long double according to Section 26.5, calls such as int x; std::pow (x, 4) are ambiguous now in a standard conforming implementation. Current implementations solve this problem very different (overload for all types, don't overload for float and long double, use preprocessor, follow the standard and get ambiguities).

This behavior should be standardized or at least identified as implementation defined.

Rationale:

These math issues are an understood and accepted consequence of the design. They have been discussed several times in the past. Users must write casts or write floating point expressions as arguments.


215. Can a map's key_type be const?

Section: 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 2000-02-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View other active issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all other issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

A user noticed that this doesn't compile with the Rogue Wave library because the rb_tree class declares a key_allocator, and allocator<const int> is not legal, I think:

map < const int, ... > // legal?

which made me wonder whether it is legal for a map's key_type to be const. In email from Matt Austern he said:

I'm not sure whether it's legal to declare a map with a const key type. I hadn't thought about that question until a couple weeks ago. My intuitive feeling is that it ought not to be allowed, and that the standard ought to say so. It does turn out to work in SGI's library, though, and someone in the compiler group even used it. Perhaps this deserves to be written up as an issue too.

Rationale:

The "key is assignable" requirement from table 69 in 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] already implies the key cannot be const.


216. setbase manipulator description flawed

Section: 27.7.3 [std.manip] Status: Dup Submitter: Hyman Rosen Opened: 2000-02-29 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [std.manip].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 193

Discussion:

27.7.3 [std.manip] paragraph 5 says:

smanip setbase(int base);

Returns: An object s of unspecified type such that if out is an (instance of) basic_ostream then the expression out<<s behaves as if f(s) were called, in is an (instance of) basic_istream then the expression in>>s behaves as if f(s) were called. Where f can be defined as:

ios_base& f(ios_base& str, int base)
{
  // set basefield
  str.setf(n == 8 ? ios_base::oct :
                n == 10 ? ios_base::dec :
                n == 16 ? ios_base::hex :
                  ios_base::fmtflags(0), ios_base::basefield);
  return str;
}

There are two problems here. First, f takes two parameters, so the description needs to say that out<<s and in>>s behave as if f(s,base) had been called. Second, f is has a parameter named base, but is written as if the parameter was named n.

Actually, there's a third problem. The paragraph has grammatical errors. There needs to be an "and" after the first comma, and the "Where f" sentence fragment needs to be merged into its preceding sentence. You may also want to format the function a little better. The formatting above is more-or-less what the Standard contains.

Rationale:

The resolution of this defect is subsumed by the proposed resolution for issue 193.

[Tokyo: The LWG agrees that this is a defect and notes that it occurs additional places in the section, all requiring fixes.]


218. Algorithms do not use binary predicate objects for default comparisons

Section: 25.4 [alg.sorting] Status: NAD Submitter: Pablo Halpern Opened: 2000-03-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.sorting].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Many of the algorithms take an argument, pred, of template parameter type BinaryPredicate or an argument comp of template parameter type Compare. These algorithms usually have an overloaded version that does not take the predicate argument. In these cases pred is usually replaced by the use of operator== and comp is replaced by the use of operator<.

This use of hard-coded operators is inconsistent with other parts of the library, particularly the containers library, where equality is established using equal_to<> and ordering is established using less<>. Worse, the use of operator<, would cause the following innocent-looking code to have undefined behavior:

vector<string*> vec;
sort(vec.begin(), vec.end());

The use of operator< is not defined for pointers to unrelated objects. If std::sort used less<> to compare elements, then the above code would be well-defined, since less<> is explicitly specialized to produce a total ordering of pointers.

Rationale:

This use of operator== and operator< was a very deliberate, conscious, and explicitly made design decision; these operators are often more efficient. The predicate forms are available for users who don't want to rely on operator== and operator<.


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

Section: 25.2.5 [alg.find] Status: NAD Submitter: Pablo Halpern Opened: 2000-03-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.find].

View all issues with NAD 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.

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

The same thing can be achieved using find_if (as noted in the issue).

Moved to NAD.

Proposed resolution:

In section 25.2.5 [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".


236. ctype<char>::is() member modifies facet

Section: 22.4.1.3.2 [facet.ctype.char.members] Status: Dup Submitter: Dietmar Kühl Opened: 2000-04-24 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [facet.ctype.char.members].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 28

Discussion:

The description of the is() member in paragraph 4 of 22.4.1.3.2 [facet.ctype.char.members] is broken: According to this description, the second form of the is() method modifies the masks in the ctype object. The correct semantics if, of course, to obtain an array of masks. The corresponding method in the general case, ie. the do_is() method as described in 22.4.1.1.2 [locale.ctype.virtuals] paragraph 1 does the right thing.

Proposed resolution:

Change paragraph 4 from

The second form, for all *p in the range [low, high), assigns vec[p-low] to table()[(unsigned char)*p].

to become

The second form, for all *p in the range [low, high), assigns table()[(unsigned char)*p] to vec[p-low].

Rationale:


244. Must find's third argument be CopyConstructible?

Section: 25.2.5 [alg.find] Status: NAD Submitter: Andrew Koenig Opened: 2000-05-02 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.find].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Is the following implementation of find acceptable?

        template<class Iter, class X>
        Iter find(Iter begin, Iter end, const X& x)
        {
            X x1 = x;           // this is the crucial statement
            while (begin != end && *begin != x1)
                ++begin;
            return begin;
        }

If the answer is yes, then it is implementation-dependent as to whether the following fragment is well formed:

        vector<string> v;

        find(v.begin(), v.end(), "foo");

At issue is whether there is a requirement that the third argument of find be CopyConstructible. There may be no problem here, but analysis is necessary.

Rationale:

There is no indication in the standard that find's third argument is required to be Copy Constructible. The LWG believes that no such requirement was intended. As noted above, there are times when a user might reasonably pass an argument that is not Copy Constructible.


245. Which operations on istream_iterator trigger input operations?

Section: 24.6.1 [istream.iterator] Status: NAD Submitter: Andrew Koenig Opened: 2000-05-02 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream.iterator].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

I do not think the standard specifies what operation(s) on istream iterators trigger input operations. So, for example:

        istream_iterator<int> i(cin);

        int n = *i++;

I do not think it is specified how many integers have been read from cin. The number must be at least 1, of course, but can it be 2? More?

Rationale:

The standard is clear as written: the stream is read every time operator++ is called, and it is also read either when the iterator is constructed or when operator* is called for the first time. In the example above, exactly two integers are read from cin.

There may be a problem with the interaction between istream_iterator and some STL algorithms, such as find. There are no guarantees about how many times find may invoke operator++.


246. a.insert(p,t) is incorrectly specified

Section: 23.2.4 [associative.reqmts] Status: Dup Submitter: Mark Rodgers Opened: 2000-05-19 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View other active issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all other issues in [associative.reqmts].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 233

Discussion:

Closed issue 192 raised several problems with the specification of this function, but was rejected as Not A Defect because it was too big a change with unacceptable impacts on existing implementations. However, issues remain that could be addressed with a smaller change and with little or no consequent impact.

  1. The specification is inconsistent with the original proposal and with several implementations.

    The initial implementation by Hewlett Packard only ever looked immediately before p, and I do not believe there was any intention to standardize anything other than this behavior. Consequently, current implementations by several leading implementors also look immediately before p, and will only insert after p in logarithmic time. I am only aware of one implementation that does actually look after p, and it looks before p as well. It is therefore doubtful that existing code would be relying on the behavior defined in the standard, and it would seem that fixing this defect as proposed below would standardize existing practice.

  2. The specification is inconsistent with insertion for sequence containers.

    This is difficult and confusing to teach to newcomers. All insert operations that specify an iterator as an insertion location should have a consistent meaning for the location represented by that iterator.

  3. As specified, there is no way to hint that the insertion should occur at the beginning of the container, and the way to hint that it should occur at the end is long winded and unnatural.

    For a container containing n elements, there are n+1 possible insertion locations and n+1 valid iterators. For there to be a one-to-one mapping between iterators and insertion locations, the iterator must represent an insertion location immediately before the iterator.

  4. When appending sorted ranges using insert_iterators, insertions are guaranteed to be sub-optimal.

    In such a situation, the optimum location for insertion is always immediately after the element previously inserted. The mechanics of the insert iterator guarantee that it will try and insert after the element after that, which will never be correct. However, if the container first tried to insert before the hint, all insertions would be performed in amortized constant time.

Proposed resolution:

In 23.1.2 [lib.associative.reqmts] paragraph 7, table 69, make the following changes in the row for a.insert(p,t):

assertion/note pre/post condition:
Change the last sentence from

"iterator p is a hint pointing to where the insert should start to search."

to

"iterator p is a hint indicating that immediately before p may be a correct location where the insertion could occur."

complexity:
Change the words "right after" to "immediately before".

Rationale:


249. Return Type of auto_ptr::operator=

Section: D.12.1 [auto.ptr] Status: NAD Submitter: Joseph Gottman Opened: 2000-06-30 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [auto.ptr].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

According to section 20.4.5, the function auto_ptr::operator=() returns a reference to an auto_ptr. The reason that operator=() usually returns a reference is to facilitate code like

    int x,y,z;
    x = y = z = 1;

However, given analogous code for auto_ptrs,

    auto_ptr<int> x, y, z;
    z.reset(new int(1));
    x = y = z;

the result would be that z and y would both be set to NULL, instead of all the auto_ptrs being set to the same value. This makes such cascading assignments useless and counterintuitive for auto_ptrs.

Proposed resolution:

Change auto_ptr::operator=() to return void instead of an auto_ptr reference.

Rationale:

The return value has uses other than cascaded assignments: a user can call an auto_ptr member function, pass the auto_ptr to a function, etc. Removing the return value could break working user code.


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

Section: 27.6.2 [streambuf] Status: NAD Future Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2000-08-12 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [streambuf].

View all issues with NAD Future status.

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.

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

This is part of a bigger problem. If anyone cares enough, they should write a paper solving the bigger problem of offset types in iostreams.

This is related to the paper about large file sizes. Beman has already agreed to drop the section of that paper that deals with this.

int is big enough for reasonable buffers.

Move to NAD Future.

This is related to LWG 423.

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)] ]


257. STL functional object and iterator inheritance.

Section: X [base], 24.4.2 [iterator.basic] Status: NAD Submitter: Robert Dick Opened: 2000-08-17 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [base].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

According to the November 1997 Draft Standard, the results of deleting an object of a derived class through a pointer to an object of its base class are undefined if the base class has a non-virtual destructor. Therefore, it is potentially dangerous to publicly inherit from such base classes.

Defect:
The STL design encourages users to publicly inherit from a number of classes which do nothing but specify interfaces, and which contain non-virtual destructors.

Attribution:
Wil Evers and William E. Kempf suggested this modification for functional objects.

Proposed resolution:

When a base class in the standard library is useful only as an interface specifier, i.e., when an object of the class will never be directly instantiated, specify that the class contains a protected destructor. This will prevent deletion through a pointer to the base class without performance, or space penalties (on any implementation I'm aware of).

As an example, replace...

    template <class Arg, class Result>
    struct unary_function {
            typedef Arg    argument_type;
            typedef Result result_type;
    };

... with...

    template <class Arg, class Result>
    struct unary_function {
            typedef Arg    argument_type;
            typedef Result result_type;
    protected:
            ~unary_function() {}
    };

Affected definitions:
 20.3.1 [lib.function.objects] -- unary_function, binary_function
 24.3.2 [lib.iterator.basic] -- iterator

Rationale:

The standard is clear as written; this is a request for change, not a defect in the strict sense. The LWG had several different objections to the proposed change. One is that it would prevent users from creating objects of type unary_function and binary_function. Doing so can sometimes be legitimate, if users want to pass temporaries as traits or tag types in generic code.


267. interaction of strstreambuf::overflow() and seekoff()

Section: D.9.1.3 [depr.strstreambuf.virtuals] Status: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2000-10-05 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [depr.strstreambuf.virtuals].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

It appears that the interaction of the strstreambuf members overflow() and seekoff() can lead to undefined behavior in cases where defined behavior could reasonably be expected. The following program demonstrates this behavior:

    #include <strstream>

    int main ()
    {
         std::strstreambuf sb;
         sb.sputc ('c');

         sb.pubseekoff (-1, std::ios::end, std::ios::in);
         return !('c' == sb.sgetc ());
    }

D.7.1.1, p1 initializes strstreambuf with a call to basic_streambuf<>(), which in turn sets all pointers to 0 in 27.5.2.1, p1.

27.5.2.2.5, p1 says that basic_streambuf<>::sputc(c) calls overflow(traits::to_int_type(c)) if a write position isn't available (it isn't due to the above).

D.7.1.3, p3 says that strstreambuf::overflow(off, ..., ios::in) makes at least one write position available (i.e., it allows the function to make any positive number of write positions available).

D.7.1.3, p13 computes newoff = seekhigh - eback(). In D.7.1, p4 we see seekhigh = epptr() ? epptr() : egptr(), or seekhigh = epptr() in this case. newoff is then epptr() - eback().

D.7.1.4, p14 sets gptr() so that gptr() == eback() + newoff + off, or gptr() == epptr() + off holds.

If strstreambuf::overflow() made exactly one write position available then gptr() will be set to just before epptr(), and the program will return 0. Buf if the function made more than one write position available, epptr() and gptr() will both point past pptr() and the behavior of the program is undefined.

Proposed resolution:

Change the last sentence of D.9.1 [depr.strstreambuf] paragraph 4 from

Otherwise, seeklow equals gbeg and seekhigh is either pend, if pend is not a null pointer, or gend.

to become

Otherwise, seeklow equals gbeg and seekhigh is either gend if 0 == pptr(), or pbase() + max where max is the maximum value of pptr() - pbase() ever reached for this stream.

[ pre-Copenhagen: Dietmar provided wording for proposed resolution. ]

[ post-Copenhagen: Fixed a typo: proposed resolution said to fix 4.7.1, not D.7.1. ]

Rationale:

This is related to issue 65: it's not clear what it means to seek beyond the current area. Without resolving issue 65 we can't resolve this. As with issue 65, the library working group does not wish to invest time nailing down corner cases in a deprecated feature.


269. cstdarg and unnamed parameters

Section: 18.8 [support.exception] Status: NAD Submitter: J. Stephen Adamczyk Opened: 2000-10-10 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [support.exception].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

One of our customers asks whether this is valid C++:

   #include <cstdarg>

   void bar(const char *, va_list);

   void
   foo(const char *file, const char *, ...)
   {
     va_list ap;
     va_start(ap, file);
     bar(file, ap);
     va_end(ap);
   }

The issue being whether it is valid to use cstdarg when the final parameter before the "..." is unnamed. cstdarg is, as far as I can tell, inherited verbatim from the C standard. and the definition there (7.8.1.1 in the ISO C89 standard) refers to "the identifier of the rightmost parameter". What happens when there is no such identifier?

My personal opinion is that this should be allowed, but some tweak might be required in the C++ standard.

Rationale:

Not a defect, the C and C++ standards are clear. It is impossible to use varargs if the parameter immediately before "..." has no name, because that is the parameter that must be passed to va_start. The example given above is broken, because va_start is being passed the wrong parameter.

There is no support for extending varargs to provide additional functionality beyond what's currently there. For reasons of C/C++ compatibility, it is especially important not to make gratuitous changes in this part of the C++ standard. The C committee has already been requested not to touch this part of the C standard unless necessary.


277. Normative encouragement in allocator requirements unclear

Section: 20.2.5 [allocator.requirements] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 2000-11-07 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [allocator.requirements].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In 20.1.5, paragraph 5, the standard says that "Implementors are encouraged to supply libraries that can accept allocators that encapsulate more general memory models and that support non-equal instances." This is intended as normative encouragement to standard library implementors. However, it is possible to interpret this sentence as applying to nonstandard third-party libraries.

Proposed resolution:

In 20.1.5, paragraph 5, change "Implementors" to "Implementors of the library described in this International Standard".

Rationale:

The LWG believes the normative encouragement is already sufficiently clear, and that there are no important consequences even if it is misunderstood.


279. const and non-const iterators should have equivalent typedefs

Section: 23.2 [container.requirements] Status: NAD Submitter: Steve Cleary Opened: 2000-11-27 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [container.requirements].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

This came from an email from Steve Cleary to Fergus in reference to issue 179. The library working group briefly discussed this in Toronto and believes it should be a separate issue.

Steve said: "We may want to state that the const/non-const iterators must have the same difference type, size_type, and category."

(Comment from Judy) I'm not sure if the above sentence should be true for all const and non-const iterators in a particular container, or if it means the container's iterator can't be compared with the container's const_iterator unless the above it true. I suspect the former.

Proposed resolution:

In Section: 23.2 [container.requirements], table 65, in the assertion/note pre/post condition for X::const_iterator, add the following:

typeid(X::const_iterator::difference_type) == typeid(X::iterator::difference_type)

typeid(X::const_iterator::size_type) == typeid(X::iterator::size_type)

typeid(X::const_iterator::category) == typeid(X::iterator::category)

Rationale:

Going through the types one by one: Iterators don't have a size_type. We already know that the difference types are identical, because the container requirements already say that the difference types of both X::iterator and X::const_iterator are both X::difference_type. The standard does not require that X::iterator and X::const_iterator have the same iterator category, but the LWG does not see this as a defect: it's possible to imagine cases in which it would be useful for the categories to be different.

It may be desirable to require X::iterator and X::const_iterator to have the same value type, but that is a new issue. (Issue 322.)


287. conflicting ios_base fmtflags

Section: 27.5.2.2 [fmtflags.state] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 2000-12-30 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [fmtflags.state].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The Effects clause for ios_base::setf(fmtflags fmtfl) says "Sets fmtfl in flags()". What happens if the user first calls ios_base::scientific and then calls ios_base::fixed or vice-versa? This is an issue for all of the conflicting flags, i.e. ios_base::left and ios_base::right or ios_base::dec, ios_base::hex and ios_base::oct.

I see three possible solutions:

  1. Set ios_base::failbit whenever the user specifies a conflicting flag with one previously explicitly set. If the constructor is supposed to set ios_base::dec (see discussion below), then the user setting hex or oct format after construction will not set failbit.
  2. The last call to setf "wins", i.e. it clears any conflicting previous setting.
  3. All the flags that the user specifies are set, but when actually interpreting them, fixed always override scientific, right always overrides left, dec overrides hex which overrides oct.

Most existing implementations that I tried seem to conform to resolution #3, except that when using the iomanip manipulator hex or oct then that always overrides dec, but calling setf(ios_base::hex) doesn't.

There is a sort of related issue, which is that although the ios_base constructor says that each ios_base member has an indeterminate value after construction, all the existing implementations I tried explicitly set ios_base::dec.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

adjustfield, basefield, and floatfield are each multi-bit fields. It is possible to set multiple bits within each of those fields. (For example, dec and oct). These fields are used by locale facets. The LWG reviewed the way in which each of those three fields is used, and believes that in each case the behavior is well defined for any possible combination of bits. See for example Table 58, in 22.4.2.2.2 [facet.num.put.virtuals], noting the requirement in paragraph 6 of that section.

Users are advised to use manipulators, or else use the two-argument version of setf, to avoid unexpected behavior.


289. <cmath> requirements missing C float and long double versions

Section: 26.8 [c.math] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 2000-12-30 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [c.math].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In ISO/IEC 9899:1990 Programming Languages C we find the following concerning <math.h>:

7.13.4 Mathematics <math.h>
The names of all existing functions declared in the <math.h> header, suffixed with f or l, are reserved respectively for corresponding functions with float and long double arguments are return values.

For example, float sinf(float) is reserved.

In the C99 standard, <math.h> must contain declarations for these functions.

So, is it acceptable for an implementor to add these prototypes to the C++ versions of the math headers? Are they required?

Proposed resolution:

Add these Functions to Table 80, section 26.5 and to Table 99, section C.2:

    acosf asinf atanf atan2f ceilf cosf coshf 
    expf fabsf floorf fmodf frexpf ldexpf 
    logf log10f modff powf sinf sinhf sqrtf 
    tanf tanhf 
    acosl asinl atanl atan2l ceill cosl coshl 
    expl fabsl floorl fmodl frexpl ldexpl 
    logl log10l modfl powl sinl sinhl sqrtl 
    tanl tanhl

There should probably be a note saying that these functions are optional and, if supplied, should match the description in the 1999 version of the C standard. In the next round of C++ standardization they can then become mandatory.

Rationale:

The C90 standard, as amended, already permits (but does not require) these functions, and the C++ standard incorporates the C90 standard by reference. C99 is not an issue, because it is never referred to by the C++ standard.


290. Requirements to for_each and its function object

Section: 25.2.4 [alg.foreach] Status: NAD Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 2001-01-03 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.foreach].

View all issues with NAD status.

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.]

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

Moved to NAD.

It was felt that the current description is adequate, and that there are limits to what the standard can reasonably say to prohibit perverse uses of the library.

Proposed resolution:


293. Order of execution in transform algorithm

Section: 25.3.4 [alg.transform] Status: NAD Submitter: Angelika Langer Opened: 2001-01-04 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.transform].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

This issue is related to issue 242. In case that the resolution proposed for issue 242 is accepted, we have have the following situation: The 4 numeric algorithms (accumulate and consorts) as well as transform would allow a certain category of side effects. The numeric algorithms specify that they invoke the functor "for every iterator i in the range [first, last) in order". transform, in contrast, would not give any guarantee regarding order of invocation of the functor, which means that the functor can be invoked in any arbitrary order.

Why would that be a problem? Consider an example: say the transformator that is a simple enumerator ( or more generally speaking, "is order-sensitive" ). Since a standard compliant implementation of transform is free to invoke the enumerator in no definite order, the result could be a garbled enumeration. Strictly speaking this is not a problem, but it is certainly at odds with the prevalent understanding of transform as an algorithms that assigns "a new _corresponding_ value" to the output elements.

All implementations that I know of invoke the transformator in definite order, namely starting from first and proceeding to last - 1. Unless there is an optimization conceivable that takes advantage of the indefinite order I would suggest to specify the order, because it eliminate the uncertainty that users would otherwise have regarding the order of execution of their potentially order-sensitive function objects.

Proposed resolution:

In section 25.2.3 - Transform [lib.alg.transform] change:

-1- Effects: Assigns through every iterator i in the range [result, result + (last1 - first1)) a new corresponding value equal to op(*(first1 + (i - result)) or binary_op(*(first1 + (i - result), *(first2 + (i - result))).

to:

-1- Effects: Computes values by invoking the operation op or binary_op for every iterator in the range [first1, last1) in order. Assigns through every iterator i in the range [result, result + (last1 - first1)) a new corresponding value equal to op(*(first1 + (i - result)) or binary_op(*(first1 + (i - result), *(first2 + (i - result))).

Rationale:

For Input Iterators an order is already guaranteed, because only one order is possible. If a user who passes a Forward Iterator to one of these algorithms really needs a specific order of execution, it's possible to achieve that effect by wrapping it in an Input Iterator adaptor.


299. Incorrect return types for iterator dereference

Section: 24.2.6 [bidirectional.iterators], 24.2.7 [random.access.iterators] Status: NAD Editorial Submitter: John Potter Opened: 2001-01-22 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [bidirectional.iterators].

View all issues with NAD Editorial status.

Discussion:

In section 24.2.6 [bidirectional.iterators], Table 75 gives the return type of *r-- as convertible to T. This is not consistent with Table 74 which gives the return type of *r++ as T&. *r++ = t is valid while *r-- = t is invalid.

In section 24.2.7 [random.access.iterators], Table 76 gives the return type of a[n] as convertible to T. This is not consistent with the semantics of *(a + n) which returns T& by Table 74. *(a + n) = t is valid while a[n] = t is invalid.

Discussion from the Copenhagen meeting: the first part is uncontroversial. The second part, operator[] for Random Access Iterators, requires more thought. There are reasonable arguments on both sides. Return by value from operator[] enables some potentially useful iterators, e.g. a random access "iota iterator" (a.k.a "counting iterator" or "int iterator"). There isn't any obvious way to do this with return-by-reference, since the reference would be to a temporary. On the other hand, reverse_iterator takes an arbitrary Random Access Iterator as template argument, and its operator[] returns by reference. If we decided that the return type in Table 76 was correct, we would have to change reverse_iterator. This change would probably affect user code.

History: the contradiction between reverse_iterator and the Random Access Iterator requirements has been present from an early stage. In both the STL proposal adopted by the committee (N0527==94-0140) and the STL technical report (HPL-95-11 (R.1), by Stepanov and Lee), the Random Access Iterator requirements say that operator[]'s return value is "convertible to T". In N0527 reverse_iterator's operator[] returns by value, but in HPL-95-11 (R.1), and in the STL implementation that HP released to the public, reverse_iterator's operator[] returns by reference. In 1995, the standard was amended to reflect the contents of HPL-95-11 (R.1). The original intent for operator[] is unclear.

In the long term it may be desirable to add more fine-grained iterator requirements, so that access method and traversal strategy can be decoupled. (See "Improved Iterator Categories and Requirements", N1297 = 01-0011, by Jeremy Siek.) Any decisions about issue 299 should keep this possibility in mind.

Further discussion: I propose a compromise between John Potter's resolution, which requires T& as the return type of a[n], and the current wording, which requires convertible to T. The compromise is to keep the convertible to T for the return type of the expression a[n], but to also add a[n] = t as a valid expression. This compromise "saves" the common case uses of random access iterators, while at the same time allowing iterators such as counting iterator and caching file iterators to remain random access iterators (iterators where the lifetime of the object returned by operator*() is tied to the lifetime of the iterator).

Note that the compromise resolution necessitates a change to reverse_iterator. It would need to use a proxy to support a[n] = t.

Note also there is one kind of mutable random access iterator that will no longer meet the new requirements. Currently, iterators that return an r-value from operator[] meet the requirements for a mutable random access iterartor, even though the expression a[n] = t will only modify a temporary that goes away. With this proposed resolution, a[n] = t will be required to have the same operational semantics as *(a + n) = t.

[ 2009-07-28 Reopened by Alisdair. No longer solved by concepts. ]

[ 2009-09-18 Alisdair adds: ]

Why can't we write through the reference returned from operator[] on a random access iterator?

Recommended solution:

In table Table 104 -- Random access iterator requirements, replace

a[n] : convertible to const T & T& if X is mutable, otherwise convertible to const T&

[ 2009-10 Santa Cruz: ]

Leave Open. Alisdair to spearhead a paper on revivification.

[ 2010 Pittsburgh: Moved to NAD Editorial. Rationale added below. ]

Rationale:

Solved by N3066.

Proposed resolution:

In section 24.1.4 [lib.bidirectdional.iterators], change the return type in table 75 from "convertible to T" to T&.

In section 24.1.5 [lib.random.access.iterators], change the operational semantics for a[n] to " the r-value of a[n] is equivalent to the r-value of *(a + n)". Add a new row in the table for the expression a[n] = t with a return type of convertible to T and operational semantics of *(a + n) = t.

[Lillehammer: Real problem, but should be addressed as part of iterator redesign]

Rationale:

[ San Francisco: ]

Solved by N2758.

302. Need error indication from codecvt<>::do_length

Section: 22.4.1.5 [locale.codecvt.byname] Status: NAD Submitter: Gregory Bumgardner Opened: 2001-01-25 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt.byname].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The effects of codecvt<>::do_length() are described in 22.2.1.5.2, paragraph 10. As implied by that paragraph, and clarified in issue 75, codecvt<>::do_length() must process the source data and update the stateT argument just as if the data had been processed by codecvt<>::in(). However, the standard does not specify how do_length() would report a translation failure, should the source sequence contain untranslatable or illegal character sequences.

The other conversion methods return an "error" result value to indicate that an untranslatable character has been encountered, but do_length() already has a return value (the number of source characters that have been processed by the method).

Proposed resolution:

This issue cannot be resolved without modifying the interface. An exception cannot be used, as there would be no way to determine how many characters have been processed and the state object would be left in an indeterminate state.

A source compatible solution involves adding a fifth argument to length() and do_length() that could be used to return position of the offending character sequence. This argument would have a default value that would allow it to be ignored:

  int length(stateT& state, 
             const externT* from, 
             const externT* from_end, 
             size_t max,
             const externT** from_next = 0);

  virtual
  int do_length(stateT& state, 
                const externT* from, 
                const externT* from_end, 
                size_t max,
                const externT** from_next);

Then an exception could be used to report any translation errors and the from_next argument, if used, could then be used to retrieve the location of the offending character sequence.

Rationale:

The standard is already clear: the return value is the number of "valid complete characters". If it encounters an invalid sequence of external characters, it stops.


304. Must *a return an lvalue when a is an input iterator?

Section: X [iterator.concepts] Status: NAD Submitter: Dave Abrahams Opened: 2001-02-05 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [iterator.concepts].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

We all "know" that input iterators are allowed to produce values when dereferenced of which there is no other in-memory copy.

But: Table 72, with a careful reading, seems to imply that this can only be the case if the value_type has no members (e.g. is a built-in type).

The problem occurs in the following entry:

  a->m     pre: (*a).m is well-defined
           Equivalent to (*a).m

*a.m can be well-defined if *a is not a reference type, but since operator->() must return a pointer for a->m to be well-formed, it needs something to return a pointer to. This seems to indicate that *a must be buffered somewhere to make a legal input iterator.

I don't think this was intentional.

Rationale:

The current standard is clear and consistent. Input iterators that return rvalues are in fact implementable. They may in some cases require extra work, but it is still possible to define an operator-> in such cases: it doesn't have to return a T*, but may return a proxy type. No change to the standard is justified.


309. Does sentry catch exceptions?

Section: 27.7 [iostream.format] Status: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2001-03-19 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [iostream.format].

View all issues with NAD status.

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.

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

Moved to NAD.

See the rationale in the issue. Paolo, who requested that the issue be reopened, agreed with the rationale.

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.


313. set_terminate and set_unexpected question

Section: 18.8.3.3 [terminate] Status: NAD Submitter: Judy Ward Opened: 2001-04-03 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [terminate].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

According to section 18.7.3.3 of the standard, std::terminate() is supposed to call the terminate_handler in effect immediately after evaluating the throw expression.

Question: what if the terminate_handler in effect is itself std::terminate?

For example:

  #include <exception>

  int main () {
      std::set_terminate(std::terminate);
      throw 5;
      return 0;
  }

Is the implementation allowed to go into an infinite loop?

I think the same issue applies to std::set_unexpected.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

Infinite recursion is to be expected: users who set the terminate handler to terminate are explicitly asking for terminate to call itself.


314. Is the stack unwound when terminate() is called?

Section: 18.8.3.3 [terminate] Status: NAD Submitter: Detlef Vollmann Opened: 2001-04-11 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [terminate].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The standard appears to contradict itself about whether the stack is unwound when the implementation calls terminate().

From 18.7.3.3p2:

Calls the terminate_handler function in effect immediately after evaluating the throw-expression (lib.terminate.handler), if called by the implementation [...]

So the stack is guaranteed not to be unwound.

But from 15.3p9:

[...]whether or not the stack is unwound before this call to terminate() is implementation-defined (except.terminate).

And 15.5.1 actually defines that in most cases the stack is unwound.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

There is definitely no contradiction between the core and library clauses; nothing in the core clauses says that stack unwinding happens after terminate is called. 18.7.3.3p2 does not say anything about when terminate() is called; it merely specifies which terminate_handler is used.


323. abs() overloads in different headers

Section: 26.8 [c.math] Status: NAD Submitter: Dave Abrahams Opened: 2001-06-04 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [c.math].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Currently the standard mandates the following overloads of abs():

    abs(long), abs(int) in <cstdlib>

    abs(float), abs(double), abs(long double) in <cmath>

    template<class T> T abs(const complex<T>&) in <complex>

    template<class T> valarray<T> abs(const valarray<T>&); in <valarray>

The problem is that having only some overloads visible of a function that works on "implicitly inter-convertible" types is dangerous in practice. The headers that get included at any point in a translation unit can change unpredictably during program development/maintenance. The wrong overload might be unintentionally selected.

Currently, there is nothing that mandates the simultaneous visibility of these overloads. Indeed, some vendors have begun fastidiously reducing dependencies among their (public) headers as a QOI issue: it helps people to write portable code by refusing to compile unless all the correct headers are #included.

The same issue may exist for other functions in the library.

Redmond: PJP reports that C99 adds two new kinds of abs: complex, and int_max_abs.

Related issue: 343.

[ Bellevue: ]

The situation is not sufficiently severe to warrant a change.

Rationale:

The programs that could potentially be broken by this situation are already fragile, and somewhat contrived: For example, a user-defined class that has conversion overloads both to long and to float. If x is a value of such a class, then abs(x) would give the long version if the user included <cstdlib>, the float version if the user included <cmath>, and would be diagnosed as ambiguous at compile time if the user included both headers. The LWG couldn't find an example of a program whose meaning would be changed (as opposed to changing it from well-formed to ill-formed) simply by adding another standard header.

Since the harm seems minimal, and there don't seem to be any simple and noninvasive solutions, this is being closed as NAD. It is marked as "Future" for two reasons. First, it might be useful to define an <all> header that would include all Standard Library headers. Second, we should at least make sure that future library extensions don't make this problem worse.


326. Missing typedef in moneypunct_byname

Section: 22.4.6.4 [locale.moneypunct.byname] Status: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2001-07-05 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The definition of the moneypunct facet contains the typedefs char_type and string_type. Only one of these names, string_type, is defined in the derived facet, moneypunct_byname.

Proposed resolution:

For consistency with the numpunct facet, add a typedef for char_type to the definition of the moneypunct_byname facet in 22.4.6.4 [locale.moneypunct.byname].

Rationale:

The absence of the typedef is irrelevant. Users can still access the typedef, because it is inherited from the base class.


330. Misleading "exposition only" value in class locale definition

Section: 22.3.1 [locale] Status: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2001-07-15 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The "exposition only" value of the std::locale::none constant shown in the definition of class locale is misleading in that it on many systems conflicts with the value assigned to one if the LC_XXX constants (specifically, LC_COLLATE on AIX, LC_ALL on HP-UX, LC_CTYPE on Linux and SunOS). This causes incorrect behavior when such a constant is passed to one of the locale member functions that accept a locale::category argument and interpret it as either the C LC_XXX constant or a bitmap of locale::category values. At least three major implementations adopt the suggested value without a change and consequently suffer from this problem.

For instance, the following code will (presumably) incorrectly copy facets belonging to the collate category from the German locale on AIX:

  std::locale l (std::locale ("C"), "de_DE", std::locale::none);

Rationale:

The LWG agrees that it may be difficult to implement locale member functions in such a way that they can take either category arguments or the LC_ constants defined in <cctype>. In light of this requirement (22.3.1.1.1 [locale.category], paragraph 2), and in light of the requirement in the preceding paragraph that it is possible to combine category bitmask elements with bitwise operations, defining the category elements is delicate, particularly if an implementor is constrained to work with a preexisting C library. (Just using the existing LC_ constants would not work in general.) There's no set of "exposition only" values that could give library implementors proper guidance in such a delicate matter. The non-normative example we're giving is no worse than any other choice would be.

See issue 347.


332. Consider adding increment and decrement operators to std::fpos< T >

Section: 27.5.3 [fpos] Status: NAD Submitter: PremAnand M. Rao Opened: 2001-08-27 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [fpos].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Increment and decrement operators are missing from Table 88 -- Position type requirements in 27.5.3 [fpos].

Proposed resolution:

Table 88 (section 27.4.3) -- Position type requirements be updated to include increment and decrement operators.

expression        return type     operational    note

++p               fpos&           p += O(1)
p++               fpos            { P tmp = p;
                                    ++p;
                                    return tmp; }
--p               fpos&           p -= O(1)
p--               fpos            { P tmp = p;
                                    --p;
                                    return tmp; }

Rationale:

The LWG believes this is a request for extension, not a defect report. Additionally, nobody saw a clear need for this extension; fpos is used only in very limited ways.


342. seek and eofbit

Section: 27.7.1.3 [istream.unformatted] Status: NAD Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2001-10-09 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [istream.unformatted].

View all issues with NAD status.

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:

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

Moved to NAD. Will reopen if proposed resolution is supplied.

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: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2001-10-09 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View other active issues in [library].

View all other issues in [library].

View all issues with NAD status.

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.

[ 2009-07 Frankfurt ]

NAD. Handled by LWG 1178.

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.


344. grouping + showbase

Section: 22.4.2 [category.numeric] Status: NAD Submitter: Howard Hinnant Opened: 2001-10-13 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

When both grouping and showbase are active and the basefield is octal, does the leading 0 participate in the grouping or not? For example, should one format as: 0,123,456 or 0123,456?

An analogy can be drawn with hexadecimal. It appears that 0x123,456 is preferred over 0x,123,456. However, this analogy is not universally accepted to apply to the octal base. The standard is not clear on how to format (or parse) in this manner.

Proposed resolution:

Insert into 22.4.3.1.2 [facet.numpunct.virtuals] paragraph 3, just before the last sentence:

The leading hexadecimal base specifier "0x" does not participate in grouping. The leading '0' octal base specifier may participate in grouping. It is unspecified if the leading '0' participates in formatting octal numbers. In parsing octal numbers, the implementation is encouraged to accept both the leading '0' participating in the grouping, and not participating (e.g. 0123,456 or 0,123,456).

Rationale:

The current behavior may be unspecified, but it's not clear that it matters. This is an obscure corner case, since grouping is usually intended for the benefit of humans and oct/hex prefixes are usually intended for the benefit of machines. There is not a strong enough consensus in the LWG for action.


348. Minor issue with std::pair operator<

Section: 20.3.5 [pairs] Status: Dup Submitter: Andy Sawyer Opened: 2001-10-23 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [pairs].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 532

Discussion:

The current wording of 20.2.2 [lib.pairs] p6 precludes the use of operator< on any pair type which contains a pointer.

Proposed resolution:

In 20.3.5 [pairs] paragraph 6, replace:

    Returns: x.first < y.first || (!(y.first < x.first) && x.second <
        y.second).

With:

    Returns: std::less<T1>()( x.first, y.first ) ||
             (!std::less<T1>()( y.first, x.first) && 
             std::less<T2>()( x.second, y.second ) )

Rationale:

This is an instance of a much more general problem. If we want operator< to translate to std::less for pairs of pointers, where do we draw the line? The same issue applies to individual pointers, smart pointer wrappers, std::vector<T*>, and so on.

Andy Koenig suggests that the real issue here is that we aren't distinguishing adequately between two different orderings, a "useful ordering" and a "canonical ordering" that's used just because we sometimes need some ordering without caring much which ordering it is. Another example of the later is typeinfo's before.


350. allocator<>::address

Section: 20.9.5.1 [allocator.members], 20.2.5 [allocator.requirements], 17.6.1.1 [contents] Status: Dup Submitter: Nathan Myers Opened: 2001-10-25 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [allocator.members].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 634

Discussion:

See c++std-lib-9006 and c++std-lib-9007. This issue is taken verbatim from -9007.

The core language feature allowing definition of operator&() applied to any non-builtin type makes that operator often unsafe to use in implementing libraries, including the Standard Library. The result is that many library facilities fail for legal user code, such as the fragment

  class A { private: A* operator&(); };
  std::vector<A> aa;

  class B { };
  B* operator&(B&) { return 0; }
  std::vector<B> ba;

In particular, the requirements table for Allocator (Table 32) specifies no semantics at all for member address(), and allocator<>::address is defined in terms of unadorned operator &.

Proposed resolution:

In 20.6.1.1, Change the definition of allocator<>::address from:

Returns: &x

to:

Returns: The value that the built in operator&(x) would return if not overloaded.

In 20.1.6, Table 32, add to the Notes column of the a.address(r) and a.address(s) lines, respectively:

  allocator<T>::address(r)
  allocator<T>::address(s)

In addition, in clause 17.4.1.1, add a statement:

The Standard Library does not apply operator& to any type for which operator& may be overloaded.

Rationale:

The LWG believes both examples are ill-formed. The contained type is required to be CopyConstructible (20.2.1 [utility.arg.requirements]), and that includes the requirement that &t return the usual types and values. Since allocators are intended to be used in conjunction with containers, and since the CopyConstructible requirements appear to have been written to deal with the concerns of this issue, the LWG feels it is NAD unless someone can come up with a well-formed example exhibiting a problem.

It may well be that the CopyConstructible requirements are too restrictive and that either the container requirements or the CopyConstructive requirements should be relaxed, but that's a far larger issue. Marking this issue as "future" as a pointer to that larger issue.


351. unary_negate and binary_negate: struct or class?

Section: 20.8 [function.objects] Status: NAD Editorial Submitter: Dale Riley Opened: 2001-11-12 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [function.objects].

View all issues with NAD Editorial status.

Discussion:

In 20.8 [function.objects] the header <functional> synopsis declares the unary_negate and binary_negate function objects as struct. However in 20.8.9 [negators] the unary_negate and binary_negate function objects are defined as class. Given the context, they are not "basic function objects" like negate, so this is either a typo or an editorial oversight.

[Taken from comp.std.c++]

Proposed resolution:

Change the synopsis to reflect the useage in 20.8.9 [negators]

[Curaçao: Since the language permits "struct", the LWG views this as NAD. They suggest, however, that the Project Editor might wish to make the change as editorial.]


356. Meaning of ctype_base::mask enumerators

Section: 22.4.1 [category.ctype] Status: NAD Submitter: Matt Austern Opened: 2002-01-23 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [category.ctype].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

What should the following program print?

  #include <locale>
  #include <iostream>

  class my_ctype : public std::ctype<char>
  {
    typedef std::ctype<char> base;
  public:
    my_ctype(std::size_t refs = 0) : base(my_table, false, refs)
    {
      std::copy(base::classic_table(), base::classic_table() + base::table_size,
                my_table);
      my_table[(unsigned char) '_'] = (base::mask) (base::print | base::space);
    }
  private:
    mask my_table[base::table_size];
  };

  int main()
  {
    my_ctype ct;
    std::cout << "isspace: " << ct.is(std::ctype_base::space, '_') << "    "
              << "isalpha: " << ct.is(std::ctype_base::alpha, '_') << std::endl;
  }

The goal is to create a facet where '_' is treated as whitespace.

On gcc 3.0, this program prints "isspace: 1 isalpha: 0". On Microsoft C++ it prints "isspace: 1 isalpha: 1".

I believe that both implementations are legal, and the standard does not give enough guidance for users to be able to use std::ctype's protected interface portably.

The above program assumes that ctype_base::mask enumerators like space and print are disjoint, and that the way to say that a character is both a space and a printing character is to or those two enumerators together. This is suggested by the "exposition only" values in 22.4.1 [category.ctype], but it is nowhere specified in normative text. An alternative interpretation is that the more specific categories subsume the less specific. The above program gives the results it does on the Microsoft compiler because, on that compiler, print has all the bits set for each specific printing character class.

From the point of view of std::ctype's public interface, there's no important difference between these two techniques. From the point of view of the protected interface, there is. If I'm defining a facet that inherits from std::ctype<char>, I'm the one who defines the value that table()['a'] returns. I need to know what combination of mask values I should use. This isn't so very esoteric: it's exactly why std::ctype has a protected interface. If we care about users being able to write their own ctype facets, we have to give them a portable way to do it.

Related reflector messages: lib-9224, lib-9226, lib-9229, lib-9270, lib-9272, lib-9273, lib-9274, lib-9277, lib-9279.

Issue 339 is related, but not identical. The proposed resolution if issue 339 says that ctype_base::mask must be a bitmask type. It does not say that the ctype_base::mask elements are bitmask elements, so it doesn't directly affect this issue.

More comments from Benjamin Kosnik, who believes that that C99 compatibility essentially requires what we're calling option 1 below.

I think the C99 standard is clear, that isspace -> !isalpha.
--------

#include <locale>
#include <iostream>

class my_ctype : public std::ctype<char>
{
private:
  typedef std::ctype<char> base;
  mask my_table[base::table_size];

public:
  my_ctype(std::size_t refs = 0) : base(my_table, false, refs)
  {
    std::copy(base::classic_table(), base::classic_table() + base::table_size,
              my_table);
    mask both = base::print | base::space;
    my_table[static_cast<mask>('_')] = both;
  }
};

int main()
{
  using namespace std;
  my_ctype ct;
  cout << "isspace: " << ct.is(ctype_base::space, '_') << endl;
  cout << "isprint: " << ct.is(ctype_base::print, '_') << endl;

  // ISO C99, isalpha iff upper | lower set, and !space.
  // 7.5, p 193
  // -> looks like g++ behavior is correct.
  // 356 -> bitmask elements are required for ctype_base
  // 339 -> bitmask type required for mask
  cout << "isalpha: " << ct.is(ctype_base::alpha, '_') << endl;
}

Proposed resolution:

Informally, we have three choices:

  1. Require that the enumerators are disjoint (except for alnum and graph)
  2. Require that the enumerators are not disjoint, and specify which of them subsume which others. (e.g. mandate that lower includes alpha and print)
  3. Explicitly leave this unspecified, which the result that the above program is not portable.

Either of the first two options is just as good from the standpoint of portability. Either one will require some implementations to change.

Rationale:

The LWG agrees that this is a real ambiguity, and that both interpretations are conforming under the existing standard. However, there's no evidence that it's causing problems for real users. Users who want to define ctype facets portably can test the ctype_base masks to see which interpretation is being used.


357. <cmath> float functions cannot return HUGE_VAL

Section: 26.8 [c.math] Status: NAD Editorial Submitter: Ray Lischner Opened: 2002-02-26 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [c.math].

View all issues with NAD Editorial status.

Discussion:

The float versions of the math functions have no meaningful value to return for a range error. The long double versions have a value they can return, but it isn't necessarily the most reasonable value.

Section 26.5 [lib.c.math], paragraph 5, says that C++ "adds float and long double overloaded versions of these functions, with the same semantics," referring to the math functions from the C90 standard.

The C90 standard, in section 7.5.1, paragraph 3, says that functions return "the value of the macro HUGE_VAL" when they encounter a range error. Section 7.5, paragraph 2, defines HUGE_VAL as a macro that "expands to a positive double expression, not necessarily representable as a float."

Therefore, the float versions of the math functions have no way to signal a range error. [Curaçao: The LWG notes that this isn't strictly correct, since errno is set.] The semantics require that they return HUGE_VAL, but they cannot because HUGE_VAL might not be representable as a float.

The problem with long double functions is less severe because HUGE_VAL is representable as a long double. On the other hand, it might not be a "huge" long double value, and might fall well within the range of normal return values for a long double function. Therefore, it does not make sense for a long double function to return a double (HUGE_VAL) for a range error.

Proposed resolution:

Curaçao: C99 was faced with a similar problem, which they fixed by adding HUGE_VALF and HUGE_VALL in addition to HUGE_VAL.

C++ must also fix, but it should be done in the context of the general C99 based changes to C++, not via DR. Thus the LWG in Curaçao felt the resolution should be NAD, FUTURE, but the issue is being held open for one more meeting to ensure LWG members not present during the discussion concur.

Rationale:

Will be fixed as part of more general work in the TR.


361. num_get<>::do_get (..., void*&) checks grouping

Section: 22.4.2.2.2 [facet.num.put.virtuals] Status: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2002-03-12 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [facet.num.put.virtuals].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

22.2.2.2.2, p12 specifies that thousands_sep is to be inserted only for integral types (issue 282 suggests that this should be done for all arithmetic types).

22.2.2.1.2, p12 requires that grouping be checked for all extractors including that for void*.

I don't think that's right. void* values should not be checked for grouping, should they? (Although if they should, then num_put needs to write them out, otherwise their extraction will fail.)

Proposed resolution:

Change the first sentence of 22.2.2.2.2, p12 from

Digit grouping is checked. That is, the positions of discarded separators is examined for consistency with use_facet<numpunct<charT> >(loc).grouping(). If they are not consistent then ios_base::failbit is assigned to err.

to

Except for conversions to void*, digit grouping is checked...

Rationale:

This would be a change: as it stands, the standard clearly specifies that grouping applies to void*. A survey of existing practice shows that most existing implementations do that, as they should.


366. Excessive const-qualification

Section: 27 [input.output] Status: NAD Submitter: Walter Brown, Marc Paterno Opened: 2002-05-10 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [input.output].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

The following member functions are declared const, yet return non-const pointers. We believe they are should be changed, because they allow code that may surprise the user. See document N1360 for details and rationale.

[Santa Cruz: the real issue is that we've got const member functions that return pointers to non-const, and N1360 proposes replacing them by overloaded pairs. There isn't a consensus about whether this is a real issue, since we've never said what our constness policy is for iostreams. N1360 relies on a distinction between physical constness and logical constness; that distinction, or those terms, does not appear in the standard.]

Proposed resolution:

In 27.4.4 and 27.4.4.2

Replace

  basic_ostream<charT,traits>* tie() const;

with

  basic_ostream<charT,traits>* tie();
  const basic_ostream<charT,traits>* tie() const;

and replace

  basic_streambuf<charT,traits>* rdbuf() const;

with

  basic_streambuf<charT,traits>* rdbuf();
  const basic_streambuf<charT,traits>* rdbuf() const;

In 27.5.2 and 27.5.2.3.1

Replace

  char_type* eback() const;

with

  char_type* eback();
  const char_type* eback() const;

Replace

  char_type gptr() const;

with

  char_type* gptr();
  const char_type* gptr() const;

Replace

  char_type* egptr() const;

with

  char_type* egptr();
  const char_type* egptr() const;

In 27.5.2 and 27.5.2.3.2

Replace

  char_type* pbase() const;

with

  char_type* pbase();
  const char_type* pbase() const;

Replace

  char_type* pptr() const;

with

  char_type* pptr();
  const char_type* pptr() const;

Replace

  char_type* epptr() const;

with

  char_type* epptr();
  const char_type* epptr() const;

In 27.7.2, 27.7.2.2, 27.7.3 27.7.3.2, 27.7.4, and 27.7.6

Replace

  basic_stringbuf<charT,traits,Allocator>* rdbuf() const;

with

  basic_stringbuf<charT,traits,Allocator>* rdbuf();
  const basic_stringbuf<charT,traits,Allocator>* rdbuf() const;

In 27.8.1.5, 27.8.1.7, 27.8.1.8, 27.8.1.10, 27.8.1.11, and 27.8.1.13

Replace

  basic_filebuf<charT,traits>* rdbuf() const;

with

  basic_filebuf<charT,traits>* rdbuf();
  const basic_filebuf<charT,traits>* rdbuf() const;

Rationale:

The existing specification is a bit sloppy, but there's no particular reason to change this other than tidiness, and there are a number of ways in which streams might have been designed differently if we were starting today. There's no evidence that the existing constness policy is harming users. We might consider a different constness policy as part of a full stream redesign.


367. remove_copy/remove_copy_if and Input Iterators

Section: 25.3.8 [alg.remove] Status: NAD Submitter: Anthony Williams Opened: 2002-05-13 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [alg.remove].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

remove_copy and remove_copy_if (25.3.8 [alg.remove]) permit their input range to be marked with Input Iterators. However, since two operations are required against the elements to copy (comparison and assigment), when the input range uses Input Iterators, a temporary copy must be taken to avoid dereferencing the iterator twice. This therefore requires the value type of the InputIterator to be CopyConstructible. If the iterators are at least Forward Iterators, then the iterator can be dereferenced twice, or a reference to the result maintained, so the temporary is not required.

Proposed resolution:

Add "If InputIterator does not meet the requirements of forward iterator, then the value type of InputIterator must be copy constructible. Otherwise copy constructible is not required." to 25.3.8 [alg.remove] paragraph 6.

Rationale:

The assumption is that an input iterator can't be dereferenced twice. There's no basis for that assumption in the Standard.


368. basic_string::replace has two "Throws" paragraphs

Section: 21.4.6.6 [string::replace] Status: NAD Editorial Submitter: Beman Dawes Opened: 2002-06-03 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string::replace].

View all issues with NAD Editorial status.

Discussion:

21.4.6.6 [string::replace] basic_string::replace, second signature, given in paragraph 1, has two "Throws" paragraphs (3 and 5).

In addition, the second "Throws" paragraph (5) includes specification (beginning with "Otherwise, the function replaces ...") that should be part of the "Effects" paragraph.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

This is editorial. Both "throws" statements are true. The bug is just that the second one should be a sentence, part of the "Effects" clause, not a separate "Throws". The project editor has been notified.


372. Inconsistent description of stdlib exceptions

Section: 17.6.4.12 [res.on.exception.handling], 18.7.1 [type.info] Status: NAD Submitter: Randy Maddox Opened: 2002-07-22 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [res.on.exception.handling].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Paragraph 3 under clause 17.6.4.12 [res.on.exception.handling], Restrictions on Exception Handling, states that "Any other functions defined in the C++ Standard Library that do not have an exception-specification may throw implementation-defined exceptions unless otherwise specified." This statement is followed by a reference to footnote 178 at the bottom of that page which states, apparently in reference to the C++ Standard Library, that "Library implementations are encouraged (but not required) to report errors by throwing exceptions from (or derived from) the standard exceptions."

These statements appear to be in direct contradiction to clause 18.7.1 [type.info], which states "The class exception defines the base class for the types of objects thrown as exceptions by the C++ Standard library components ...".

Is this inconsistent?

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

Clause 17 is setting the overall library requirements, and it's clear and consistent. This sentence from Clause 18 is descriptive, not setting a requirement on any other class.


374. moneypunct::frac_digits returns int not unsigned

Section: 22.4.6.3.1 [locale.moneypunct.members], 22.4.6.3.2 [locale.moneypunct.virtuals] Status: NAD Submitter: Ray Lischner Opened: 2002-08-08 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

In section 22.4.6.3.1 [locale.moneypunct.members], frac_digits() returns type "int". This implies that frac_digits() might return a negative value, but a negative value is nonsensical. It should return "unsigned".

Similarly, in section 22.4.6.3.2 [locale.moneypunct.virtuals], do_frac_digits() should return "unsigned".

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

Regardless of whether the return value is int or unsigned, it's always conceivable that frac_digits might return a nonsensical value. (Is 4294967295 really any better than -1?) The clients of moneypunct, the get and put facets, can and do perform range checks.


377. basic_string::insert and length_error

Section: 21.4.6.4 [string::insert] Status: NAD Submitter: Ray Lischner Opened: 2002-08-16 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [string::insert].

View all issues with NAD status.

Discussion:

Section 21.4.6.4 [string::insert], paragraph 4, contains the following, "Then throws length_error if size() >= npos - rlen."

Related to DR 83, this sentence should probably be removed.

Proposed resolution:

Rationale:

This requirement is redundant but correct. No change is needed.


378. locale immutability and locale::operator=()

Section: 22.3.1 [locale] Status: Dup Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2002-09-06 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale].

View all issues with Dup status.

Duplicate of: 31

Discussion:

I think there is a problem with 22.1.1, p6 which says that

    -6- An instance of locale is immutable; once a facet reference
        is obtained from it, that reference remains usable as long
        as the locale value itself exists.

and 22.1.1.2, p4:

    const locale& operator=(const locale& other) throw();

    -4- Effects: Creates a copy of other, replacing the current value.

How can a reference to a facet obtained from a locale object remain valid after an assignment that clearly must replace all the facets in the locale object? Imagine a program such as this

    std::locale loc ("de_DE");
    const std::ctype<char> &r0 = std::use_facet<std::ctype<char> >(loc);
    loc = std::locale ("en_US");
    const std::ctype<char> &r1 = std::use_facet<std::ctype<char> >(loc);

Is r0 really supposed to be preserved and destroyed only when loc goes out of scope?

Proposed resolution:

[Summer '04 mid-meeting mailing: Martin and Dietmar believe this is a duplicate of issue 31 and recommend that it be closed. ]


382. codecvt do_in/out result

Section: 22.4.1.4 [locale.codecvt] Status: NAD Submitter: Martin Sebor Opened: 2002-08-30 Last modified: 2010-10-29

View all other issues in [locale.codecvt].

View all issues with NAD status.

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 w