| |
| [section A note about optional<bool>] |
| |
| `optional<bool>` should be used with special caution and consideration. |
| |
| First, it is functionally similar to a tristate boolean (false, maybe, true) |
| —such as __BOOST_TRIBOOL__— except that in a tristate boolean, the maybe state |
| [_represents a valid value], unlike the corresponding state of an uninitialized |
| `optional<bool>`. |
| It should be carefully considered if an `optional<bool>` instead of a `tribool` |
| is really needed. |
| |
| Second, although `optional<>` provides a contextual conversion to `bool` in C++11, |
| this falls back to an implicit conversion on older compilers. This conversion refers |
| to the initialization state and not to the contained value. Using `optional<bool>` |
| can lead to subtle errors due to the implicit `bool` conversion: |
| |
| void foo ( bool v ) ; |
| void bar() |
| { |
| optional<bool> v = try(); |
| |
| // The following intended to pass the value of 'v' to foo(): |
| foo(v); |
| // But instead, the initialization state is passed |
| // due to a typo: it should have been foo(*v). |
| } |
| |
| The only implicit conversion is to `bool`, and it is safe in the sense that |
| typical integral promotions don't apply (i.e. if `foo()` takes an `int` |
| instead, it won't compile). |
| |
| Third, mixed comparisons with `bool` work differently than similar mixed comparisons between pointers and `bool`, so the results might surprise you: |
| |
| optional<bool> oEmpty(none), oTrue(true), oFalse(false); |
| |
| if (oEmpty == none); // renders true |
| if (oEmpty == false); // renders false! |
| if (oEmpty == true); // renders false! |
| |
| if (oFalse == none); // renders false |
| if (oFalse == false); // renders true! |
| if (oFalse == true); // renders false |
| |
| if (oTrue == none); // renders false |
| if (oTrue == false); // renders false |
| if (oTrue == true); // renders true |
| |
| In other words, for `optional<>`, the following assertion does not hold: |
| |
| assert((opt == false) == (!opt)); |
| [endsect] |