Re: VC6 + Dinkumware fixes OK for basic STL usage?
"Ulrich Eckhardt" <eckhardt@satorlaser.com> wrote in message
news:525254-bhu.ln1@satorlaser.homedns.org...
MrAsm wrote:
I'd like to know if VC6's (with SP6) STL implementation + Dinkumware's
STL fixes (published on their web site) are OK for *basic* STL usage
(i.e. simply using std:: vector, string, map classes and find() and
sort() functions).
Since the compiler is lacking in terms of template memberfunctions,
several
interesting features are simply not available.
Actually, the compiler has had pretty good support for template member
functions since an early SP. It just shipped with a library that
doesn't take advantage of them. (Things like f<int>(x) are dicey,
however.) Our $80 V-express library runs on V6 through V8 and offers
pretty complete template member function support even under V6.
Move to it under V6, get the free V8 Express Edition from Microsoft
and use the same library to move to that, and you've got a very
smooth migration path.
I'm not going to use advanced STL or C++ meta-programming or Boost
(I'm aware that to use them I should at least upgrade to VC7.1 or
VC8).
What is "advanced STL"? In fact, the C++ standard doesn't even mention the
term "STL"! Now, as far as TMP is concerned, this is rather a tool for
library writers than users, but even a standardlibrary implementation
benefits from a compiler that can do it and thus indirectly the user
benefits. Lastly, concerning Boost, any serious C++ programmer should not
solely rely on the C++ standardlibrary, there are simply too many missing
features that are too convenient in everyday use. Also, VC6 is still
supported in the latest version of Boost, so that is not a point against
it.
The V-express package also includes all the Boost-y stuff from TR1.
Much of that doesn't work under V6, but quite a bit does. regex<char>,
for example, is quite a powerful regular-expression package under V6.
I would not go back to VC6 unless there are really good reasons.
But if you have reasons to stay there for a while... And apparently
many people do.
P.J. Plauger
Dinkumware, Ltd.
http://www.dinkumware.com