Request for boost::array::fill(const T&), following C++0x

[niels_dekker]

According to the latest C++0x Working Draft, ​N2857, std::array will have a member function named fill.

Quoting 23.3.1.5 array::fill [array.fill]:

requires CopyAssignable<T> void fill(const T& u);
1 Effects: fill_n(begin(), N, u)

Even while using a compiler that does not support C++0x concepts, I think it's desirable to have this function added to boost::array already. E.g., as follows:

        void fill(const T& value)
        {
            std::fill_n(elems, N, value);
        }

Of course, it is effectively the same as boost::array::assign. Maybe boost::array::assign should become deprecated.

[niels_dekker]

Related LWG issue (defect): 776. Undescribed assign function of std::array, submitted by Daniel Krügler

[niels_dekker]

Thanks for assigning the ticket, Steven. Clearly, the intention of the ticket is to keep boost::array in sync with std::array from C++0x. Only after submitting the ticket, I realized that none of the other STL containers has a fill member function. And it isn't really clear to me why std::array has one. (I might as well use the range-based fill algorithm instead.) What do you think?

[Steven Watanabe]

Replying to niels_dekker:

Thanks for assigning the ticket, Steven. Clearly, the intention of the ticket is to keep boost::array in sync with std::array from C++0x. Only after submitting the ticket, I realized that none of the other STL containers has a fill member function. And it isn't really clear to me why std::array has one. (I might as well use the range-based fill algorithm instead.) What do you think?

On the other hand, the other standard containers have a

void assign(size_type n, const T& u);

fill is the equivalent for array since the size of an array is fixed.

[Marshall Clow]

Added in revision 60436. Will migrate to release before 1.43

[Marshall Clow]

Migrated to release branch in revision 60824