Title
reverse_iterator/common_iterator's operator-> should not require the underlying iterator's operator-> to be a const member function
Status
nad
Section
[reverse.iter.elem][common.iter.access]
Submitter
Hewill Kang

Created on 2022-06-27.00:00:00 last changed 25 months ago

Messages

Date: 2022-11-30.17:59:24

Proposed resolution:

This wording is relative to N4910.

  1. Modify [reverse.iter.elem] as indicated:

    constexpr pointer operator->() const
      requires (is_pointer_v<Iterator> ||
                requires(const Iterator i) { i.operator->(); });
    

    -2- Effects:

    1. (2.1) — If Iterator is a pointer type, equivalent to: return prev(current);

    2. (2.2) — Otherwise, equivalent to: return prev(current).operator->();

  2. Modify [common.iter.access] as indicated:

    constexpr decltype(auto) operator->() const
      requires see below;
    

    -3- The expression in the requires-clause is equivalent to:

      indirectly_readable<const I> &&
      (requires(const I& i) { i.operator->(); } ||
      is_reference_v<iter_reference_t<I>> ||
      constructible_from<iter_value_t<I>, iter_reference_t<I>>)
      

    -4- Preconditions: holds_alternative<I>(v_) is true.

    -5- Effects:

    1. (5.1) — If I is a pointer type or if the expression get<I>(v_).operator->() is well-formedrequires(I i) { i.operator->(); } is true, equivalent to: return get<I>(v_);

    2. (5.2) — Otherwise, if iter_reference_t<I> is a reference type, equivalent to:

        auto&& tmp = *get<I>(v_);
        return addressof(tmp);
        
    3. (5.3) — Otherwise, equivalent to: return proxy(*get<I>(v_)); where proxy is the exposition-only class:

        class proxy {
          iter_value_t<I> keep_;
          constexpr proxy(iter_reference_t<I>&& x)
            : keep_(std::move(x)) {}
        public:
          constexpr const iter_value_t<I>* operator->() const noexcept {
            return addressof(keep_);
          }
        };
        

    […]

Date: 2022-11-30.00:00:00

[ 2022-11-30 LWG telecon. Status changed: Tentatively NAD → NAD. ]

Date: 2022-08-15.00:00:00

[ 2022-08-23; Reflector poll: NAD ]

Implicit variations apply to those requires-expressions, so calling as non-const (and rvalue) is fine. The PR actually loses that property and makes those overloads truly underconstrained. Motivation for relaxing it is vague. As for consistency, we should fix has-arrow instead.

Date: 2022-06-27.00:00:00

For non-pointer types, reverse_iterator::operator-> requires that the Iterator must have an operator->() with const-qualifier, whereas in the Effects clause, it always invokes the non-const object's operator->().

common_iterator::operator-> also requires that I::operator->() must be const-qualified, which seems reasonable since the return type of get<I>(v_) is const I&. However, LWG 3672 makes common_iterator::operator->() always return a value, which makes it unnecessary to detect the constness of I::operator->(), because it will be invoked with a non-const returned object anyway.

I think we should remove this constraint as I don't see the benefit of doing that. Constraining iterator's operator->() to be const and finally invoking non-const overload doesn't feel right to me either. In <ranges>, the exposition-only constraint has-arrow ([range.utility.helpers]) for operator->() does not require that the underlying iterator's operator->() to be const, we should make them consistent, and I believe this relaxation of constraints can bring some value.

Daniel:

This issue's second part of the resolution actually depends on 3672 being applied. But note that the reference wording below is still N4910.

History
Date User Action Args
2022-11-30 17:59:24adminsetmessages: + msg13134
2022-08-23 15:00:26adminsetmessages: + msg12684
2022-08-23 15:00:26adminsetstatus: new -> nad
2022-07-03 11:24:34adminsetmessages: + msg12544
2022-06-27 00:00:00admincreate