Document that proposed additions to the C++ standard library
C++ Technical Report 1 (TR1) is the common name for ISO/IEC TR 19768, C++ Library Extensions, which is a document that proposed additions to the C++ standard library for the C++03 language standard. The additions include regular expressions, smart pointers, hash tables, and random number generators. TR1 was not a standard itself, but rather a draft document. However, most of its proposals became part of the later official standard, C++11. Before C++11 was standardized, vendors used this document as a guide to create extensions. The report's goal was "to build more widespread existing practice for an expanded C++ standard library".
The report was first circulated in draft form in 2005 as Draft Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions, then published in 2007 as an ISO/IEC standard as ISO/IEC TR 19768:2007.
Overview
Compilers did not need to include the TR1 components in order to conform to the C++ standard, because TR1 proposals were not part of the standard itself, only a set of possible additions that were still to be ratified. However, most of TR1 was available from Boost, and several compiler/library distributors implemented all or some of the components. TR1 is not the complete list of additions to the library that appeared in C++11. For example, C++11 includes a thread support library that is not available in TR1.
The new components were defined in the std::tr1 namespace to distinguish them from the then-current standard library.
Components
TR1 includes the following components:
General utilities
Reference wrapper – enables passing references, rather than copies, into algorithms or function objects. The feature was based on Boost.Ref.[1] A wrapper reference is obtained from an instance of the template class reference_wrapper . Wrapper references are similar to normal references (‘&’) of the C++ language. To obtain a wrapper reference from any object the template class ref is used (for a constant reference cref is used).
Wrapper references are useful above all for template functions, when argument deduction would not deduce a reference (e.g. when forwarding arguments):
#include <iostream>
#include <tr1/functional>
void f( int &r ) { ++r; }
template< class Funct, class Arg >
void g( Funct f, Arg t )
{
f(t);
}
int main()
{
int i = 0;
g( f, i ); // 'g< void(int &r), int >' is instantiated
std::cout << i << "\n"; // Output: 0
g( f, std::tr1::ref(i) ); // 'g< void(int &r), reference_wrapper<int> >' is instanced
std::cout << i << "\n"; // Output: 1
}
Smart pointers – adds several classes that simplify object lifetime management in complex cases. Three main classes are added:
shared_ptr – a reference-counted smart pointer
weak_ptr – a variant of shared_ptr that doesn't increase the reference count
The proposal is based on Boost Smart Pointer library.[2]
Function objects
These four modules are added to the <functional> header file:
Polymorphic function wrapper (function ) – can store any callable function (function pointers, member function pointers, and function objects) that uses a specified function call signature. The type does not depend on the kind of the callable used. Based on Boost.Function[3]
Function object binders (bind ) – can bind any parameter parameters to function objects. Function composition is also allowed. This is a generalized version of the standard std::bind1st and std::bind2nd bind functions. The feature is based on Boost Bind library.[4]
Function return types (result_of ) – determines the type of a call expression.
Member functions (mem_fn ) – enhancement to the standard std::mem_fun and std::mem_fun_ref . Allows pointers to member functions to be treated as function objects. Based on Boost Mem Fn library.[5]
There is now <type_traits> header file that contains many useful trait meta-templates, such as is_pod , has_virtual_destructor , remove_extent , etc. It facilitates metaprogramming by enabling queries on and transformation between different types. The proposal is based on Boost Type Traits library.[6]
Numerical facilities
Random number generation
Mathematical special functions
Some features of TR1, such as the mathematical special functions and certain C99 additions, are not included in the Visual C++ implementation of TR1.
The Mathematical special functions library was not standardized in C++11.
- additions to the
<cmath> /<math.h> header files – beta , legendre , etc.
These functions will likely be of principal interest to programmers in the engineering and scientific disciplines.
The following table shows all 23 special functions described in TR1.
Function name |
Function prototype |
Mathematical expression
|
Associated Laguerre polynomials
|
double assoc_laguerre( unsigned n, unsigned m, double x ) ; |
|
Associated Legendre polynomials
|
double assoc_legendre( unsigned l, unsigned m, double x ) ; |
|
Beta function
|
double beta( double x, double y ) ; |
|
Complete elliptic integral of the first kind
|
double comp_ellint_1( double k ) ; |
|
Complete elliptic integral of the second kind
|
double comp_ellint_2( double k ) ; |
|
Complete elliptic integral of the third kind
|
double comp_ellint_3( double k, double nu ) ; |
|
Confluent hypergeometric functions
|
double conf_hyperg( double a, double c, double x ) ; |
|
Regular modified cylindrical Bessel functions
|
double cyl_bessel_i( double nu, double x ) ; |
|
Cylindrical Bessel functions of the first kind
|
double cyl_bessel_j( double nu, double x ) ; |
|
Irregular modified cylindrical Bessel functions
|
double cyl_bessel_k( double nu, double x ) ; |
|
Cylindrical Neumann functions
Cylindrical Bessel functions of the second kind
|
double cyl_neumann( double nu, double x ) ; |
|
Incomplete elliptic integral of the first kind
|
double ellint_1( double k, double phi ) ; |
|
Incomplete elliptic integral of the second kind
|
double ellint_2( double k, double phi ) ; |
|
Incomplete elliptic integral of the third kind
|
double ellint_3( double k, double nu, double phi ) ; |
|
Exponential integral
|
double expint( double x ) ; |
|
Hermite polynomials
|
double hermite( unsigned n, double x ) ; |
|
Hypergeometric series
|
double hyperg( double a, double b, double c, double x ) ; |
|
Laguerre polynomials
|
double laguerre( unsigned n, double x ) ; |
|
Legendre polynomials
|
double legendre( unsigned l, double x ) ; |
|
Riemann zeta function
|
double riemann_zeta( double x ) ; |
|
Spherical Bessel functions of the first kind
|
double sph_bessel( unsigned n, double x ) ; |
|
Spherical associated Legendre functions
|
double sph_legendre( unsigned l, unsigned m, double theta ) ; |
|
Spherical Neumann functions
Spherical Bessel functions of the second kind
|
double sph_neumann( unsigned n, double x ) ; |
|
Each function has two additional variants. Appending the suffix ‘f’ or ‘l’ to a function name gives a function that operates on float or long double values respectively. For example:
float sph_neumannf( unsigned n, float x ) ;
long double sph_neumannl( unsigned n, long double x ) ;
Containers
Tuple types
- new
<tuple> header file – tuple
- based on Boost Tuple library[7]
- vaguely an extension of the standard
std::pair
- fixed size collection of elements, which may be of different types
Fixed size array
- new
<array> header file – array
- taken from Boost Array library[8]
- as opposed to dynamic array types such as the standard
std::vector
Hash tables
- new
<unordered_set> , <unordered_map> header files
- they implement the
unordered_set , unordered_multiset , unordered_map , and unordered_multimap classes, analogous to set , multiset , map , and multimap , respectively
- unfortunately,
unordered_set and unordered_multiset cannot be used with the set_union , set_intersection , set_difference , set_symmetric_difference , and includes standard library functions, which work for set and multiset
- new implementation, not derived from an existing library, not fully API compatible with existing libraries
- like all hash tables, often provide constant time lookup of elements but the worst case can be linear in the size of the container
Regular expressions
- new
<regex> header file – regex , regex_match , regex_search , regex_replace , etc.
- based on Boost RegEx library[9]
- pattern matching library
C compatibility
C++ is designed to be compatible with the C programming language, but is not a strict superset of C due to diverging standards. TR1 attempts to reconcile some of these differences through additions to various headers in the C++ library, such as <complex>, <locale>, <cmath>, etc. These changes help to bring C++ more in line with the C99 version of the C standard (not all parts of C99 are included in TR1).
Technical Report 2
In 2005, a request for proposals for a TR2 was made with a special interest in Unicode, XML/HTML, Networking and usability for novice programmers.TR2 call for proposals.
Some of the proposals included:
After the call was issued for proposals for TR2, ISO procedures were changed, so there will not be a TR2. Instead, enhancements to C++ will be published in a number of Technical Specifications. Some of the proposals listed above are already included in the C++ standard or in draft versions of the Technical Specifications.
See also
- C++11, standard for the C++ programming language; the library improvements were based on TR1
- C11 (C standard revision), a revision of the C standard which incorporated some features proposed in TR1
- Boost library, a large collection of portable C++ libraries, several of which were included in TR1
- Standard Template Library, part of the current C++ Standard Library
References
Sources
External links
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