1 <part xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" version="5.0"
2 xml:id="manual.ext" xreflabel="Extensions">
3 <?dbhtml filename="extensions.html"?>
7 <indexterm><primary>Extensions</primary></indexterm>
10 <keyword>ISO C++</keyword>
11 <keyword>library</keyword>
16 <preface xml:id="manual.ext.preface"><info><title/></info>
17 <?dbhtml filename="ext_preface.html"?>
19 Here we will make an attempt at describing the non-Standard
20 extensions to the library. Some of these are from older versions of
21 standard library components, namely SGI's STL, and some of these are
24 <para><emphasis>Before</emphasis> you leap in and use any of these
25 extensions, be aware of two things:
27 <orderedlist inheritnum="ignore" continuation="restarts">
30 Non-Standard means exactly that.
33 The behavior, and the very
34 existence, of these extensions may change with little or no
35 warning. (Ideally, the really good ones will appear in the next
36 revision of C++.) Also, other platforms, other compilers, other
37 versions of g++ or libstdc++ may not recognize these names, or
38 treat them differently, or...
43 You should know how to access these headers properly.
49 <!-- Chapter 01 : Compile Time Checks -->
50 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.compile_checks" xreflabel="Compile Time Checks"><info><title>Compile Time Checks</title></info>
51 <?dbhtml filename="ext_compile_checks.html"?>
54 Also known as concept checking.
56 <para>In 1999, SGI added <emphasis>concept checkers</emphasis> to their implementation
57 of the STL: code which checked the template parameters of
58 instantiated pieces of the STL, in order to insure that the parameters
59 being used met the requirements of the standard. For example,
60 the Standard requires that types passed as template parameters to
61 <code>vector</code> be <quote>Assignable</quote> (which means what you think
62 it means). The checking was done during compilation, and none of
63 the code was executed at runtime.
65 <para>Unfortunately, the size of the compiler files grew significantly
66 as a result. The checking code itself was cumbersome. And bugs
67 were found in it on more than one occasion.
69 <para>The primary author of the checking code, Jeremy Siek, had already
70 started work on a replacement implementation. The new code has been
71 formally reviewed and accepted into
72 <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="http://www.boost.org/libs/concept_check/concept_check.htm">the
73 Boost libraries</link>, and we are pleased to incorporate it into the
76 <para>The new version imposes a much smaller space overhead on the generated
77 object file. The checks are also cleaner and easier to read and
80 <para>They are off by default for all GCC 3.0 and all later versions.
81 They can be enabled at configure time with
82 <link linkend="manual.intro.setup.configure"><literal>--enable-concept-checks</literal></link>.
83 You can enable them on a per-translation-unit basis with
84 <link linkend="manual.intro.using.macros"><code>#define
85 _GLIBCXX_CONCEPT_CHECKS</code></link> for GCC 3.4 and higher
86 (or with <code>#define _GLIBCPP_CONCEPT_CHECKS</code> for versions
90 <para>Please note that the concept checks only validate the requirements
91 of the old C++03 standard and reject some valid code that meets the relaxed
92 requirements of C++11 and later standards.
93 C++11 was expected to have first-class support for template parameter
94 constraints based on concepts in the core language.
95 This would have obviated the need for the library-simulated concept checking
96 described above, but was not part of C++11.
97 C++20 adds a different model of concepts, which is now used to constrain
98 some new parts of the C++20 library, e.g. the
99 <filename><ranges></filename> header and the new overloads in the
100 <filename><algorithm></filename> header for working with ranges.
101 The old library-simulated concept checks might be removed at a future date.
106 <!-- Chapter 02 : Debug Mode -->
107 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="xml"
108 href="debug_mode.xml">
111 <!-- Chapter 03 : Parallel Mode -->
112 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="xml"
113 href="parallel_mode.xml">
118 <!-- Chapter 05 : __mt_alloc -->
119 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="xml"
120 href="mt_allocator.xml">
123 <!-- Chapter 06 : bitmap_allocator -->
124 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="xml"
125 href="bitmap_allocator.xml">
129 <!-- Chapter 07 : Policy-Based Data Structures -->
130 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="xml"
131 href="policy_data_structures.xml">
134 <!-- Chapter 08 : HP/SGI -->
135 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.containers" xreflabel="Containers">
136 <info><title>HP/SGI Extensions</title></info>
137 <?dbhtml filename="ext_containers.html"?>
139 <section xml:id="manual.ext.containers.sgi" xreflabel="SGI ext">
140 <info><title>Backwards Compatibility</title></info>
142 <para>A few extensions and nods to backwards-compatibility have
143 been made with containers. Those dealing with older SGI-style
144 allocators are dealt with elsewhere. The remaining ones all deal
147 <para>The old pre-standard <code>bit_vector</code> class is
148 present for backwards compatibility. It is simply a typedef for
149 the <code>vector<bool></code> specialization.
152 <para>The <code>bitset</code> class has a number of extensions, described in the
153 rest of this item. First, we'll mention that this implementation of
154 <code>bitset<N></code> is specialized for cases where N number of
155 bits will fit into a single word of storage. If your choice of N is
156 within that range (<=32 on i686-pc-linux-gnu, for example), then all
157 of the operations will be faster.
160 versions of single-bit test, set, reset, and flip member functions which
161 do no range-checking. If we call them member functions of an instantiation
162 of <code>bitset<N></code>, then their names and signatures are:
165 bitset<N>& _Unchecked_set (size_t pos);
166 bitset<N>& _Unchecked_set (size_t pos, int val);
167 bitset<N>& _Unchecked_reset (size_t pos);
168 bitset<N>& _Unchecked_flip (size_t pos);
169 bool _Unchecked_test (size_t pos);
171 <para>Note that these may in fact be removed in the future, although we have
172 no present plans to do so (and there doesn't seem to be any immediate
175 <para>The member function <code>operator[]</code> on a const bitset returns
176 a bool, and for a non-const bitset returns a <code>reference</code> (a
177 nested type). No range-checking is done on the index argument, in keeping
178 with other containers' <code>operator[]</code> requirements.
180 <para>Finally, two additional searching functions have been added. They return
181 the index of the first "on" bit, and the index of the first
182 "on" bit that is after <code>prev</code>, respectively:
185 size_t _Find_first() const;
186 size_t _Find_next (size_t prev) const;</programlisting>
187 <para>The same caveat given for the _Unchecked_* functions applies here also.
192 <section xml:id="manual.ext.containers.deprecated_sgi" xreflabel="SGI ext dep"><info><title>Deprecated</title></info>
193 <?dbhtml filename="ext_sgi.html"?>
197 The SGI hashing classes <classname>hash_set</classname> and
198 <classname>hash_set</classname> have been deprecated by the
199 unordered_set, unordered_multiset, unordered_map,
200 unordered_multimap containers in TR1 and C++11, and
201 may be removed in future releases.
204 <para>The SGI headers</para>
213 <filename class="headerfile"><backwards/hash_map></filename> and
214 <filename class="headerfile"><backwards/hash_set></filename>
215 are deprecated but available as backwards-compatible extensions,
216 as discussed further below.
217 <filename class="headerfile"><ext/rope></filename> is the SGI
218 specialization for large strings ("rope," "large strings," get it? Love
220 <filename class="headerfile"><ext/slist></filename> (superseded in
221 C++11 by <filename class="headerfile"><forward_list></filename>)
222 is a singly-linked list, for when the doubly-linked <code>list<></code>
223 is too much space overhead, and
224 <filename class="headerfile"><ext/rb_tree></filename> exposes the
225 red-black tree classes used in the implementation of the standard maps
228 <para>Each of the associative containers map, multimap, set, and multiset
229 have a counterpart which uses a
230 <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171225062613/http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/HashFunction.html">hashing
231 function</link> to do the arranging, instead of a strict weak ordering
232 function. The classes take as one of their template parameters a
233 function object that will return the hash value; by default, an
235 <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171225062613/http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/hash.html">hash</link>.
236 You should specialize this functor for your class, or define your own,
237 before trying to use one of the hashing classes.
239 <para>The hashing classes support all the usual associative container
240 functions, as well as some extra constructors specifying the number
243 <para>Why would you want to use a hashing class instead of the
244 <quote>normal</quote>implementations? Matt Austern writes:
248 <emphasis>[W]ith a well chosen hash function, hash tables
249 generally provide much better average-case performance than
250 binary search trees, and much worse worst-case performance. So
251 if your implementation has hash_map, if you don't mind using
252 nonstandard components, and if you aren't scared about the
253 possibility of pathological cases, you'll probably get better
254 performance from hash_map.
260 The deprecated hash tables are superseded by the standard unordered
261 associative containers defined in the ISO C++ 2011 standard in the
262 headers <filename class="headerfile"><unordered_map></filename>
263 and <filename class="headerfile"><unordered_set></filename>.
269 <!-- Chapter 09 : Utilities -->
270 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.util" xreflabel="Utilities"><info><title>Utilities</title></info>
271 <?dbhtml filename="ext_utilities.html"?>
274 The <filename class="headerfile"><functional></filename> header
275 contains many additional functors
276 and helper functions, extending section 20.3. They are
277 implemented in the file stl_function.h:
281 <para><code>identity_element</code> for addition and multiplication.
285 <para>The functor <code>identity</code>, whose <code>operator()</code>
286 returns the argument unchanged.
290 <para>Composition functors <code>unary_function</code> and
291 <code>binary_function</code>, and their helpers <code>compose1</code>
292 and <code>compose2</code>.
296 <para><code>select1st</code> and <code>select2nd</code>, to strip pairs.
299 <listitem><para><code>project1st</code> and <code>project2nd</code>. </para></listitem>
300 <listitem><para>A set of functors/functions which always return the same result. They
301 are <code>constant_void_fun</code>, <code>constant_binary_fun</code>,
302 <code>constant_unary_fun</code>, <code>constant0</code>,
303 <code>constant1</code>, and <code>constant2</code>. </para></listitem>
304 <listitem><para>The class <code>subtractive_rng</code>. </para></listitem>
305 <listitem><para>mem_fun adaptor helpers <code>mem_fun1</code> and
306 <code>mem_fun1_ref</code> are provided for backwards compatibility. </para></listitem>
309 20.4.1 can use several different allocators; they are described on the
310 main extensions page.
313 20.4.3 is extended with a special version of
314 <code>get_temporary_buffer</code> taking a second argument. The
315 argument is a pointer, which is ignored, but can be used to specify
316 the template type (instead of using explicit function template
317 arguments like the standard version does). That is, in addition to
320 get_temporary_buffer<int>(5);
328 get_temporary_buffer(5, (int*)0);
331 A class <code>temporary_buffer</code> is given in stl_tempbuf.h.
334 The specialized algorithms of section 20.4.4 are extended with
335 <code>uninitialized_copy_n</code>.
340 <!-- Chapter 10 : Algorithms -->
341 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.algorithms" xreflabel="Algorithms"><info><title>Algorithms</title></info>
342 <?dbhtml filename="ext_algorithms.html"?>
344 <para>25.1.6 (count, count_if) is extended with two more versions of count
345 and count_if. The standard versions return their results. The
346 additional signatures return void, but take a final parameter by
347 reference to which they assign their results, e.g.,
350 void count (first, last, value, n);</programlisting>
351 <para>25.2 (mutating algorithms) is extended with two families of signatures,
352 random_sample and random_sample_n.
354 <para>25.2.1 (copy) is extended with
357 copy_n (_InputIter first, _Size count, _OutputIter result);</programlisting>
358 <para>which copies the first 'count' elements at 'first' into 'result'.
360 <para>25.3 (sorting 'n' heaps 'n' stuff) is extended with some helper
361 predicates. Look in the doxygen-generated pages for notes on these.
364 <listitem><para><code>is_heap</code> tests whether or not a range is a heap.</para></listitem>
365 <listitem><para><code>is_sorted</code> tests whether or not a range is sorted in
366 nondescending order.</para></listitem>
368 <para>25.3.8 (lexicographical_compare) is extended with
371 lexicographical_compare_3way(_InputIter1 first1, _InputIter1 last1,
372 _InputIter2 first2, _InputIter2 last2)</programlisting>
373 <para>which does... what?
378 <!-- Chapter 11 : Numerics -->
379 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.numerics" xreflabel="Numerics"><info><title>Numerics</title></info>
380 <?dbhtml filename="ext_numerics.html"?>
382 <para>26.4, the generalized numeric operations such as <code>accumulate</code>,
383 are extended with the following functions:
387 power (x, n, monoid_operation);</programlisting>
388 <para>Returns, in FORTRAN syntax, "<code>x ** n</code>" where
389 <code>n >= 0</code>. In the
390 case of <code>n == 0</code>, returns the identity element for the
391 monoid operation. The two-argument signature uses multiplication (for
392 a true "power" implementation), but addition is supported as well.
393 The operation functor must be associative.
395 <para>The <code>iota</code> function wins the award for Extension With the
396 Coolest Name (the name comes from Ken Iverson's APL language.) As
397 described in the <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171225062613/http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/iota.html">SGI
398 documentation</link>, it "assigns sequentially increasing values to a range.
399 That is, it assigns <code>value</code> to <code>*first</code>,
400 <code>value + 1</code> to<code> *(first + 1)</code> and so on."
403 void iota(_ForwardIter first, _ForwardIter last, _Tp value);</programlisting>
404 <para>The <code>iota</code> function is included in the ISO C++ 2011 standard.
408 <!-- Chapter 12 : Iterators -->
409 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.iterators" xreflabel="Iterators"><info><title>Iterators</title></info>
410 <?dbhtml filename="ext_iterators.html"?>
412 <para>24.3.2 describes <code>struct iterator</code>, which didn't exist in the
413 original HP STL implementation (the language wasn't rich enough at the
414 time). For backwards compatibility, base classes are provided which
415 declare the same nested typedefs:
418 <listitem><para>input_iterator</para></listitem>
419 <listitem><para>output_iterator</para></listitem>
420 <listitem><para>forward_iterator</para></listitem>
421 <listitem><para>bidirectional_iterator</para></listitem>
422 <listitem><para>random_access_iterator</para></listitem>
424 <para>24.3.4 describes iterator operation <code>distance</code>, which takes
425 two iterators and returns a result. It is extended by another signature
426 which takes two iterators and a reference to a result. The result is
427 modified, and the function returns nothing.
432 <!-- Chapter 13 : IO -->
433 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.io" xreflabel="IO"><info><title>Input and Output</title></info>
434 <?dbhtml filename="ext_io.html"?>
438 Extensions allowing <code>filebuf</code>s to be constructed from
439 "C" types like FILE*s and file descriptors.
442 <section xml:id="manual.ext.io.filebuf_derived" xreflabel="Derived filebufs"><info><title>Derived filebufs</title></info>
445 <para>The v2 library included non-standard extensions to construct
446 <code>std::filebuf</code>s from C stdio types such as
447 <code>FILE*</code>s and POSIX file descriptors.
448 Today the recommended way to use stdio types with libstdc++
449 IOStreams is via the <code>stdio_filebuf</code> class (see below),
450 but earlier releases provided slightly different mechanisms.
453 <listitem><para>3.0.x <code>filebuf</code>s have another ctor with this signature:
454 <code>basic_filebuf(__c_file_type*, ios_base::openmode, int_type);
456 This comes in very handy in a number of places, such as
457 attaching Unix sockets, pipes, and anything else which uses file
458 descriptors, into the IOStream buffering classes. The three
459 arguments are as follows:
461 <listitem><para><code>__c_file_type* F </code>
462 // the __c_file_type typedef usually boils down to stdio's FILE
464 <listitem><para><code>ios_base::openmode M </code>
465 // same as all the other uses of openmode
467 <listitem><para><code>int_type B </code>
468 // buffer size, defaults to BUFSIZ if not specified
471 For those wanting to use file descriptors instead of FILE*'s, I
472 invite you to contemplate the mysteries of C's <code>fdopen()</code>.
474 <listitem><para>In library snapshot 3.0.95 and later, <code>filebuf</code>s bring
475 back an old extension: the <code>fd()</code> member function. The
476 integer returned from this function can be used for whatever file
477 descriptors can be used for on your platform. Naturally, the
478 library cannot track what you do on your own with a file descriptor,
479 so if you perform any I/O directly, don't expect the library to be
482 <listitem><para>Beginning with 3.1, the extra
483 <classname>basic_filebuf</classname> constructor and
484 the <code>fd()</code> function were removed from the standard
486 <filename class="headerfile"><ext/stdio_filebuf.h></filename>
487 contains a derived class template called
488 <classname>__gnu_cxx::stdio_filebuf</classname>.
489 This class can be constructed from a C <code>FILE*</code> or a file
490 descriptor, and provides the <code>fd()</code> function.
497 <!-- Chapter 14 : Demangling -->
498 <chapter xml:id="manual.ext.demangle" xreflabel="Demangling"><info><title>Demangling</title></info>
499 <?dbhtml filename="ext_demangling.html"?>
502 Transforming C++ ABI identifiers (like RTTI symbols) into the
503 original C++ source identifiers is called
504 <quote>demangling.</quote>
507 If you have read the <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/latest-doxygen/namespaces.html">source
508 documentation for <code>namespace abi</code></link> then you are
509 aware of the cross-vendor C++ ABI in use by GCC. One of the
510 exposed functions is used for demangling,
511 <code>abi::__cxa_demangle</code>.
514 In programs like <command>c++filt</command>, the linker, and other tools
515 have the ability to decode C++ ABI names, and now so can you.
518 (The function itself might use different demanglers, but that's the
519 whole point of abstract interfaces. If we change the implementation,
523 Probably the only time you'll be interested in demangling at runtime
524 is when you're seeing <code>typeid</code> strings in RTTI. For example:
527 #include <iostream>
528 #include <cstdlib>
529 #include <cxxabi.h>
533 template <typename T, int N>
542 bar<empty,17> u;
543 const std::type_info &ti = typeid(u);
545 realname = abi::__cxa_demangle(ti.name(), NULL, NULL, &status);
546 std::cout << ti.name() << "\t=> " << realname << "\t: " << status << '\n';
556 3barI5emptyLi17EE => bar<empty, 17> : 0
561 The demangler interface is described in the source documentation
562 linked to above. It is actually written in C, so you don't need to
563 be writing C++ in order to demangle C++. (That also means we have to
564 use crummy memory management facilities, so don't forget to
565 <code>free()</code> the returned char array.)
569 <!-- Chapter 15 : Concurrency -->
570 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="xml" href="concurrency_extensions.xml">