Mateusz Loskot :: hacking on, working out, living up

I’ve just got new ~~toy~~ tool. Since yesterday, I’m a happy owner of the most standards-conformant C++ compiler that ever existed - Comeau C/C++ from Comeau Computing.

I’ve successfully installed Comeau C/C++ 4.3.10.1 Beta compiler and libcomo36, accompanying Standard C++ Library, on 32-bit version of latest Ubuntu 9.04.

I’m going to use Comeau C/C++ for purposes like analysis and review of C++ source code I write or use, verification of code portability as well as for learning elements of C++ and experimenting. This is excellent compiler for learning C++ language. Among loads of features, one of the coolest is ability to give clear and informative error messages. This is very helpful while working with complex class and function templates.

Let’s go through a small sample of compilation errors. This is a short C++ program that seems to be correct or it’s easy to overlook where it’s buggy:

<code>// numbers.cpp
#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>

struct number
{
    number() : n_(0) {}
    number(int n) : n_(n) {}
    int value() const { return n_; }
private:
    int n_;
};

bool operator<(number& lhs, number& rhs)
{
    return lhs.value() < rhs.value();
}

int main()
{
    std::vector<number> n;
    n.push_back(number(3));
    n.push_back(number(2));
    n.push_back(number(1));

    std::sort(n.begin(), n.end());

    return 0;
}</code>

First, let’s see what GCC 4.3 has to say about this code:

$ g++ -Wall -pedantic numbers.cpp
/usr/include/c++/4.3/bits/stl_algo.h: In function ?const _Tp& std::__median(const _Tp&, const _Tp&, const _Tp&) [with _Tp = number]?:
/usr/include/c++/4.3/bits/stl_algo.h:1919:   instantiated from ?void std::__introsort_loop(_RandomAccessIterator, _RandomAccessIterator, _Size) [with _RandomAccessIterator = __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<number*, std::vector<number, std::allocator<number> > >, _Size = int]?
/usr/include/c++/4.3/bits/stl_algo.h:4783:   instantiated from ?void std::sort(_RAIter, _RAIter) [with _RAIter = __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<number*, std::vector<number, std::allocator<number> > >]?
numbers.cpp:30:   instantiated from here
/usr/include/c++/4.3/bits/stl_algo.h:93: error: no match for ?operator<? in ?__a < __b?
numbers.cpp:12: note: candidates are: bool operator<(number&, number&)

The GCC is able to tell that there is something wrong with the operator< function and application of std::sort algorithm, but it doesn’t tell what exactly is wrong.

Now, let’s check the code with Comeau C/C++:

$ como numbers.cpp
"/opt/libcomo36/include/stl_algo.h", line 120: error: no operator "<" matches these operands
            operand types are: const number < const number
   if (__a < __b)
           ^
detected during:
   instantiation of "const _Tp &std::__median(const _Tp &, const _Tp &, const _Tp &) [with _Tp=number]" at line 1508
   instantiation of "void std::__introsort_loop(_RandomAccessIter,
                      _RandomAccessIter, _Tp *, _Size) [with
                      _RandomAccessIter=number *, _Tp=number, _Size=int]" at
                      line 1545

This time, compiler also complains there is no match for operator<, however, it also explains why well-matched operator can not be found: std::sort algorithm passes const qualified operands to operator<.

This should be enough information to fix the operator< signature to read:

<code>bool operator<(number const& lhs, number const& rhs)</code>

Comeau C/C++. The choice is clear. (0:28 sec)

Got new toy