> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: RE: object-model: Return by value, reference or pointer? (or
> something else?)
> From: "Bolstridge, Andrew" <andy.bolstri...@intergraph.com>
> Date: Thu, October 14, 2010 5:24 am
> To: <dev@subversion.apache.org>
[snip]
> Personally, I would stick to just returning a string, or if it is
> essential to return a null value, return a string and an null indicator
> - your choice whether that's best as a pair, or an out parameter. I
> would not inherit from std::string, nor would I throw an exception (not
> that anyone's yet suggested that - we're not C# or Java programmers
> after all :-) )
I like that - and the out parameter is actually the place to use a
pointer so callers can decide whether or not they care about the
difference between null and empty:
std::string getAuthor( bool* isNull = 0 ) const { /* ... */ }
Callers who care about null-ness can check for it with little more
effort (and a slightly clumsier API) than an isNull() method.
