Re: why use static_cast ?

From	James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c++
Subject	Re: why use static_cast ?
Date	2022-11-06 03:25 -0500
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<tk7r1t$3186b$3@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<tiqa5e$8aju$1@dont-email.me> <Vqc4L.432362$wLZ8.363475@fx18.iad> <tk2et6$ull$1@gioia.aioe.org> <qJ89L.4245$KkB2.1760@fx47.iad>

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On 11/4/22 09:47, Scott Lurndal wrote:
> Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> writes:
..
>> I'm 99% certain that the main (if not even only) reason why you don't
>> like
>> static_cast is because it's longer. That's it. No other reason.
>
> Actually, I don't like it because it doesn't add anything useful over
> a plain c-style cast.

It's advantage over the plain c-style cast lies in what it won't do: it
won't do any of the things for which const_cast<> or reinterpret_cast<>
are needed instead. It also won't do what dynamic_cast<> does, but
that's also true of the c-style cast.
Particularly in a language that allows overloading and template type
parameters, the consequences of a c-style cast can be hard to
anticipate. The named casts help ensure that only the desired type of
change can occur without triggering a mandatory diagnostic.

>> I have noticed a very common psychological phenomenon that for some
>> reason beginner programmers try to write code that's as short as
>> possible,
>> even when that comes at the cost of legibility (a phenomenon that I have
>> named "the brevity-over-clarity style of programming"). Way too many
>> programmers never learn out of this bad habit.
>
> Some of us learned by punching programs on cards and on 110 baud
> teletypes on computers
> with 4k words of memory. Brevity was to be celebrated.

In 1974 my high school provided computer programming classes, when
almost no one else did, because an alumnus donated a long-obsolete IBM
1620 with a Fortran I compiler, using punched cards and a teletype. It
being a decimal machine, I seem to recall it had 10000 decimal digits of
memory.

While I learned touch typing at an early age, I was always prone to
errors. On punched cards, that meant a lot of wasted cards. Cards that
were correctly punched were a precious resource for me. I took to using
some really bad policies when writing my programs. I used very short
generic variable names, allowing me to re-use them for very different
purposes in different programs. If I typed a variable name incorrectly
on my first try, that incorrect spelling became the new correct spelling
for the variable. I gave statements widely spaced statement numbers,
allowing me to insert new statements between them.

I dropped all of these absurd policies like hot potatoes the instant I
started working on a computer which allowed me to save and edit programs.

Thread

why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-19 21:01 -0500
  Re: why use static_cast ? "daniel...@gmail.com" <danielaparker@gmail.com> - 2022-10-19 19:40 -0700
    Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 00:21 -0500
      Re: why use static_cast ? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-10-19 23:21 -0700
        Re: why use static_cast ? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-10-20 07:19 +0000
          Re: why use static_cast ? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-10-20 00:21 -0700
      Re: why use static_cast ? Paul N <gw7rib@aol.com> - 2022-10-20 04:23 -0700
        Re: why use static_cast ? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-10-20 14:14 +0100
        Re: why use static_cast ? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-10-20 09:17 -0700
          Re: why use static_cast ? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 09:52 -0700
            Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-11-15 17:10 -0800
              Re: why use static_cast ? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-11-16 09:26 +0000
                Re: why use static_cast ? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-11-16 14:36 +0100
                Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-11-20 05:54 -0800
      Re: why use static_cast ? "daniel...@gmail.com" <danielaparker@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 08:11 -0700
  Re: why use static_cast ? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-10-19 20:09 -0700
  Re: why use static_cast ? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-10-20 05:44 +0000
    Re: why use static_cast ? Gawr Gura <gawrgura@mail.hololive.com> - 2022-10-20 14:50 +0000
      Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 17:53 +0300
  Re: why use static_cast ? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 08:52 +0200
    Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 17:52 +0300
  Re: why use static_cast ? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-10-20 13:55 +0000
    Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 17:55 +0300
      Re: why use static_cast ? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-10-20 15:01 +0000
        Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 18:32 +0300
          Re: why use static_cast ? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-10-20 16:07 +0000
            Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 20:14 +0300
              Re: why use static_cast ? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-10-20 17:30 +0000
                Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 20:41 +0300
              Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-21 14:05 -0500
                Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-22 00:09 +0300
                Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-22 08:47 +0300
                Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-22 15:03 -0500
                Re: why use static_cast ? Muttley@dastardlyhq.com - 2022-10-23 07:35 +0000
                Re: why use static_cast ? JiiPee <kerrttuPoistaTama11@gmail.com> - 2022-10-23 15:28 +0300
                Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-23 14:13 -0500
                Re: why use static_cast ? Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2022-10-23 20:27 +0200
                Re: why use static_cast ? Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2022-10-23 15:04 -0700
                Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-23 23:14 -0500
          Re: why use static_cast ? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-10-21 17:21 +0200
      Re: why use static_cast ? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-10-21 17:24 +0200
    Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 13:21 -0500
      Re: why use static_cast ? Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2022-10-21 05:52 +0200
        Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-21 13:59 -0500
          Re: why use static_cast ? Bo Persson <bo@bo-persson.se> - 2022-10-22 18:31 +0200
            Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-22 15:05 -0500
            Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-22 17:34 -0500
        Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-11-02 17:54 -0700
          Re: why use static_cast ? Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2022-11-03 08:51 -0700
            Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-11-15 16:19 -0800
              Re: why use static_cast ? Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2022-11-15 23:02 -0800
                Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-11-20 05:59 -0800
                Re: why use static_cast ? "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-11-20 15:05 +0100
                Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-11-20 07:22 -0800
                Re: why use static_cast ? Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2022-11-20 08:40 -0800
                Re: why use static_cast ? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-12-28 20:43 -0800
    Re: why use static_cast ? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-11-04 07:27 +0000
      Re: why use static_cast ? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-11-04 13:47 +0000
        Re: why use static_cast ? Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> - 2022-11-05 21:34 +0000
        Re: why use static_cast ? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2022-11-06 03:25 -0500
        Re: why use static_cast ? Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-11-06 17:34 +0200
          Re: why use static_cast ? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-11-07 07:13 +0000
      Re: why use static_cast ? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2022-11-04 09:09 -0700
  Re: why use static_cast ? Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2022-10-20 13:21 -0500

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