[Effective-cpp] Item 2: The String Formatters of Manor Farm, Part 1: sprintf

[White Wolf]

effective-cpp-bounces at accu.org wrote:
>> From: "White Wolf" <wolof at freemail.hu>
> 
>> So I disagree that it is easy to use for the masses.  The easiness
>> comes only with practice which can be true for any tool.  It looks
>> simple once
> it
>> is written, more simple than stream output, since the text remains at
>> one place (the format string) so it is more readable what
> you want to say.
> With
>> iostreams the text gets scattered.
> 
> With something like Boost.Format
> (http://www.boost.org/libs/format/index.html), you can get
> both the advantage of a format string, and, unlike (s)printf,
> type safety, works with any type having an output stream
> operator defined, and being generic (even though the syntax
> may seem a little odd). You can also "reuse" an argument
> several times in the format string:
> 
> std::cout << boost::format("%1% + %2% = %3%") % 10 % 20 %
> (10+20) << "\n"; // Prints "10 + 20 = 30"
> 
> (Yes, peddling Boost, again. ;) )

Does is scale to user defined types?  Can I say I want to print my Widget,
in short-log mode?  And then later if I want print it in detailed-log more?

Attila aka WW