Comparing version numbers is one of those operations that seems like it ought to be simple but can have a fair bit of complexity under the surface. How would you write an algorithm that gives the correct result for all of the following?
I recently went to a book sale where shoppers could browse countless bins of completely disorganized books and buy as many as could fit in a box for $30. I quickly learned that the only way to navigate a sale like this was to disregard my traditional short list of topics and authors that I follow, grab anything remotely interesting, and sort it out later. One of my finds was New Rules @ Work, by Barbara Pachter and Ellen Coleman.
This code was the original impetus for my postings on template template parameters and multi-paradigm programming, but those didactic digressions grew into articles of their own. I don’t know how helpful such digressions are - I’m learning that truly effective teaching requires the patience to develop good examples and an awareness of where your target audience is, and I’m not sure that I possess either, at least in this format - but at least they’re out of the way…
paradigm - a pretentious and overused term for a way of thinking (Bjarne Stroustrup, "C++ Glossary")
Continuing my series on things I didn’t know about C++…