/ src / span.h
span.h
  1  // Copyright (c) 2018-present The Bitcoin Core developers
  2  // Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
  3  // file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
  4  
  5  #ifndef BITCOIN_SPAN_H
  6  #define BITCOIN_SPAN_H
  7  
  8  #include <cassert>
  9  #include <cstddef>
 10  #include <span>
 11  #include <type_traits>
 12  #include <utility>
 13  
 14  /** A span is an object that can refer to a contiguous sequence of objects.
 15   *
 16   * Things to be aware of when writing code that deals with spans:
 17   *
 18   * - Similar to references themselves, spans are subject to reference lifetime
 19   *   issues. The user is responsible for making sure the objects pointed to by
 20   *   a span live as long as the span is used. For example:
 21   *
 22   *       std::vector<int> vec{1,2,3,4};
 23   *       std::span<int> sp(vec);
 24   *       vec.push_back(5);
 25   *       printf("%i\n", sp.front()); // UB!
 26   *
 27   *   may exhibit undefined behavior, as increasing the size of a vector may
 28   *   invalidate references.
 29   *
 30   * - One particular pitfall is that spans can be constructed from temporaries,
 31   *   but this is unsafe when the span is stored in a variable, outliving the
 32   *   temporary. For example, this will compile, but exhibits undefined behavior:
 33   *
 34   *       std::span<const int> sp(std::vector<int>{1, 2, 3});
 35   *       printf("%i\n", sp.front()); // UB!
 36   *
 37   *   The lifetime of the vector ends when the statement it is created in ends.
 38   *   Thus the span is left with a dangling reference, and using it is undefined.
 39   *
 40   * - Due to spans automatic creation from range-like objects (arrays, and data
 41   *   types that expose a data() and size() member function), functions that
 42   *   accept a span as input parameter can be called with any compatible
 43   *   range-like object. For example, this works:
 44   *
 45   *       void Foo(std::span<const int> arg);
 46   *
 47   *       Foo(std::vector<int>{1, 2, 3}); // Works
 48   *
 49   *   This is very useful in cases where a function truly does not care about the
 50   *   container, and only about having exactly a range of elements. However it
 51   *   may also be surprising to see automatic conversions in this case.
 52   *
 53   *   When a function accepts a span with a mutable element type, it will not
 54   *   accept temporaries; only variables or other references. For example:
 55   *
 56   *       void FooMut(std::span<int> arg);
 57   *
 58   *       FooMut(std::vector<int>{1, 2, 3}); // Does not compile
 59   *       std::vector<int> baz{1, 2, 3};
 60   *       FooMut(baz); // Works
 61   *
 62   *   This is similar to how functions that take (non-const) lvalue references
 63   *   as input cannot accept temporaries. This does not work either:
 64   *
 65   *       void FooVec(std::vector<int>& arg);
 66   *       FooVec(std::vector<int>{1, 2, 3}); // Does not compile
 67   *
 68   *   The idea is that if a function accepts a mutable reference, a meaningful
 69   *   result will be present in that variable after the call. Passing a temporary
 70   *   is useless in that context.
 71   */
 72  
 73  /** Pop the last element off a span, and return a reference to that element. */
 74  template <typename T>
 75  T& SpanPopBack(std::span<T>& span)
 76  {
 77      size_t size = span.size();
 78      T& back = span.back();
 79      span = span.first(size - 1);
 80      return back;
 81  }
 82  
 83  template <typename V>
 84  auto MakeByteSpan(const V& v) noexcept
 85  {
 86      return std::as_bytes(std::span{v});
 87  }
 88  template <typename V>
 89  auto MakeWritableByteSpan(V&& v) noexcept
 90  {
 91      return std::as_writable_bytes(std::span{std::forward<V>(v)});
 92  }
 93  
 94  // Helper functions to safely cast basic byte pointers to unsigned char pointers.
 95  inline unsigned char* UCharCast(char* c) { return reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(c); }
 96  inline unsigned char* UCharCast(unsigned char* c) { return c; }
 97  inline unsigned char* UCharCast(signed char* c) { return reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(c); }
 98  inline unsigned char* UCharCast(std::byte* c) { return reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(c); }
 99  inline const unsigned char* UCharCast(const char* c) { return reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(c); }
100  inline const unsigned char* UCharCast(const unsigned char* c) { return c; }
101  inline const unsigned char* UCharCast(const signed char* c) { return reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(c); }
102  inline const unsigned char* UCharCast(const std::byte* c) { return reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(c); }
103  // Helper concept for the basic byte types.
104  template <typename B>
105  concept BasicByte = requires { UCharCast(std::span<B>{}.data()); };
106  
107  // Helper function to safely convert a span to a span<[const] unsigned char>.
108  template <typename T, size_t N> constexpr auto UCharSpanCast(std::span<T, N> s) { return std::span<std::remove_pointer_t<decltype(UCharCast(s.data()))>, N>{UCharCast(s.data()), s.size()}; }
109  
110  /** Like the std::span constructor, but for (const) unsigned char member types only. Only works for (un)signed char containers. */
111  template <typename V> constexpr auto MakeUCharSpan(const V& v) -> decltype(UCharSpanCast(std::span{v})) { return UCharSpanCast(std::span{v}); }
112  template <typename V> constexpr auto MakeWritableUCharSpan(V&& v) -> decltype(UCharSpanCast(std::span{std::forward<V>(v)})) { return UCharSpanCast(std::span{std::forward<V>(v)}); }
113  
114  #endif // BITCOIN_SPAN_H