1. Brief History
This paper started as a proposal by David Krauss, N4543[1], from 2015 and there has been an open issue in the LEWG bugzilla requesting such a facility since 2014[2].
Since then, the paper has gone through 4 revisions and has been considered in small groups in LEWG multiple times. Gradual feedback has led to the conservative proposal seen here. The most-recent draft prior to this was a late-paper written and presented by Ryan McDougall in LEWGI in San Diego[3]. It included multiple references to implementations of move-only functions and made a strong case for the importance of a move-only form of std::function .
Feebdack given was encouragement for targetting C++20.
An updated version of that paper was presented on Saturday at the end of the San Diego meeting. Poll results from that presentation are presented after the overview in this document.
The revision was presented in Kona, receiving additional polls and feedback, and was to be forwarded to LWG pending updates reflecting additional poll results. Those changes have been applied to the wording in this paper. Polls from the LEWG Kona review are also provided in this document.
2. Overview
This conservative any_invocable is intended to be the same as std::function , with the exceptions of the following:
-
It is move-only.
-
It does not have the const-correctness bug of std::function detailed in n4348.[4]
-
It provides support for cv/ref/noexcept qualified function types.
-
It does not have the target_type and target accessors (direction requested by users and implementors).
-
Invocation has strong preconditions.
3. Specification
The following is relative to N4820.[5]
Add <any_invocable> to [tab:headers.cpp] — C++ library headers
Add the following entry to [version.syn#2]:
#define __cpp_lib_any_invocable xxxxxxL // also in <any_invocable>Make it so that <functional> is guaranteed to include <any_invocable> by adding the following at the start of the synopsis of [functional.syn]:
20.14.1 Header <functional> synopsis [functional.syn]
#include <any_invocable> // see [inv.syn]
namespace std {
Insert the following section at the end of Function Objects [function.objects], where SECTION is a placeholder for the root of the section numbering:
SECTION Storage for any callable [inv]
1 This subclause describes components that C++ programs may use to perform
operations on callable objects of a given signature type.
SECTION.1 Header <any_invocable> synopsis [inv.syn]
1 The header <any_invocable> provides partial specializations of any_invocable for
each combination of the possible replacements of the placeholders cv, ref, and
noex where:
(1.1) — cv is either const or empty.
(1.2) — ref is either &, &&, or empty.
(1.3) — noex is either true or false.
2 For each of the possible combinations of the placeholders mentioned above,
there is a placeholder inv-quals defined as follows:
(2.1) — If ref is empty, let inv-quals be cv&
(2.2) — Otherwise, let inv-quals be cv ref.
namespace std {
template<class... S> class any_invocable; // not defined
template<class R, class... ArgTypes>
class any_invocable<R(ArgTypes...) cv ref noexcept(noex)>;
}
SECTION.2 Class template any_invocable [inv.class]
namespace std {
template<class... S> class any_invocable; // not defined
template<class R, class... ArgTypes>
class any_invocable<R(ArgTypes...) cv ref noexcept(noex)> {
public:
using result_type = R;
// SECTION.3, construct/move/destroy
any_invocable() noexcept;
any_invocable(nullptr_t) noexcept;
any_invocable(any_invocable&&) noexcept;
template<class F> any_invocable(F&&);
template<class T, class... Args>
explicit any_invocable(in_place_type_t<T>, Args&&...);
template<class T, class U, class... Args>
explicit any_invocable(in_place_type_t<T>, initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
any_invocable& operator=(any_invocable&&);
any_invocable& operator=(nullptr_t) noexcept;
template<class F> any_invocable& operator=(F&&);
~any_invocable();
// SECTION.4, any_invocable invocation
explicit operator bool() const noexcept;
R operator()(ArgTypes...) cv ref noexcept(noex);
// SECTION.5, any_invocable utility
void swap(any_invocable&) noexcept;
friend void swap(any_invocable&, any_invocable&) noexcept;
friend bool operator==(const any_invocable&, nullptr_t) noexcept;
private:
template<class VT>
static constexpr bool is-callable-from = see below; // exposition-only
};
}
1 The any_invocable class template provides polymorphic wrappers that generalize
the notion of a callable object [func.def]. These wrappers can store, move, and
call arbitrary callable objects, given a call signature, allowing functions to
be first-class objects.
2 Implementations are encouraged to avoid the use of dynamically allocated memory
for a small contained value.
[ Note: Such small-object optimization can only be applied to types T for
which is_nothrow_move_constructible_v<T> is true. -- end note ]
SECTION.3 Constructors and destructor [inv.con]
template<class VT>
static constexpr bool is-callable-from = see below; // exposition-only
1 If noex is true, is-callable-from<VT> is equal to
is_nothrow_invocable_r_v<R, VT cv ref, Args...> &&
is_nothrow_invocable_r_v<R, VT inv-quals, Args...>.
Otherwise, is-callable-from<VT> is equal to
is_invocable_r_v<R, VT cv ref, Args...> &&
is_invocable_r_v<R, VT inv-quals, Args...>.
any_invocable() noexcept;
any_invocable(nullptr_t) noexcept;
2 Postconditions: *this has no target object.
any_invocable(any_invocable&& f) noexcept;
3 Postconditions: The target object of *this is the target object f had before
construction, and f is in a valid state with an unspecified value.
template<class F> any_invocable(F&& f);
4 Let VT be decay_t<F>.
5 Constraints:
(5.1) — remove_cvref_t<F> is not the same type as any_invocable, and
(5.2) — remove_cvref_t<F> is not a specialization of in_place_type_t, and
(5.3) — is_constructible_v<VT, F> is true, and
(5.4) — is-callable-from<VT> is true.
6 Preconditions: VT meets the Cpp17Destructible requirements, and if
is_move_constructible_v<VT> is true, VT meets the Cpp17MoveConstructible
requirements.
7 Postconditions: *this has a target object unless any of the following hold:
(7.1) — f is a null function pointer value, or
(7.2) — f is a null member pointer value, or
(7.3) — remove_cvref_t<F> is a specialization of the any_invocable class template,
and f has no target object.
8 Otherwise, *this targets an object of type VT
direct-non-list-initialized with std::forward<F>(f).
9 Throws: Any exception thrown by the initialization of the target object.
May throw bad_alloc unless VT is a function pointer or a specialization of
reference_wrapper.
template<class T, class... Args>
explicit any_invocable(in_place_type_t<T>, Args&&... args);
10 Let VT be decay_t<T>.
11 Constraints:
(11.1) — is_constructible_v<VT, Args...> is true, and
(11.2) — is-callable-from<VT> is true.
12 Mandates: VT is the same type as T.
13 Preconditions: VT meets the Cpp17Destructible requirements, and if
is_move_constructible_v<VT> is true, VT meets the Cpp17MoveConstructible
requirements.
14 Postconditions: *this targets an object of type VT
direct-non-list-initialized with std::forward<Args>(args)....
15 Throws: Any exception thrown by the initialization of the target object.
May throw bad_alloc unless VT is a function pointer or a specialization of
reference_wrapper.
template<class T, class U, class... Args>
explicit any_invocable(in_place_type_t<T>, initializer_list<U> ilist, Args&&... args);
16 Let VT be decay_t<T>.
17 Constraints:
(17.1) — is_constructible_v<VT, initializer_list<U>&, ArgTypes...> is true, and
(17.2) — is-callable-from<VT> is true.
18 Mandates: VT is the same type as T.
19 Preconditions: VT meets the Cpp17Destructible requirements, and if
is_move_constructible_v<VT> is true, VT meets the Cpp17MoveConstructible
requirements.
20 Postconditions: *this targets an object of type VT
direct-non-list-initialized with ilist, std::forward<ArgTypes>(args)....
21 Throws: Any exception thrown by the initialization of the target object.
May throw bad_alloc unless VT is a function pointer or a specialization of
reference_wrapper.
any_invocable& operator=(any_invocable&& f);
22 Effects: Equivalent to: any_invocable(std::move(f)).swap(*this);
23 Returns: *this.
any_invocable& operator=(nullptr_t) noexcept;
24 Effects: Destroys the target object of *this, if any.
25 Returns: *this.
template<class F> any_invocable& operator=(F&& f);
26 Effects: Equivalent to: any_invocable(std::forward<F>(f)).swap(*this);
27 Returns: *this.
~any_invocable();
28 Effects: Destroys the target object of *this, if any.
SECTION.4 Invocation [inv.inv]
explicit operator bool() const noexcept;
1 Returns: true if *this has a target object, otherwise false.
R operator()(ArgTypes... args) cv ref noexcept(noex);
2 Preconditions: *this has a target object.
3 Effects: Equivalent to:
return INVOKE<R>(static_cast<F inv-quals>(f), std::forward<ArgTypes>(args)...);
where f is the target object of *this and f is lvalue of type F.
SECTION.5 Utility [inv.util]
void swap(any_invocable& other) noexcept;
1 Effects: Exchanges the targets of *this and other.
friend void swap(any_invocable& f1, any_invocable& f2) noexcept;
2 Effects: Equivalent to: f1.swap(f2).
friend bool operator==(const any_invocable& f, nullptr_t) noexcept;
3 Returns: true if f has no target object.
4. Polls from LEWG San Diego Review (2018)
4.1. Support func(), func() const, func() &&
SF F N A SA 6 6 2 1 0
4.2. Support func() && only
SF F N A SA 2 2 7 1 1
4.3. Remove target/target_type
SF F N A SA 12 5 0 0 0
4.4. Require more stuff (noexcept, const&&, ...)
SF F N A SA 0 1 8 6 0
Note that the final poll (require more stuff) was not due to members being against the design, but because we could easily add those facilities in a later standard without any breakage.
4.5. Name Options
There was one final poll, which brought us to the name any_invocable .
3 unique_function 3 move_function 2 move_only_function 7 movable_function 8 mfunction 10 any_invocable 8 mofun 8 mofunc 0 callback 4 mvfunction 2 func 0 callable 2 any_function
5. Polls from LEWG Kona Review (2019)
5.1. We want to spend time on this now in order to include it in C++20
SF F N A SA 8 8 2 0 0
5.2. Add support for func() const& and func()&
SF F N A SA 0 8 7 0 0
5.3. Add support for func() noexcept (x all of the above)
SF F N A SA 2 12 2 0 0
5.4. Include the option for CTAD
SF F N A SA 0 1 5 9 0
5.5. Name: callable vs any invocable
SC C N AI SAI 3 2 3 5 6
5.6. any_invocable vs invocable
SAI AI N I SI 3 7 2 5 1
5.7. Header choice
7 < functional > 11 < any_invocable > 11 < invocable > 3 < () >
5.8. Can get std::function from <any_invocable>
SF F N A SA 0 1 4 4 7
5.9. Can get std::function from <invocable>
SF F N A SA 1 3 6 3 2
Decide on <any_invocable>. Unanimous for <functional> to pull it in, even if in its own header.
5.10. Remove the null-check in the call operator and throwing of bad_function_call
SF F N A SA 8 2 1 0 0
5.11. Remove the null-check in constructors that are not nullptr_t
std :: any_callable ac = my_ptr_object ; if ( ac ) { /* true even if my_ptr is nullptr */ }
SF F N A SA 0 2 2 4 3
5.12. Perfect forwarding for converting constructor instead of by-value
Unanimous
5.13. Forward to LWG for C++20
SF F N A SA 8 5 0 0 0
6. Implementation Experience
There are many implementations of a move-only std::function with a design that is similar to this. What is presented is a conservative subset of those implementations. The changes suggested in LEWG, though minimal, have not been used in a large codebase.
Previous revisions of this paper have included publicly accessible move-only function implementations, notably including implementations in HPX, Folly, and LLVM.
7. Acknowledgments
Thanks to Tomasz Kamiński, Tim Song, and Nevin Liber for suggestions on wording simplifications.
8. References
[1]: David Krauss: N4543 "A polymorphic wrapper for all Callable objects" http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2015/n4543.pdf
[2]: Geoffrey Romer: "Bug 34 - Need type-erased wrappers for move-only callable objects" https://issues.isocpp.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34
[3]: Ryan McDougall: P0288R2 "The Need for std::unique_function" https://wg21.link/p0288r2
[4]: Geoffrey Romer: N4348 "Making std::function safe for concurrency" www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2015/n4348.html
[5]: Richard Smith: N4820 "Working Draft, Standard for Programming Language C++" http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2019/n4820.pdf