Accessing Elements Out of Range in a View

Accessing an element out of range in a view can lead to undefined behavior, just like accessing an out-of-bounds element in a standard container. Views are non-owning and do not perform bounds checking themselves.

Let's see an example to illustrate this:

1#include <iostream>
2#include <ranges>
3#include <vector>
4
5int main() {
6  std::vector<int> Numbers{1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
7  auto View = std::views::take(Numbers, 3);
8
9  try {
10    std::cout << View[4] << "\n";  
11  } catch (const std::out_of_range& e) {
12    std::cout << "Out of range error: "
13      << e.what();
14  }
15}

1Segmentation fault (or undefined behavior)

In this example, accessing View[4] will likely result in a segmentation fault or other undefined behavior because the view only contains the first three elements.

Safe Access

To safely access elements through a view, you can implement bounds checking manually. Here's an example:

1#include <iostream>
2#include <ranges>
3#include <stdexcept>
4#include <vector>
5
6int main() {
7  std::vector<int> Numbers{1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
8  auto View = std::views::take(Numbers, 3);
9
10  auto safe_access = [&View](std::size_t index)
11    -> int {
12    if (index >= View.size()) {
13      throw std::out_of_range("Index out of range");
14    }
15    return View[index];
16  };
17
18  try {
19    std::cout << safe_access(2) << "\n";  
20    std::cout << safe_access(4) << "\n";  
21  } catch (const std::out_of_range& e) {
22    std::cout << "Out of range error: "
23      << e.what();
24  }
25}

13
2Out of range error: Index out of range

Explanation

• Manual Bounds Checking: The safe_access() lambda checks if the index is within the bounds of the view before accessing the element.
• Exception Handling: If the index is out of bounds, an std::out_of_range exception is thrown and caught, providing a clear error message.

Summary

While views themselves do not provide bounds checking, you can implement manual checks to ensure safe access. Always validate indices before accessing elements to avoid undefined behavior and potential crashes in your program.