Does anyone actually use stream extraction operators?
c++, formatted-input, iostream
Solution
I think stream extractor operators can be very useful when combined with STL algorithms like `std::copy` and with the `std::istream_iterator` class.
Read this answer to see what I'm talking about.
Problem
I've written tons of `operator<<(std::ostream &, const T &)` functions -- they're incredibly useful. I've never written an `operator>>(std::istream &, T &)` function in real code or even used the extraction operators for built-in types (OK, maybe for `std::string`). Are these appropriate only for short example programs and textbooks? Is `operator>>` a failed feature of C++? Questions have been asked about safely overloading stream operators. What I wonder is if anyone does this in practice. Even for something simple like reading input from a file in C++ I can't suggest using `operator>>`. It's too difficult to write code that is robust in detecting and handling errors in input (or I don't know how). If you disagree please show a good example of using `operator>>` -- maybe by answering that last question I linked to. Wrapup: Thanks for the responses everyone, lots of good opinions. Manuel's answer made me reconsider my reluctance to using `op>>` so I accepted that one.