When invoking the util::toString conversion, we indeed to want any conversion,
including explicit conversion operators. However, probing the possibility to build a string
can be dangerous, since there is a string constructor from characters, and
integral types can be converted to characters.
OTOH, leaving out explicit conversions is likewise not desirable, since there are
class types, which deliberately do not offer an implicit conversion, but allow
explicit conversion for dump and diagnostic output. The notorious example for
such a situation is the lib::idi::EntryID<TY>. We certainly do not want an
EntryID to be converted into a string without further notice, but we do want
an EntryID to be automatically rendered to string in diagnostic output, since
this will include the human readable ID part.
See especially: 8432420726
Now we'll attempt to get out of this dilemma by probing explicitly for the presence
of a string conversion operator, which will fail for any non-class types, thereby
ruling out all those nasty indirect type -> character -> string conversion paths.
The rationale is: if someone queries the predicate can_convertToString, the intention
is really to get an string rendering, and not just to invoke some random function
with an string argument.
Ichthyostega
bc1cf3a0b5