Docs: fill documentation gaps found in user questions (#5907)
* Docs: fill documentation gaps found in user questions Add pages on class-hierarchy/smart-pointer/variant/chrono recipes, working without exceptions, and large, streamed and partial input. Extend the FAQ (23 entries, Known bugs first), parse error documentation (empty-input checklist, line/column, diagnostic positions), element access, conversions, creating values, ADL troubleshooting, memory, and build/distribution notes. Add 14 examples with generated output. Correct the statement that parse errors cannot be recovered from with -fno-exceptions. The topics come from recurring questions on Stack Overflow, Reddit, Hacker News, YouTube, and the project's GitHub discussions and issues. Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me> * docs: declare range-for lists in variables to keep astyle quiet astyle reformats a braced init list placed directly in a range-for header; declare the list first so check_amalgamation passes. Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me> --------- Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
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@@ -122,7 +122,9 @@ an adapter, since their template argument order does not match what `basic_json`
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[linear in its size](../api/basic_json/basic_json.md#complexity) for the copy constructor but
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[constant](../api/basic_json/basic_json.md#complexity) for the move constructor. The same applies to assigning a
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large `#!cpp std::string`, `#!cpp std::vector`, or other container into a value: pass it as `#!cpp std::move(x)`
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rather than `x` whenever `x` is no longer needed afterwards.
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rather than `x` whenever `x` is no longer needed afterwards. Since version 3.13.0, converting an rvalue container
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(`#!cpp json j = std::move(vec);`) moves the elements instead of copying them; the source is then left in a valid but
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unspecified state.
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- **Access without copying.** [`get<T>()`](../api/basic_json/get.md) returns a copy of the stored value converted to
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`T`. When a reference or pointer to the value already stored inside the `basic_json` is enough,
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[`get_ref()`](../api/basic_json/get_ref.md) and [`get_ptr()`](../api/basic_json/get_ptr.md) access it directly:
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@@ -151,6 +153,29 @@ an adapter, since their template argument order does not match what `basic_json`
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["reserving array capacity"](element_access/unchecked_access.md#performance-reserving-array-capacity) for the
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one-line recipe.
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## Memory
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- **A value is small, its content is on the heap.** A `basic_json` is 16 bytes on a 64-bit platform (a type tag and a
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union). Strings, arrays, objects, and binary values are allocated on the heap and owned by the value. Destroying the
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value frees everything it owns.
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- **Copies are deep.** After `#!cpp json b = a;`, changing `b` does not change `a`, and both own their memory. Copying a
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large value therefore doubles its memory; see [Avoiding copies](#avoiding-copies). `#!cpp auto x = j["key"];` is a
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copy, `#!cpp auto& x = j["key"];` is not.
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- **A moved-from value is `null`.** After `#!cpp json c = std::move(a);` the value `a` is `#!json null` and owns nothing.
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- **Reading does not require a tree.** If you only read the data, parse it into a [`json_document`](json_view.md)
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(`#!cpp <nlohmann/json_view.hpp>`, added in version 3.13.0) instead of a `basic_json`. It stores 16 bytes per value, does not copy floating-point
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numbers or strings without escape sequences out of the text, and creates no `basic_json` value except for the parts
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you [`materialize()`](../api/basic_json_view/materialize.md). A document that borrows the text needs the text to
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outlive it; see [Zero-copy JSON views](json_view.md).
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- **Containers keep their capacity.** `clear()` and `erase()` on an array remove the elements, but the underlying
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`#!cpp std::vector` keeps its allocated capacity, like `#!cpp std::vector::clear` does. To give the memory back,
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assign a new value (`#!cpp j = json::array();`) or destroy the value.
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- **Freed memory does not always go back to the operating system.** The library returns memory to the allocator
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(`#!cpp std::allocator` by default, or the [one you configured](types/template_parameters.md)). Whether the process
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size shrinks then depends on the allocator and the platform, as for any C++ program. A process that parses a large
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document and drops it is not leaking if its resident size stays high; run it under a tool such as
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[Valgrind](https://valgrind.org) or the sanitizers to tell a leak from retained memory.
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## Serialization
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[`dump()`](../api/basic_json/dump.md) with the default `#!cpp indent = -1` selects "the most compact representation"
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