Is it valid, to use std::string to hold binary data, to avoid manual dynamic memory management

Question

Pay attention to base64_decode in http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/cpp/common/base64.html

std::string base64_decode(std::string const& encoded_string)
         


        

Answer 1

I don't think it's completely valid. Care must be taken with string and binary data because it uses internally char type and char depends in the implementation if it is defined as unsigned or signed type. I prefer to use basic_string and be sure of what i'm reading.