How to workaround the inconsistent definition of numeric_limits::min()?

Question

The numeric_limits traits is supposed to be a general way of obtaining various type infomation, to be able to do things like

template
T min(con         


        

Answer 1

The definition of the smallest value for an empty vector can be argued. If the vector is empty then there is no smallest element.

Prefer to use std::min_element instead:

int main()
{
    std::vector v;
    std::generate_n(std::back_inserter(v), 1000, std::rand);

    std::vector::iterator it  = std::min_element(v.begin(), v.end());
    if (it == v.end())
    {
        std::cout << "There is no smallest element" << std::endl;
    }
    else
    {
        std::cout << "The smallest element is " << *it << std::endl;
    }
}