String implicit conversion operators to const char*/wchar_t *

Question

I find MFC/ATL CString class very convenient in Win32 C++ code; in particular I found convenient the fact that we can pass instances of CString to Win32 API's LPCWSTR (ie const wchar_t * ) parameters directly, thanks to implicit conversion operator defined by CString .

Instead, when using std::wstring , an explicit call to .c_str() method is required.

So, why do the STL string classes (both std::string and std::wstring ) require an explicit method call ( c_str() ) instead of defining an implicit const char* / const wchar_t * conversion operator?

Are there serious pitfalls hidden with implicit conversion operators?

Answer 1

Whatever the theoretical concerns are, I will only note that in years of working with CString I've never been bitten by this feature. The convenience far outweighs the dangers.