On Sun, 7 Sept 2025 at 16:20, Sebastian Wittmeier via Std-Proposals
<std-proposals_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> A reason it was done as it was done, could be that the mode to open a file is externally visible by the operating system and I think can have influence over whether you are allowed to open the file.
>
>
>
> The added control could have been more important than avoiding seeming contradictions.
>
> The mode is optional and can probably be seen as 'expert mode'?

Right. Most uses of ifstream are simple, and are passed just the file
name. So what would be the bang-for-buck of a new standardized file
stream
API, and for whom, and how/why?