Context Navigation

Boost

Boost
1. LSST's Choice of Boost Libraries
Boost Libraries in LSST
1. 2009-01-07

To Quote the boost home page:

Boost provides free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries.

We emphasize libraries that work well with the C++ Standard Library. Boost libraries are intended to be widely useful, and usable across a broad spectrum of applications. The Boost license encourages both commercial and non-commercial use.

We aim to establish "existing practice" and provide reference implementations so that Boost libraries are suitable for eventual standardization. Ten Boost libraries are already included in the C++ Standards Committee's Library Technical Report ( TR1) as a step toward becoming part of a future C++ Standard. More Boost libraries are proposed for the upcoming TR2.

The LSST project's DM group endorse the attempt to produce standardized, high quality libraries. Accordingly, we plan to use Boost whenever appropriate.

If you find functionality in Boost but would prefer not to use it, please check with DManagement before taking a decision.

LSST's Choice of Boost Libraries

Approved version of boost libraries: Boost 1.35.0 (as of 7 May 2008)

Libraries blessed for use in LSST code:

any: Safe, generic container for single values of different value types
cstdint: The typedef's useful for writing portable code that requires certain integer widths.
current_function
filesystem TR2: Portable paths, iteration over directories, and other useful filesystem operations.
format TR2: Type-safe 'printf-like' format operations
GIL: The Generic Image Library (CCB, 2008-09-03).
iterator/zip_iterator
lambda TR2: Lambda functions for use with generic programming (e.g. std::transform)
MPI: Message Passing Interface library, for use in distributed-memory parallel application programming
mpl/assert
mpl/at
mpl/bool
mpl/for_each
mpl/or
mpl/vector
multi_index: Containers with multiple STL-compatible access interfaces.
noncopyable: Class noncopyable plus checked_delete(), checked_array_delete(), next(), prior() function templates, plus base-from-member idiom::
regex: TR1, Perl-style regular expressions.
scoped_ptr: TR2 , Stores a pointer to a dynamically allocated object.::
serialization: Serialization for persistence and marshalling. serialization archives:: Text (or XML) archives render data as text (or XML) and are portable across platforms
shared_array: TR2, Array ownership shared among multiple pointers
shared_ptr: TR1, Object ownership shared among multiple pointers
static_assert C++0X: Static assertions (compile time assertions)::
test: Support for simple program testing, full unit testing, and for program execution monitoring. Approval limited to 'header-only' version, not compiled boost:unittest library.::
tokenizer: Break of a string or other character sequence into a series of tokens. Proposal for inclusion: TokenizerProposal::
type_traits TR1: Templates for fundamental properties of types
weak_ptr: Non-owning observers of an object owned by shared_ptr

Libraries that may not be used:

config
throw_exception

Libraries under consideration:

numeric/ublas
operators

Boost Libraries in LSST

2009-01-07

any (Status: approved): afw daf/base pex/logging pex/policy utils

config (Status: reject) Helps boost library developers adapt to compiler idiosyncrasies; not intended for library users.: pex/policy

RHL comments: This is only used in a hacked-up version of any.h. The authors should revisit it

cstdint (Status: approved) The typedef's useful for writing portable code that requires certain integer widths.: afw isr meas/algorithms meas/astrom

current_function (Status: approved): pex/exceptions

filesystem TR2 (Status: approved) Portable paths, iteration over directories, and other useful filesystem operations.: afw pex/policy

format TR2 (Status: approved): afw daf/base daf/data isr meas/algorithms pex/exceptions pex/logging utils

iterator/zip_iterator (Status: approved): afw

lambda TR2 (Status: approved): afw

mpl/assert (Status: approved): afw