[boost] Fall Review Schedule - version 1.0

From: Tom Brinkman (reportbase_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-08-14 10:35:43

Boost Fall Review Schedule - version 1.0

Contact Tom Brinkman at reportbase_at_[hidden] to request a 
review, to make updates to this document or to volunteer 
to be a review manager.

Review Queue as of August 14, 2005.  
Not in any particular:

1. xpressive - Eric Niebler
2. logging - John Torjo
3. singleton - Jason Hise (new review needed)
4. function types - Tobias Schwinger (mini post-review needed)
5. output formatters - Reece Dunn (new review needed)
6. policy pointer - David B. Held
7. fixed strings - Reece Dunn
8. intrusive - Olaf Krzikalla
9. interfaces - Jonathan Turkanis

Other Libraries:
10. factory - Federico Stella f.stella_at_[hidden]
11. TR1

1. xpressive - 

Author: Eric Niebler eric_at_[hidden]> 
Review Manager: needed
Download: http://boost-sandbox.sf.net/vault/index.php?directory=eric_niebler
Docs: http://boost-sandbox.sf.net/libs/xpressive
Review Date: to be confirmed

xpressive is a TR1 regex work-alike that also accepts regexes as
expression templates and lets regexes nest and call each other recursively.

Significant changes since 0.9.3
- c_regex_traits to wrap the global C locale
- null_regex_traits for searching non-char data
- doc and test improvements
- bugs in static regexes and Unicode support squashed

You can consider this the xpressive 1.0 release candidate. All
that remains is to add more tests and documentation, and perhaps a tweak
to the traits interface.

2. logging
Author - John Torjo    john_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - Hartmut.Kaiser    Hartmut.Kaiser_at_[hidden]
Download: http://torjo.com/code/logging.zip
Docs: http://torjo.com/

The Boost Log Library is a small library, who:
 * makes it very easy to declare/define new logs
 * allows you very simple access to logs
 * allows for log hierarchies, and for modifying log hierarchies
 * allows for easy and efficient enabling/disabling of logs/log hierarchies
 * allows for easy manipulation of log behaviors
   (the log's destination(s) and/or adjusting the original message)
 * is thread-safe

Using the library in code is easy and straightforward:

int i = 1, j = 2, k = 3;
BOOST_LOG(app) << "testing " << i << '-' << j << '-' << k  << std::endl;
BOOST_LOG(dbg) << "this is a debug message, i=" << i << std::endl;
BOOST_LOG(info) << "I just wanted to tell you something....";

Recent Additions:
- can be compiled as a static/dynamic runtime
  (works as a DLL as well)
- removed dependency on boost_thread
  Note: I did not test this on Unix, but it should work.
  If anybody can take a look at detail/ts_posix.hpp, I'd
  appreciate it.
- solved other small issues, based on feedback
- slightly improved documentation

3) Singleton
Author - Jason Hise    chaos_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - Needed
Download: http://tinyurl.com/6qvrd (old version from previous review)
Docs: http://tinyurl.com/6qvrd

The singleton library provides multiple
powerful methods of controlling
the lifetimes of global resources.
Client code can choose among the
many provided methods of creation,
or can easily write new creators for
specialized initialization needs.  Client
code can additionally control
precisely when a singleton instance is
automatically created and
destroyed, can create and destroy
singleton instances explicitly any
number of times, and can set up
dependencies between singletons in an
easy and natural way.

4) Function Types
Author - Tobias Schwinger tschwinger_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - John Maddock john_at_[hidden]
Download: http://tinyurl.com/4oe7q (old version - from previous review)
Docs: http://tinyurl.com/4oe7q

This library provides a metaprogramming facility
to classify, decompose and synthesize function-,
function pointer-, function reference- and
member function pointer types. For the purpose
of this documentation, these types are
collectively referred to as function
types (this differs from the standard
definition and redefines the term from
a programmer's perspective to refer to
the most common types that involve functions).

The classes introduced by this library
shall conform to the concepts of the
Boost Metaprogramming library (MPL).

The Function Types library enables the user to:
* test an arbitrary type for
        being a function type of specified kind,
* inspect properties of function types,
* view and modify sub types of an
        encapsulated function type with
        MPL Sequence operations, and
* synthesize function types.

This library supports variadic functions and
can be configured to support
non-default calling conventions.

This library was reviewed June 2005 and was accepted pending a 
mini post-review.

5. Output formatters
Author - Reece Dunn  msclrhd_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - Needed
Download: 
Docs: 

This library was reviewed september 11, 2005. It
requires a second full review.

6. Policy Pointer
Author - David B. Held  dheld_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - Gennadiy   gennadiy.rozental_at_[hidden]
Download: Boost Sandbox under policy_ptr
Docs: Boost Sandbox under policy_ptr

Smart pointers are used to automate memory management by handling the
deletion of dynamically
allcoated objects (and other resources).  They assist in ensuring
program correctness, exception
safety, and memory integrity.  Policy Pointer is a policy-based smart
pointer framework designed
to accomodate the large number of smart pointer designs.  Through the
use of policy classes, virtually
any smart pointer type can be constructed within this framework.  This
library is a Boostification of
the original Loki::SmartPtr type with significant modifications.

7. Fixed Strings
Author - Reece Dunn msclrhd_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - Beman Dawes  bdawes_at_[hidden]
Download: boosts-sandbox/boost/fixed_string
Docs: boosts-sandbox/boost/fixed_string

The fixed string library provides buffer overrun protection for static
sized strings (char s[ n ]). It provides a C-style string interface for
compatibility with C code (for example, porting a C program to C++).
There is also a std::string-style interface using a class based on
flex_string by Andre Alexandrescu with a few limitations due to
the non-resizable nature of the class.

8. Intrusive
Author - Olaf Krzikalla krzikalla_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - needed
Download: http://people.freenet.de/turtle++/intrusive.zip
Docs: http://people.freenet.de/turtle++/intrusive.zip

While intrusive containers were and are
widely used in C, they became more and more forgotten in the C++-world
due to the presence of the standard containers, which don't support
intrusive techniques. Boost.Intrusive not only reintroduces this
technique to C++, but also encapsulates the implementation in STL-like
interfaces. Hence anyone familiar with standard containers can use
intrusive containers with ease.

9. Interfaces
Author - Jonathan Turkanis   technews_at_[hidden]
Review Manager - needed
Download: http://www.kangaroologic.com/interfaces
Docs: http://www.kangaroologic.com/interfaces

"Boost.Interfaces provides a macro-based Interface Definition Language (IDL)
which can be used to define C++ class types called interfaces. An interface is a
lightweight value type associated with a set of named function signatures. An
interface instance can be bound at runtime to any object which implements the
interface, i.e., to any object of a type with accessible non-static member
functions having the same name and signature as the set of functions associated
with the interface. The functions of the bound object can then be invoked
through the interface instance using the 'dot' operator. Binding is completely
non-intrusive: the object's type need not declare any virtual functions or
derive from any particluar base class.

"Current applications of Boost.Interfaces include:

* Non-intrusive dynamic polymorphism — interfaces can often be used in
place of abstract base classes, and are sometimes much faster (see Performance).
* Dynamic inheritance — allows function calls to be forwarded automatically
to an object specified at runtime (see Delegation).
* Smart Interface Pointers — smart pointers which can manage the lifetime
of any object whose type implements a given interface.
* Smart References — like smart interface pointers, but the managed object
is accessed using the "dot" operator."