[boost] [Review] Quantitative Units library review begins today, March 26

From: John Phillips (phillips_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-03-26 07:54:49

   The review for the Quantitative Units library, submitted by Matthias 
Schabel and Steven Watanabe begins today, March 26 and ends April 4. 
 From the documentation:

   The Boost.Units library is a C++ implementation of zero runtime 
overhead compile-time  dimensional analysis in a general and extensible 
manner, treating it as a generic metaprogramming problem. Support for 
units and quantities (defined as a unit  and associated value) for 
arbitrary unit system models and arbitrary value  types is provided, as 
is a general facility for unit conversions enabling fine-grained 
control over conversion. Complete SI and CGS unit system models are 
provided,  along with systems for angles measured in degrees, gradians, 
and radians. A  small subset of the SI system including only length, 
mass, and time is developed  in the examples as a demonstration of the 
relative ease of adding new unit  systems and the extensibility of the 
library architecture.

   In this review, the authors and I expect that there will be active 
discussions on two topics. In every review there is a discussion of the 
quality of the library implementation and documentation, and it is 
obviously expected and desired here. Also, since this library is 
specifically designed as a compile time library with no attempt to 
provide unit conversions or other runtime facilities it is expected that 
the review will include an active thread on whether this is the correct 
design decision. In specific, this  is a different approach than that 
taken by Andy Little's submission of last year.

   Because some people will be more interested in one or another of 
these two discussions, I request that everyone clearly marks comment 
topics to show which they are discussing. This will also improve 
Matthias' and Steven's ability to respond usefully and my ability to 
produce review results and recommendations that accurately reflect the 
desires of the boost community.

   In general, please include the following in your review.

Your comments may be brief or lengthy, but basically the Review  Manager 
needs your evaluation of the library.  If you identify  problems along 
the way, please note if they are minor, serious, or  showstoppers.

Here are some questions you might want to answer in your review:
        • 	What is your evaluation of the design?
        • 	What is your evaluation of the implementation?
        • 	What is your evaluation of the documentation?
        • 	What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the  library?
        • 	Did you try to use the library?  With what compiler?  Did  you have 
any problems?
        • 	How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick 
  reading? In-depth study?
        • 	Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain?

And finally, every review should answer this question:
        • 	Do you think the library should be accepted as a Boost  library?  Be 
sure to say this explicitly so that your other  comments don't obscure 
your overall opinion.

   Review comments can be sent to the developer list, the user list, or 
directly to me if you don't wish to comment publicly. Thank you in 
advance for your time and work in this review.

                        John Phillips
                        Review Manager