Re: [boost] Formal Review: Boost.Polygon starts today August 24, 2009

Subject: Re: [boost] Formal Review: Boost.Polygon starts today August 24, 2009
From: Andreas Fabri (andreas.fabri_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-09-01 09:46:27

Hello,

I am not a Boost developer, but involved in the CGAL project (with a dual license:
restrictive open source + commercial). I say that so that nobody later comes, and
says I have a hidden agenda and want to kill a competing geometry project.
In fact the question I have probably also would concern other Boost packages.

And another disclaimer: I subscribed to the mailing list for this formal review, so my
question may be strange:   What is the overall strategy in the Boost project for accepting
new topics for Boost ?

First, it seems strange to me that something as specialized as 45 degree polygons is considered
to fit in, what I consider as the mission statement of Boost :

   "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) and will be in the new C++0x
    Standard now being finalized. C++0x will also include several more Boost libraries in addition
    to those from TR1. More Boost libraries are proposed for TR2."

                                                                  Source: http://www.boost.org

When I say specialized, obviously something like boost::optional also solves a specific problem,
but it is completely independent from a particular application domain.  Boost.Polygon seems
rather related to VLSI and PCBs, and the only criteria it fulfills is the license choice.

Second, I am wondering about, when you add a first geometry related library without having the blue-print
for "Geometric Computing in Boost", how can you hope that it will ever grow into a coherent whole?

best regards,

andreas fabri