[boost] Re:Re:Re: serialization library #17

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-03-02 13:52:05

Neal D. Becker wrote:

>Thanks.  Actually, though, what I'm talking about is a different archive
>type, not a data structure.  Right now binary data is saved/restored using
>read/write.  mmap is potentially much more efficient for large data
>structures. OTOH, there is one big problem for it, which is that mmap can
>only be applied to one contiguous memory region.  I believe you would have
>to serialize one object to one file, and if you want more objects you would
>need multiple files to map them to.  Still, might be interesting.

Hmmm - wouldn't be better to implement a new derivation  of
std::;basic_streambuf for memory mapped i/o.  This would be useful for a lot
more than serialization.  Of course, all the archive already provided are
implemented in terms of streams so they would automatically inherit all the
features of memory mapped i/o.

The whole topic of custom stream_buf versions or better yet, composable
stream_buf adaptors has been under appreciated in my view.  I know there was
some discussion and work done.  I don't know what happened.  I suspect it
turned out to be "too big" to finish to boost standards in the amount of
time that the developer could allocate.

I do much appreciate feedback on the serialization library on this list.  It
is very helpful and encouraging.  Note that others have made significant
efforts well. These are people that have been experimenting with the library
in their own projects.  They have been very patient and helpful.  Among
others I would mention Pavel Vozenilek, Vladimir Prus, David Tonge, and Jeff
Finn.

Robert Ramey