[boost] [Boost Review] Property Tree Library

From: Thorsten Ottosen (thorsten.ottosen_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-04-18 15:13:16

Dear All,

I have the great pleasure to announce that the formal boost-review of 
Marcin Kalicinski Property Tree Library begins now (the 18th of April) 
and runs through the 27th of April.

Introduction
------------

This fairly high-level library consists of the following
facilities:

1. a generic recursive property-tree data-structure

2. generic conversions to/from this data-structure from/to

   a. xml-files

   b. ini-flies

   c. json-files

   d. windows registry files

As an example of how powerful the library is, consider this
tutorial:

- http://kaalus.atspace.com/ptree/doc/index.html#five_minute_tutorial

The library may be downloaded from

- the boost file vault http://boost-consulting.com/vault/ 
(property_tree_rev5.zip)

- tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/fkt7r

- boost sandbox: http://www.boost.org/more/mailing_lists.htm#sandbox
   (look in boost/property_tree and libs/property_tree)

The documentation may be viewed online at

- http://kaalus.atspace.com/ptree/doc/index.html

If your find the above interesting, please consider submitting a review 
to the boost developer mailing list:

- http://www.boost.org/more/mailing_lists.htm#main

You might end up using several hours on a review, but the end result 
could be a superb library that will save you weeks of work.

Notes for reviewers
-------------------

When writing your review, you may wish to consider the following
questions:

      * 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.

In particular, consider if you can answer the following questions:

- was the library suitable for your daily xml-tasks? If not, what was 
missing?

- was the library's performance good enough? If not, can you suggest 
improvements?

- was the library's design flexible enough? If not, how would you 
suggest it should be redesigned to broaden its scope of use?

best regards

Thorsten Ottosen, Review Manager