[boost] [metagraph] initial release of metagraph libraries

From: Gordon Woodhull (gordon_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-04-26 22:24:59

Hi friends -

I just uploaded the first two of the metagraph libraries to the  
sandbox.  These are
* an mpl_graph for bgl-like graphs in c++ metaprogramming ( s/(/</ )
* a fusion_graph for basic heterogeneous-typed graphs where edges  
describe the links (pointers, containers of pointers) and vertices are  
the types of objects.

There is a long way to go, but I wanted to post something in advance  
of BoostCon to invite conversation.

The eventual idea is to make graphs-of-graphs, graphs that refer to  
other graphs, and graph layers of detail, all easy to specify and  
use.  One would combine patterns such as "graph," "tree," or "chain,"  
to build more complex data structures without resorting to inefficient  
overgeneralizations or unsafe ad-hoc methods.  Along the way I will  
also offer Yet Another Reflection Mechanism: much as any graph data  
structure can be adapted as a Boost Graph, any system of objects which  
refer to one another can be reflected as a metagraph.

What is available now just allows you to build systems of objects with  
pointers (or containers of pointers) to each other, which is mostly  
useful to library developers wanting to generate such types at compile  
time.  They are not yet managed, by which I mean, all of the cross- 
referencing that naturally takes place in such systems has to be kept  
track of by the application, or by metagraph libraries yet to be  
written...

Thanks in advance for any comments, references to related libraries,  
etc.
Gordon