Re: [boost] GTL (Boost.Polygon) Questions

Subject: Re: [boost] GTL (Boost.Polygon) Questions
From: Simonson, Lucanus J (lucanus.j.simonson_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-08-28 16:37:22

Tom Brinkman wrote:
> Just to get things rolling, a few softball questions.
> 
> Could you give a short history of this library?

In 2006 I rewrote Intel's internal VLSI CAD foundational geometry classes for point and rectangle etc. to try to make the interfaces generic.
I brought the design to boost and got quite a bit of direction on how to improve it.
I added manhattan and 45-degree polygon set operations (and polygon types) in 2007.
In 2008 I added arbitrary angle polgyon set operations (and type) and finished rewriting the library interfaces based upon the design feedback I had gotten from boost and my own ideas.
Earlier this year I presented GTL at boostcon
I renamed the library to Boost.Polygon and am not under review. 

> How long has it been in development?

Since late 2005.  Before that other developers at Intel wrote a lot of code that I was able to learn a great deal from.  I was able to review the implementations of at least half a dozen implementatiions of sweep line and polygon clipping algorithms.

> Is it in current use?  If so, how and where.

It is currently in use by 13+ software development teams within Intel's VLSI CAD department for a comparable number of different internal CAD tools.  I have 40+ developers actively using the library within Intel.

It is in use by at least one external EDA startup where a former Intel employee who knew it had been open sourced wanted to use it.

> Does this library have any affiliation with Intel?

It was developed as internal software at Intel and is used that way and we have licensed it as open source.

> Thanks for submitting this greatly needed library.  A lightweight,
> boost friendly geometry library would be very useful.

Thanks for saying so,
Luke