[boost] [boost::endian] Request for comments/interest

Subject: [boost] [boost::endian] Request for comments/interest
From: Tomas Puverle (tomas.puverle_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-05-26 12:37:06

I wrote an endian library on the flight back from boostcon but it has taken a
little time to clear the submission with the firm.

I realize that Beman's endian swapper library is already in the review queue but
I hope my approach is different and interesting enough to warrant consideration.
It's located here in the vault (Utilities/endian-puverle.zip):

http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=endian-puverle.zip&directory=Utilities&

The highlights of the library are the following:
        - Very simple interface: swap<machine_to_little/big>(),
swap_in_place<machine_to_little/big>()
        - Support for built-in and user-defined data types and ranges thereof. E.g. you
can swap ranges of structs containing/deriving from other structs
        - endian::iterator, which will iterate across a range swapping values as
necessary.  It works with any swappable type.
        
The library is described/documented/tested in the file main.cpp at the root of
the zip archive.

Unfinished items:
        - Right now, the library only includes the "vanilla" swapper, meaning it
doesn't take advantage of special instructions on architectures which natively
support endian conversion.  I didn't include this in order to prevent cluttering
the code with #ifdefs.  This functionality would, however, be part of the final
library.
        - Ideally, the metafunction is_mutable_range<> should be moved out of
endian::detail and become part of Boost.Range of Boost.TypeTraits.

I have donned by bulletproof vest and I'm ready for any feedback you may have. :)

Tom