Re: [boost] [Review] Boost.Endian by BEman Dawes starts today

Subject: Re: [boost] [Review] Boost.Endian by BEman Dawes starts today
From: Hartmut Kaiser (hartmut.kaiser_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-09-05 18:28:28

> According to the schedule, the review of the Boost.Endian library by Beman
> Dawes starts today.
> 
> ===========
> What is it?
> ===========
> 
> Boost.Endian provides facilities to manipulate the byte ordering of
> integers.
> 
> * The primary use case is binary I/O of integers for portable exchange
> with other systems, via either file or network transmission.
> 
> * A secondary use case is to minimizing storage size via integers of sizes
> and/or alignments not supported by the built-in types. Integers 1, 2, 3,
> 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 bytes in length are supported.
> 
> * Two distinct approaches to byte ordering are provided. Each approach has
> a long history of successful use, and each approach has use cases where it
> is superior to the other approach.
> 
> * The explicit approach provides explicit functions to reorder bytes.
> All four combinations of non-modifying or modifying, and unconditional or
> conditional, functions are provided.
> 
> * The implicit approach provides integer classes that mimic the built-in
> integers, implicitly handling all byte reordering.

Even if this is not a full review, I would like to vote YES to include this
library into Boost.

Boost.Spirit is using (and shipping) with an older version of this library
for several years now and we never had any problems with its usage in
Spirit. It is used as the underlying framework for the binary parsers and
generators and it is functioning as advertised.

As a quick test I replaced the internal (older) version of Boost.Endian in
Spirit with the reviewed version. All of Spirits regression tests still
pass.

Regards Hartmut
---------------
http://boost-spirit.com

> 
> ===================
> Getting the Library
> ===================
> 
> Docs are available at http://boost.cowic.de/rc/endian/doc/index.html
> A zip file is available at http://boost.cowic.de/rc/endian/endian-rc1.zip
> INSTALL instructions at  http://boost.cowic.de/rc/endian/INSTALL
> 
> Alternately, the whole library can be checked out of the sandbox:
> 
>       svn co http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/endian endian
> 
> ================
> Writing a Review
> ================
> 
> The reviews and all comments should be submitted to the developers list,
> and the email should have "[Endian] Review" at the beginning of the
> subject line to make sure it's not missed.
> 
> Please explicitly state in your review whether the library should be
> accepted.
> 
> The general review checklist:
> 
>      - 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.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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