Re: [boost] Formal Review Request: Boost.Contract

Subject: Re: [boost] Formal Review Request: Boost.Contract
From: Ronald Garcia (rxg_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-06-07 16:21:05

Hello,

I have received your request and have added Contract to the review schedule.

Best,
Ron

On Jun 4, 2012, at 1:37 PM, Lorenzo Caminiti wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> I have released Contract++ 0.4.0 on SourceForge. If ever accepted into
> Boost, this library will be Boost.Contract (and all macros/symbols
> will be prefixed by BOOST_/boost::).
> 
> This library implements Contract Programming for the C++ programming
> language (see the end of this email). In addition, the library
> implements virtual specifiers (final, override, and new, see C++11),
> concept checking, and named parameters.
> This library is implemented for the C++03 standard and it does not
> require C++11.
> 
> Documentation:
> http://contractpp.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/contractpp/releases/contractpp_0_4_0/doc/html/index.html
> 
> Source:
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/contractpp/files/latest/download
> 
> I would like to request a formal Boost review of the library.
> 
> Comments are welcome!
> 
> Thanks,
> --Lorenzo
> 
> INTRODUCTION
> 
> Contract Programming is also known as Design by Contract(TM) and it
> was first introduced by the Eiffel programming language. All Contract
> Programming features of the Eiffel programming language are supported
> by this library, among others:
> 
> * Support for preconditions, postconditions, class invariants, block
> invariants, and loop variants.
> * Subcontract derived classes (with support for pure virtual functions
> and multiple inheritance).
> * Access expression old values and function return value in postconditions.
> * Optional compilation and checking of preconditions, postconditions,
> class invariants, block invariants, and loop variants.
> * Customizable actions on contract assertion failure (terminate by
> default but it can throw, exit, etc).
> 
> All features:
> http://contractpp.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/contractpp/releases/contractpp_0_4_0/doc/html/contract__/contract_programming_overview.html#contract__.contract_programming_overview.features
> 
> EXAMPLE
> 
> The example below shows how to use this library to program contracts
> for the STL member function std::vector::push_back (in order to
> illustrate subcontracting, the vector class inherits from the somewhat
> arbitrary pushable base class).
> 
> #include <contract.hpp> // This library.
> #include <boost/concept_check.hpp>
> #include <vector>
> #include "pushable.hpp" // Some base class.
> 
> CONTRACT_CLASS(
>    template( typename T ) requires( boost::CopyConstructible<T> ) // Concepts.
>    class (vector) extends( public pushable<T> ) // Subcontracting.
> ) {
>    CONTRACT_CLASS_INVARIANT_TPL(
>        empty() == (size() == 0) // More class invariants here...
>    )
> 
>    public: typedef typename std::vector<T>::size_type size_type;
>    public: typedef typename std::vector<T>::const_reference const_reference;
> 
>    CONTRACT_FUNCTION_TPL(
>        public void (push_back) ( (T const&) value ) override
>            precondition(
>                size() < max_size() // More preconditions here...
>            )
>            postcondition(
>                auto old_size = CONTRACT_OLDOF size(), // Old-of values.
>                size() == old_size + 1 // More postconditions here...
>            )
>    ) {
>        vector_.push_back(value); // Original function body.
>    }
> 
>    // Rest of class here (possibly with more contracts)...
>    public: bool empty ( void ) const { return vector_.empty(); }
>    public: size_type size ( void ) const { return vector_.size(); }
>    public: size_type max_size ( void ) const { return vector_.max_size(); }
>    public: const_reference back ( void ) const { return vector_.back(); }
> 
>    private: std::vector<T> vector_;
> };
> 
> NOTES
> 
> This library suffers of two limitations:
> 
> 1. The unusual syntax used to declare classes and functions within the
> macros which causes cryptic compiler errors when not used correctly
> (syntax error checking and reporting could be somewhat improved in
> future revisions of the library but there are fundamental limitations
> on what can be done using the preprocessor).
> http://contractpp.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/contractpp/releases/contractpp_0_4_0/doc/html/contract__/grammar.html#syntax_error_warning_anchor
> 
> 2. High compilation times (the authors have not tried to optimize the
> library proprocessor and template meta-programming code yet, that will
> be the focus of future releases).
> http://contractpp.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/contractpp/releases/contractpp_0_4_0/doc/html/contract__/contract_programming_overview.html#compilation_time_warning_anchor
> 
> This library could be extended to also support concept definitions (at
> least for C++11):
> http://contractpp.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/contractpp/releases/contractpp_0_4_0/doc/html/contract__/concepts.html#contract__.concepts.concept_definitions__not_implemented_
> 
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