[boost] [GSOC] XML library of Boost

Subject: [boost] [GSOC] XML library of Boost
From: Amos Ji (jmc891205_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-04-28 14:08:01

Hi All,

I'm a graduate student from Fudan University in China. And I hope to
contribute some code to Boost during the GSOC.

I've scanned the idea page. The ideas in the page are all very interesting
and challenging. But what I'm interested in most is XML library, which is
at the bottom of page. I think the XML format is the most popular standard
for storing information so it's important for Boost to have a good XML
library.

However, I know Boost contains RapidXML in property_tree library to parse
XML file. So what I want to make sure is I need to implement a new XML
parser in this project instead of make enhancement for RapidXML. Am I
correct? If so, I have some ideas to share with you.

In my opinion, an XML parser must be able to do these things:

   1. To Iterate over DOM nodes tree;
   2. To access the values of nodes and their attributes quickly;
   3. To insert or delete nodes or attribute of an exact node easily;
   4. To generate new XML from the structure which stores XML in the
   library.

And there are some optional function too:

   1. To support XPATH;
   2. To validate whether the XML file is valid;
   3. To support various encoding;
   4. To manage memory better;
   5. To support regular expression.

The ideas are not mature now. I'll improve them in my proposal.
In fact, it's not easy to implement a perfect XML parser but I'll do my
best.

And I have another question. Who will mentor this XML library project?

Thanks for your patience to read this email.

Sincerely,
Mingchao

-- 
Amos Ji(Mingchao Ji)
Master in School of Information Science and Engineering, Fudan University
MSN: jmc891205_at_[hidden]
E-mail: jmc891205_at_[hidden]