Re: [boost] [circular_buffer] New version of documentation

Subject: Re: [boost] [circular_buffer] New version of documentation
From: Paul A. Bristow (pbristow_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-05-29 12:11:09

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boost [mailto:boost-bounces_at_[hidden]] On Behalf Of Marshall Clow
> Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 8:01 PM
> To: boost_at_[hidden]
> Subject: Re: [boost] [circular_buffer] Volunteer(s) needed

After more work than I bargained for (see below for excuses)

I have produced a Quickbook, Doxygen, Autoindex version from the existing documentation  for
Boost.Circular_Buffer at 

https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/libs/circular_buffer/doc/circular_buffer.html

I have made few substantive changes to the text, mainly adding more hyperlinks, 
(and correcting some that were wrong of missing - using the inspect tool is a really, really good
idea!)

So that users can comment on this new version, I have put html and pdf versions in my Dropbox.

The pdf version is at 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43940943/circular_buffer.pdf

which can of course be viewed by any PDF reader (I have recently moved to using Foxit instead of
Adobe Reader).

The html Quickbook version is from folder (libs/circular_buffer/doc/html)  the at

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43940943/html/index.html	

(Sadly some of the icon .png files are inaccessible from the Dropbox version, which mars its beauty
but you'll get the idea).

This library uses the full automatic indexing of C++ names and hyperlinking to and from the text.

The header files have the classes and functions fully documented in Doxygen format,
and this is used to create the C++ reference sections:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43940943/html/boost_circular_buffer_c___reference.html

to that you can see what the classes do and the parameters, template parameters, returns etc for the
functions.
I believe that these details are essential for Really Useful documentation.  

The original Doxygen standalone (whose format some users prefer) is at

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43940943/doxygen/html/index.html

So you can see the pros and cons of the same information displayed side by side.

The PDF and HTML versions also has an index at the end (this could be improved as it only gives C++
functions etc at present).

Enjoy! (?)

Comments welcome - praise preferred ;-)

Paul

PS Implementation notes:

To get all the links correct proved *very* tiresome.  

Much of the trouble was inconsistent layout of existing documentation and files.
IMO we need to use the GITMOD project to impose much more order on the file structure.
I fear that the modularization changes will invalidate many links in documentation, so much revision
will be needed :-(
We must be able to predict where index.html etc will be to be able to write links without the
current hassle.

The Boost inspect tool proved invaluable, and all links are now reported correct. 
(Lots were wrong - in Doxygen comments in the header files, and in the Quickbook stuff :-(  )

Despite this, there are still some sections in red where the html layout is wrong :-(
I hope to find all of these in a later revision.

---
Paul A. Bristow,
Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal LA8 8AB  UK
[phone]  07714330204
pbristow_at_[hidden]