Re: A question for folks here

From: Дмитрий Архипов (grisumbras_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-07-14 10:01:05

I've heard about Boost during my years in college. I started trying
out different libraries to see what they do, and how they work. Boost
quickly became my go-to source of research of advanced C++. Although,
at that point it has also been my main source of knowledge of
essential C++ idioms.

Some time later I found out about build systems (as before that I was
either using IDEs or compilers directly). I guess, due to the
simplicity of acquiring them, the first build systems I encountered
were CMake and Boost.Build. Although technically "Modern CMake" was
already around, it was only getting traction. Thus, the immense
difference in expressiveness between old CMake and Boost.Build made
the latter the obviously superior choice. I still maintain that b2 (as
it is called now) is fundamentally better than even Modern CMake,
which, as I later found out, was explicitly started to replicate some
of the features of Boost.Build.

My first contribution to Boost was actually several improvements to
b2. And a few more years later Vinnie Falco was looking for someone to
replace him as the maintainer of Boost.JSON. I decided to apply, and
have been employed by the C++ Alliance since then. I am extremely
grateful for this opportunity, as maintaining an open source library
is actually a pretty fun job which doesn't come by often. I still do
some Boost stuff not "on the clock", for example I recently managed a
library review.

So, to summarise, Boost was very useful for me in college, and then at
work (it was a company policy to prefer Boost to custom solutions). I
am still using Boost for my personal stuff, and I don't see myself
switching to standard library components, just for the sake of them
being in the standard. And while the size of my involvement in Boost
is the result of me being employed to maintain a Boost library, even
if we cut ties with the Alliance, I still see myself participating in
the community and making code contributions.

ср, 10 июл. 2024 г. в 17:48, David Sankel via Boost <boost_at_[hidden]>:
>
> For those who got involved in Boost within the last couple years, how did
> you hear about boost? What attracted you to it?
>
> For those who have been around for a while, what keeps you here? Why do you
> stay engaged?