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Review Result: Circular Buffer
by Pavel Vozenilek 23 Mar '04

23 Mar '04

The circular_buffer library by Jan Gaspar has been accepted into Boost. The reviews were helpful in finding at least one issue with the library and few ones with its documentation. Thanks to all reviewers for the time and effort! Post-review version 3.7 will be released before code gets into main CVS. Main points to be addressed: - issue of copy construction versus construct/destruct has been cleared (the problem was created by me) - documentation should list exception safety for every function - documentation may add some rationale on its internal data structures and their advantage over std::deque - portability problems should be solved - adaptor with notification when oldest element gets pushed out of bufer may be added Other points that may be considered: - name of data() function - existence of push_back(void) like functions - using new iterator adaptors - difference between resize/set_capacity may be more emphasized in docs, - other fixes/improvements suggested during review. Thanks for professional quality work, Jano. /Pavel

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Formal Review: Indexed Set
by Pavel Vozenilek 19 Mar '04

19 Mar '04

The review of Indexed Set library, written by Joaquín M López Muñoz starts today (March 20) and runs for 10 days. Latest version (9.4) of the library is available on: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/indexed_set.zip (328 kB) What it is? indexed_set is generic, STL compliant container providing one or more views on its data. These views allow to use data sorted according to different criteria. Change in container data is automatically propagated into all views. How many views and what ordering is applied is specified in declarative way, as template parameter. What it is good for? - it can replace multiple collections of data and hand-written code keeping them in sync. - it can replace standard containers (as std::set or std::list) if these may not meet future reqirements. - it can serve as basic for other libraries. For example RTL (relational tables library) may use indexed_set to hold its data. Other features of indexed_set: - sorting can be performed on result of member function (similar to calculated indexes in RDBMS). - indexed_set can be used as 'wrapper' over other data structures, e.g you can see data in std::vector as being sorted in set-like structure (but without structures being synchronized). - many, many others ... Future development: - planned functionality is described on its own page in documentation. - indexed_set may also implement access to its data in the same way as std::deque, with random O(1) access History of the project: - it started as 'bimap' library more than year ago, - some two dozen iterations were released, - several Boost people expressed their interest or did suggest features. Boost-wide reusable parts of the library: - indexed_set includes (nearly verbatim) copy of Andrei Alexandresu ScopeGuard. It is intended as stop-gap until Boost wide library emerges. - maybe auto_space.hpp can be liften into utilities. Portability: - see document page for list of compilers and their issues - Can someone try to run tests under release mode of VC 6.5? We got different results with different machines. Word from the autor: "Thank you for reviewing indexed_set. There are several points, mostly concerning naming, that I'd like to be discussed during the review. You can find these at the URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/indexed_set_review_notes.html If you evaluate the library and deem it acceptable for Boost, please walk the extra mile and express your opinions about the issues brought forward in the review notes. Naming issues are quite sensitive, and I'd like to reach as general a consensus as possible." Your review comments are welcomed. Found problems and suggestions for documentation are highly sought. Requests for new features requests may shape way indexed_set will evolve in future. As naming questions can generate lot of mail-list traffic, I'll start separate thread to deal with them. /Pavel

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Formal Review: Circular Buffer
by Pavel Vozenilek 04 Mar '04

04 Mar '04

The review of Jan Gaspar's Circular Buffer library starts today (March 5th) and runs for 10 days. Latest version of the library is available at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/circular_buffer_v3.6.zip What it is: Circular buffer (also known as ring or cyclic buffer) is container with fixed upper limit on number of elements inside. When capacity gets exhausted newly inserted elements will cause oldest elements to get dropped out. What makes the library Boost candidate: - it provides often used functionality, - it is STL compliant generic solution, - it is designed for CPU/memory efficiency, - it is fully documented and tested, - it contains extensive debug support, - it has been informally reviewed for long time. Discovered problems in code or in documentation, missing features, portability issues and finally opinion whether the library belongs to Boost is welcomed. /Pavel

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FC++ Formal review is now in progress (2/13-2/23)
by Mat Marcus 13 Feb '04

13 Feb '04

The formal review of fcpp by Brian McNamara and Yannis Smaragdakis is now in progress, runiing from Friday February 13th at 12 noon, PST and and run to Monday, February 23rd, 12 noon PST. The library is currently available at <http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~yannis/fc++/boostpaper/> Here is a brief introduction to the library: FC++ is a library for doing functional programming in C++. The library provides a general framework to support various functional programming aspects, such as higher-order polymorphic functions, currying, lazy evaluation, and lambda. In addition to the framework, FC++ also provides a large library of useful functions and data types. The main utility of the library comes from its ability to implement functional programming designs, especially those which use higher-order polymorphic functions or lazy evaluation in significant ways. The library also contains a number of ancillary components that implement features like currying and lambda for function objects; these features are also useful in their own right. For information about submitting a Formal Review, see <http://www.boost.org/more/formal_review_process.htm> Please try out the library and read the documentation and say whether or not you think the library should be accepted by Boost and why. Compiler notes: This library has been tested with icc7 and with gcc-3.1.1 (and various other gcc-3.x.y versions) on Solaris and Linux. The library is also likely to compile on VC++7.1 and Comeau (prior versions of the library succeeded with these compilers, but this particular snapshot has not been tested with them). The library covers a great deal of the C++ language and thus requires a high degree of standard conformance; compilers like gcc-2.95.x and VC++6 will not be able to compile the library. Getting started: The web page http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~yannis/fc++/boostpaper/ mentions all the basics: The zip file will expand into these subdirectories: fcpp/fcpp/ # the library (.hpp) files fcpp/fcpp_clients/ # the example (.cpp) files Running the examples just involves invoking the complier with the right #include paths; for example, # in the fcpp_clients directory g++ -I/path/to/boost -I../fcpp some_example.cpp There is also a gnu-style Makefile included with the clients (examples), which will compile all of the examples in batch (you will have to edit a tiny bit at the top of the Makefile). The examples in the clients directory are a mix of both (regression-type) tests cases which cover the features of the library and example applications which demonstrate some of the library's utility. The README file in the client directory gives a short explanation of some of the more interesting clients. The documentation at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~yannis/fc++/boostpaper/ provides a walkthrough and reference for most of the main features of the library. There are also some pointers out to other papers and documentation on the main FC++ web site: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~yannis/fc++/ Conformance to Boost guidelines: The library meets most of the requirements described at http://www.boost.org/more/lib_guide.htm Here are a few notable exceptions: - the current library headers are too "monolithic"; you #include "prelude.hpp" and suck in all of the library - some of the lambda internals should be rewritten to use MPL rather than hand-rolled metaprogramming code - only a few of the example programs utilize the Boost testing framework (to automate regression testing) Should the library be accepted into Boost, Brian will remedy these deficiencies. (If you notice other major problems along these lines, please bring them to Brian's attention during the review.) The Formal Review manager is Mat Marcus.

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Boost release 1.31.0 is available
by Beman Dawes 09 Feb '04

09 Feb '04

Boost release 1.31.0 is available. See the www.boost.org home page for latest news about what's in the release. Or go right to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7586 to download. Thanks to everyone who helped with this release. The folks that run the regression tests and review the release candidates get a special pat on the back. Due to compiler updates, three shipping and one soon-to-ship C++ compiler now pass almost all of Boost's regression tests. A year ago, no compilers could do that. --Beman PS: Sorry if this is a duplicate. Several people have reported they never got the original announcement.

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Boost release 1.31.0 is available
by Beman Dawes 05 Feb '04

05 Feb '04

Boost release 1.31.0 is available. See the www.boost.org home page for latest news about what's in the release. Or go right to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7586 to download. Thanks to everyone who helped with this release. The folks that run the regression tests and review the release candidates get a special pat on the back. Due to compiler updates, three shipping and one soon-to-ship C++ compiler now pass almost all of Boost's regression tests. A year ago, no compilers could do that. --Beman

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Mail Delivery System
by wekempf＠cox.net 05 Feb '04

05 Feb '04

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HI
by jens.maurer＠gmx.net 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment.

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Numeric Conversion Review Results
by Thorsten Ottosen 28 Dec '03

28 Dec '03

Dear All, I'm pleased to announce that Fernando Cacciola's Numeric Conversion library is accepted into boost. Although it was not clear how all advanced issues should be resolved (see below), I think there is a solid foundation on which to improve the library. Bjarne Stroupstrup has said that good languages are not merely designed to be good, but they are grown into good languages; IMO, the same holds for libraries. The rest of this mail has this agenda: 1) statistics 2) issues 3) improvements that must be made (1) Statistics -------------------- Here is how people voted: people doing a review: 9 people voting yes: 7 people voting no: 0 people not voting: 2 Some general comments: Only one person was *really* knowlegable about the floating point numbers; the rest of us did our best to try to understand. Luckily the most simple part of the library was fairly easily evaluated. As for the more advanced part, it seemed to me that many had too little time to do a thoughrough review (myself included) and it was a bit hard to come up with a test program where all of the lib could be tested. (2) Issues: ---------------- Below are some of the most important issues that came up during the review. a) Float to int conversions incremented the integer value. Fernando thinks it can be healed with a custom specialization of the rounder policies for these types. b) The library should be put in its own directory. c) Improved UDT support (if it is necessary). There are several physical quantity libs being built and it remains to be seen if those people can use it. d) Long to float conversion: Consider Andy Little's example: int main() { long x = std::numeric_limits<long>::max(); std::cout.precision(16); std::cout << x <<'\n'; float y = x; std::cout << y << '\n'; x = y; std::cout << x <<'\n'; } /* output from test.exe: 2147483647 2147483648 -2147483648 */ Fernando agued that this should not be checked by his library. The documentation should definitely document what conversion it cannot be used to convert. (3) improvements that must be made -------------------------------------- (a) more and enhanced documentation. There was a lot of people requesting more examples, relations between different parts of the library. And a getting started guide would be good too. Maybe the easy parts should be cleanly separated from the more advanced parts. A consistent use of fonts for math, code, emphasis, definitions is needed. Fernando should seek the authors of the existing numeric_cast documentation permission to reuse some of their documentation. In general there was no huge design decision that was being deemed unacceptable. Thanks to everybody who took part of the review. best regards Thorsten -- review manager

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Numeric Conversion Formal Review
by Thorsten Ottosen 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

Dear all, The review of Fernando Cacciola Numeric Conversion library starts today (8th of Dec.) and runs until the 22th of December. >From the introduction: "The Boost Numeric Conversion library is a collection of tools to describe and perform conversions between values of different numeric types. The library includes a special alternative for a subset of std::numeric_limits<>, the bounds<> traits class, which provides a consistent way to obtain the boundary values for the range of a numeric type. It also includes a set of trait classes which describes the compile-time properties of a conversion from a source to a target numeric type. Both arithmetic and user-defined numeric types can be used." If you intend to make a review, then please read all of this mail. 1. The library can be downloaded in the files-section at yahoo (the file is called "numeric_conversions.zip") 2. Fernando and I are aware that the documentation could be more "tidy", but we don't think it will hinder any serious review. 3. Please try to work with Fernando if there arises compiler problems etc. Even of some compiler problems cannot be overcome, please try to focus on a useful subset of the functionality 4. Please follow the guidelines described at http://www.boost.org/more/formal_review_process.htm#Comments, in particular, remember to answer these (it makes it a lot easier to be a review manager) a.. What is your evaluation of the design? b.. What is your evaluation of the implementation? c.. What is your evaluation of the documentation? d.. What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the library? e.. Did you try to use the library? With what compiler? Did you have any problems? f.. How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick reading? In-depth study? g.. Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain? h.. 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. best regards Thorsten - review manager

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