[Boost-announce] [boost] [Boost.Endian] Review Results

Subject: [Boost-announce] [boost] [Boost.Endian] Review Results
From: joel falcou (joel.falcou_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-11-03 14:53:03

Hi everyone,

after some delay, here is the result of the review of Beman Dawes' Boost.Endian library. First, I want to thanks all participants
of the review that lead to very deep and interesting discussions on the matter.

5 votes were cast : 2 unconditionally in favor, 3 conditionally in favor after changes made and there is a mini-review.
The verdict is that Boost.Endian is **CONDITIONNALY ACCEPTED**

Here is what needs to be done to get the library ready for a mini-review:

* Common use case scenarios should be developed.
* Example programs should be developed for the common use case scenarios.
* Documentation should illuminate the differences between endian integer/float type and endian conversion approaches to the common use case scenarios, and provide guidelines for choosing the most appropriate approach in user's applications.
* Conversion functions supplying results via return should be provided.
* Platform specific performance enhancements such as use of compiler intrinsics or relaxed alignment requirements should be supported.
* Endian integer (and floating) types should be implemented via the conversion functions. If that can't be done efficiently, consideration should be given to expanding the conversion function signatures to resolve the inefficiencies.
* Benchmarks that measure performance should be provided. It should be possible to compare platform specific performance enhancements against portable base implementations, and to compare endian integer approaches against endian conversion approaches for the common use case scenarios.
* Float (32-bits) and double (64-bits) should be supported. IEEE 754 is the primary use case.
* Support for user defined types (UDTs) is desirable, and should be provided where there would be no conflict with the other concerns.
* There is some concern that endian integer/float arithmetic operations might used inadvertently or inappropriately. The impact of adding an endian_buffer class without arithmetic operations should be investigated.
* Stream insertion and extraction of the endian integer/float types should be documented and included in the test coverage.
* Binary I/O support that was investigated during development of the Endian library should be put up for mini-review for inclusion in the Boost I/O library.

From this point, I will let Beman prepare Endian for the mini-review and I already volunteer to manage the mini-review so informations are not scattered around.

Regards

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