Re: [Boost-users] Getting started with Boost: what did you need to know?

From: Rush Manbert (rush_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-02-01 12:41:59

I haven't had time to read all the responses to this, so I apologize if 
I have duplicated someone else's reply.

It would be good to know what the experienced users consider to be the 
"everyday" or "basic" parts of Boost. The safe casts come to mind. I 
guess what I'm thinking of is something along the lines of "even if you 
use nothing else from this library collection, the following minimum set 
will help you write safer C++ code."

I suspect that many of us first start using Boost because we're trying 
to solve some specific problem. (I was looking for a platform-neutral 
filesystem library.) We find the library we need and we use it. Then we 
have another problem to solve, so we find the library that helps there. 
Then one day we have the time to read through all of the library 
descriptions and we find things that we want to use, and we realize that 
we should go through all of the code we have written since we started 
using Boost, and replace error prone things with better Boost things. 
But by then we don't have time/our code has worked reliably for quite a 
while/something else stops us, and we can't really do that. It would 
have been nice to have read about those useful, basic things in the 
beginning.

Other than that, the only thing you might add are testimonials on the 
home page. Everything I have used (and it's a whole lot more than the 
filesystem library by now) just works. My experience with other open 
source code has not been so seamless and easy, so I really appreciate 
this about Boost, and I thank all those who have contributed to it.

- Rush