Re: [Boost-users] General Boost documentation

From: Sebastian Redl (sebastian.redl_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-04-24 12:00:51

James Hughes wrote:

>Slightly off topic, but what I would find a great help with regards to
>learning Boost is a better description on what each library can do, and more
>importantly, what problems it solves.
>
>For example, perhaps someone has a problem they need to solve that a Boost
>lib will help with, but just reading through the top level of the
>documentation may not give them enough of a hint that this is the case.
>  
>
This issue has recently been the subject of discussion on the developer 
list. I can't remember exactly what the outcome was, though. If you have 
any concrete suggestions on how to make the library overview without 
making it unreadably long, we'd love to hear them.

>My pet one is simple loading and saving of configuration information in XML.
>Which library should/can I use for that? Serialisation? Or is there a better
>option? Or is there a boost lib in the wings perhaps aimed at that
>particular task?
>  
>
The property_tree library currently under review can do exactly that. 
The Serialization library can load and save XML, but only in its own 
particular format, i.e. you cannot make it load a schema you have 
externally defined.

>Another is Boost::graph - I see lots of questions about it on the list, but
>what real world problems does it solve?
>  
>
That's what studying computer science is about: learning how to solve 
problems. Having learned graph theory, the simple statement that 
Boost.Graph helps with graph problems is worth a lot to me. There is no 
way to explain in a short statement what kinds of problems the library 
solves. Many kinds problems can be mapped to graphs.

Sebastian Redl