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Re: [Boost-users] General Boost documentation
by James Hughes 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

> 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 unreadable long, we'd love to hear them. Even a simple list of common problems solved (or if inapplicable, the area of computer theory covered by the component) at the top level of the docs would help I think. Some (most) of the short descriptions are already pretty good (I think that now, but when I first looked they were rather bewildering), but for the more complicated libs, maybe more information would be useful. For example, Property map is described thus "Concepts defining interfaces which map key objects to value objects". At first glance this seems to be pretty similar to stl::map (to someone new perhaps to both Boost and STL), so perhaps needs little more explanation at the top level as to what it's for. > > >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. > Already did that - although it was twenty years ago! Problem with Computer Science degrees I always thought (and that's what I did), was the lack of real world application. A lot of theory, and *some* good stuff on application, but not enough. Graph theory is a good example - I understand the concepts (even from twenty years ago), but have never been given enough examples of real world application to be able to apply it myself (perhaps I have never had a need of course!). James > Sebastian Redl > _______________________________________________ > Boost-users mailing list > Boost-users(a)lists.boost.org > http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-users >

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[date_time] Need help with a couple simple problems
by Scott 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

I've spent a couple hours looking over the docs for the date-time library but still haven't been able to figure out how to do what I need to do. I'm hoping someone on this list can shed some light on how to solve my problems. I'm creating a logging system for our software and each log is timestamped. I want to store in a file the boost::posix_time::ptime of each log. I realize ptime supports boost::serialization, but we had to pull the boost::serialization code from our server because of really strange errors (DLL exceptions, DLLs getting unloaded while serializing, etc). What's the best way to serialize/deserialize a ptime? The file is in a binary format, so the most compact format is preferred. I'm storing the ptime for each log in UTC, however I would like to convert it to local time when the log is displayed. I saw all kinds of conversions to local time, but all of them had the time zone hard coded. Is there a simple way to just convert UTC to the time zone of the computer? Thanks for any and all help, Scott

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Boost::Test without main?
by Johannes 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

In one of our applications we develop modules that are loaded in to another application (AutoCAD). Since we don't have access to the main function and the modules don't work outside of the application I was wondering if there is a way to make Boost::Test work in an ordinary function? I have not been able to find any such information. /Johannes

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fixed point arithmetic
by Raider 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

Is fixed point arithmetic available it Boost libraries? Or, may be, suggested for new versions of Boost? Raider

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repost: undefined symbols
by Olivier Destrebecq 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

I'm including the serialization library in the library I'm building. It compiles without errors but produces a lot of warning (~1600): serialization/base_object.hpp:136:57: warning: "__MWERKS__" is not defined serialization/base_object.hpp:147:60: warning: "__BORLANDC__" is not defined archive/basic_xml_iarchive.hpp:41:41: warning: "BOOST_MSVC" is not defined archive/basic_text_oprimitive.hpp:29:51: warning: "BOOST_DINKUMWARE_STDLIB" is not defined I'm building on a mac (10.4.6, intel), and the header file in which I'm including the serialization stuff looks like this: #include <string> #include <sstream> #include <boost/archive/tmpdir.hpp> #include <boost/archive/xml_iarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/xml_oarchive.hpp> Any help appreciated Thanks, Olivier Destrebecq olivierd(a)real.com

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BGL compared to LEDA
by xiao-hui.wu＠exxonmobil.com 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

Has anyone compared the performance of Boost Graph Library with LEDA? The following is a link I received that contains some comparisons. I would like to know your experience since I am trying to decide which one is more appropriate for my problems. http://www.quappa.com/leda-outperforms-boost.htm I like the generic interface of BGL, although LEDA has a C# counterpart called GOAL, which uses C# interfaces. I am not sure if the performance of GOAL matches LEDA, but it seems to provide some customization capability. Thanks in advance for your feedbacks and suggestions. Xiao-Hui Wu

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Lambda expressions and VC++6
by Sliwa, Przemyslaw (London) 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

Hi, I just wanted to know if Lambda expressions are supported by VC++6.0 SP5 compiler. Thanks for help, Pshemek Kind regards Pshemek Przemyslaw Sliwa Global Foreign Exchange FX Risk Engine Development Merrill Lynch ( +44 (0)20 7995 4182 ) +44 (0)79 6325 2319 * Email: przemyslaw_sliwa(a)ml.com -------------------------------------------------------- If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, please notify the sender, delete it and do not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute it. Click here for important additional terms relating to this e-mail. http://www.ml.com/email_terms/ --------------------------------------------------------

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Boost regexp (Perl) throws initialization error for [^\0x21-\0xfe]
by Brad Barber 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

If my code contains the following regexp, const boost::tregex non_printables(__T("[^\0x21-\0x7E]+")); The program throws the following dialog box on initialization. The stack trace follows. Please forward to someone who cares :-) The following regexp, works as expected const boost::tregex non_printables(__T("[^!-~]+")); --Brad ntdll.dll!_KiFastSystemCallRet@0() ntdll.dll!_ZwWaitForMultipleObjects@20() + 0xc bytes kernel32.dll!_UnhandledExceptionFilter@4() + 0x84b bytes mscoree.dll!_abort() + 0xeb bytes mscoree.dll!terminate() + 0x2a bytes mscoree.dll!__CxxUnhandledExceptionFilter() + 0x39 bytes kernel32.dll!_UnhandledExceptionFilter@4() + 0x149 bytes > msvcr80d.dll!_XcptFilter(unsigned long xcptnum=3765269347, _EXCEPTION_POINTERS * pxcptinfoptrs=0x0007da0c) Line 237 + 0xa bytes C msvcr80d.dll!__CppXcptFilter(unsigned long xcptnum=3765269347, _EXCEPTION_POINTERS * pxcptinfoptrs=0x0007da0c) Line 147 + 0xd bytes C mathdlld.dll!__DllMainCRTStartup(void * hDllHandle=0x01010000, unsigned long dwReason=1, void * lpreserved=0x00000000) Line 517 + 0x17 bytes C msvcr80d.dll!@_EH4_CallFilterFunc@8() + 0x12 bytes Asm mathdlld.dll!_except_handler4(_EXCEPTION_RECORD * ExceptionRecord=0x0007db20, _EXCEPTION_REGISTRATION_RECORD * EstablisherFrame=0x0007e15c, _CONTEXT * ContextRecord=0x0007db40, void * DispatcherContext=0x0007daf4) + 0x22 bytes C ntdll.dll!ExecuteHandler2@20() + 0x26 bytes ntdll.dll!ExecuteHandler@20() + 0x24 bytes ntdll.dll!_KiUserExceptionDispatcher@8() + 0xe bytes kernel32.dll!_RaiseException@16() + 0x52 bytes msvcr80d.dll!_CxxThrowException(void * pExceptionObject=0x0007deb0, const _s__ThrowInfo * pThrowInfo=0x00b98b08) Line 166 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::throw_exception<boost::regex_er ror>(const boost::regex_error & e={...}) Line 40 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::regex_error::raise() Line 74 + 0x9 bytes C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::re_detail::basic_regex_parser<w char_t,boost::regex_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar_t> > >::fail(boost::regex_constants::error_type error_code=error_paren, int position=2) Line 161 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::re_detail::basic_regex_parser<w char_t,boost::regex_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar_t> > >::parse(const wchar_t * p1=0x01735a34, const wchar_t * p2=0x01735a38, unsigned int flags=0) Line 137 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::re_detail::basic_regex_implemen tation<wchar_t,boost::regex_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar _t> > >::assign(const wchar_t * arg_first=0x01735a34, const wchar_t * arg_last=0x01735a38, unsigned int f=0) Line 96 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::basic_regex<wchar_t,boost::rege x_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar_t> > >::do_assign(const wchar_t * p1=0x01735a34, const wchar_t * p2=0x01735a38, unsigned int f=0) Line 524 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::basic_regex<wchar_t,boost::rege x_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar_t> > >::assign(const wchar_t * p1=0x01735a34, const wchar_t * p2=0x01735a38, unsigned int f=0) Line 255 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::basic_regex<wchar_t,boost::rege x_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar_t> > >::assign(const wchar_t * p=0x01735a34, unsigned int f=0) Line 240 C++ boost_regex-vc80-mt-gd-1_33_1.dll!boost::basic_regex<wchar_t,boost::rege x_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_traits<wchar_t> > >::basic_regex<wchar_t,boost::regex_traits<wchar_t,boost::w32_regex_trai ts<wchar_t> > >(const wchar_t * p=0x01735a34, unsigned int f=0) Line 209 C++ mathdlld.dll!`dynamic initializer for 'non_printables''() Line 65 + 0x15 bytes C++ msvcr80d.dll!_initterm(void (void)* * pfbegin=0x01701520, void (void)* * pfend=0x01702e5c) Line 855 C mathdlld.dll!_CRT_INIT(void * hDllHandle=0x01010000, unsigned long dwReason=1, void * lpreserved=0x00000000) Line 313 + 0xf bytes C mathdlld.dll!__DllMainCRTStartup(void * hDllHandle=0x01010000, unsigned long dwReason=1, void * lpreserved=0x00000000) Line 489 + 0x11 bytes C mathdlld.dll!_DllMainCRTStartup(void * hDllHandle=0x01010000, unsigned long dwReason=1, void * lpreserved=0x00000000) Line 459 + 0x11 bytes C ntdll.dll!_LdrpCallInitRoutine@16() + 0x14 bytes ntdll.dll!_LdrpRunInitializeRoutines@4() + 0x1c7 bytes ntdll.dll!_LdrpLoadDll@24() - 0x1b1 bytes ntdll.dll!_LdrLoadDll@16() + 0x110 bytes kernel32.dll!_LoadLibraryExW@12() + 0xc8 bytes regsvr32.exe!_wWinMain@16() + 0x741 bytes regsvr32.exe!_wWinMainCRTStartup() + 0x198 bytes kernel32.dll!_BaseProcessStart@4() + 0x23 bytes

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Re: [Boost-users] General Boost documentation
by James Hughes 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

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. 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? Another is Boost::graph - I see lots of questions about it on the list, but what real world problems does it solve? James ps. If nothing else of course, shared_ptr is ESSENTIAL!! > -----Original Message----- > From: Lynn Allan [mailto:l_d_allan@adelphia.net] > Sent: 24 April 2006 14:25 > To: boost-users(a)lists.boost.org > Subject: Re: [Boost-users] General Boost documentation > > > John Krajewski wrote: > > I'm new to generic programming and finding the various concepts used > > in Boost quite confusing (named parameters, property maps, etc). Is > > there general documentation for the programming methods used in > > Boost? Perhaps a good book to buy? > > <alert comment="boost newbie"> > > Welcome to the club of confused, disoriented newbies <g>. > > Several suggestions: > > * Start with a VERY basic library and try to absorb "The Boost > Mentality". > > * Stair-step up to a somewhat more difficult library ... repeat as > necessary > > * At this point, the Karlsson book, "Beyond the C++ standard library" > might be helpful. For my purposes, the book had helpful regex > examples > (but regex is already relatively well documented, at least > compared to > several of the other Boost libraries I've wrestled with. Xpressive is > very well documented, IMHO) > > * Adapt a mindset that learning Boost is critical to your career, so > giving up is not an option. (and when your neurons align "just so", > Boost is kinda fun <g>) > > * Also a humble attitude ... you are "rubbing shoulders" with some > very smart people who are VERY busy, but passionate about Boost > prevailing in the marketplace. > > * Keep notes to share with others to perhaps shorten their learning > curve. > > I've found participants on this list to be VERY helpful and patient > with newbies, but they won't write your code for you. > > </alert> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Boost-users mailing list > Boost-users(a)lists.boost.org > http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-users >

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Re: [Boost-users] General Boost documentation
by James Hughes 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

> > From: "James Hughes" <JHughes(a)Linx.co.uk> > > 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? > > I'm assuming you are not following the current raging debate > on the boost > developers list, then. Your criterion is 'simple' meaning > simple to use, I > take it.... > Not following the developer list, but have seen the library in the 'up and coming' sectioon, hence the slightly loaded question!! > Currently being reviewed is just such a library, property_tree. > > It solves this particular constrained problem relatively > simply but isn't to > everyone's taste in design and implementation. > > The current debate has an element of 'purist vs pragmatist' > programming. > I'm purely pragmatic myself... > A 'simple' configuration file library *could* have multiple > layers and > components to decouple many different elements of design. In > becoming more > useful and extensible as separate components with clearly > defined roles, it > may perhaps be seen as less easy to use for this one role. > > That said, good motivating examples in documentation *can* > make a seemingly > complex collection of interacting classes seem just as simple > as a dedicated > 'property tree' as currently proposed. > I think that is am important point - an 'example' paints a thousand words as it were. I would add that a 'pragmatic' example is the best sort! > Sit down, relax and read the many current threads on the > developer list or > just go to the boost vault and download property_tree rev 5, > then run for > cover. > > > Another is Boost::graph - I see lots of questions about it > on the list, > > but > > what real world problems does it solve? > > On a more serious note, I completely agree (in general). A few more > motivating examples of problems solved would benefit both > existing and > potential new users. Quite. James

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