June 2012 - Boost - lists.preview.boost.org

Tickets 6123 an 7023
by Luke Camden 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Hi, Is anyone willing to commit these patches for me? If the process is not too involved I don't mind rtfm & DIY as an answer. Cheers, Luke

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[1.50.0] Boost release 1.50.0 available
by Beman Dawes 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Release 1.50.0 of the Boost C++ Libraries is now available. These open-source libraries work well with the C++ Standard Library, and are usable across a broad spectrum of applications. The Boost license encourages both commercial and non-commercial use. This release contains four new libraries (Algorithm, Functional/OverloadedFunction, LocalFunction and Utility/IdentityType) and numerous enhancements and bug fixes for existing libraries. For details, including download links, see http://www.boost.org/users/news/version_1_50_0 You can also download directly from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.50.0/ To install this release on your system, see http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/release/more/getting_started/index.html Thanks, --The Boost release team Beman Dawes Daniel James Eric Niebler Marshall Clow Rene Rivera Vladimir Prus

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Re: [boost] Policy proposal: All user-visible exceptions should be thrown through BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION
by Brian Wood 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Emil Dotchevski: >On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 7:46 AM, Brian Wood <woodbrian77(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Emil Dotchevski: >> >> > >> > There are 3 aspects of boost::throw_exception: >> > >> > 1) it enables libraries to support BOOST_NO_EXCEPTIONS configurations, >> > 2) it enables boost::error_info, and >> > 3) it enables boost::exception_ptr. >> > >> > 1) and 2) have nothing to do with threads; 3) implements >> > std::exception_ptr, which mostly benefits multi-thread programs (until >> > compilers catch up with std::exception_ptr support.) >> > >> > The cost imposed by libraries that use boost::throw_exception to programs >> > that don't use boost::exception_ptr or boost::error_info is that sizeof() >> > the exception object grows a little. >> >> I'd appreciate a way at compile time to let Boost Exception know >> I'm using it in a single threaded application and it wouldn't add stuff >> to the exception object that isn't needed. Also MSDN says, >> "Most applications do not have to transport exceptions between threads." >> > > There are exception_ptr use cases for single threaded programs. I'm not asking for this to be the default even for single threaded programs. I'd like it to be something that a user could opt out of if they want to. (This is all based on the possibilty that Boost Exception could become required. If that doesn't happen, this request wouldn't be very pressing from my perspective.) I haven't found much on use cases in single threaded programs. Do you have any links? I did find the following comment in some code that uses exception_ptr. "The reason here is that construction/destruction of an exception_ptr are not "cheap"" Shalom, Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net

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Exact Decimal library
by Andrew Robb 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Introduction C++ needs UTF-8 text (Boost.Locale) and exact decimal types support. Together they allow full processing of modern business text. Normal existing binary exponent types (float, double and long double) are not suitable for exact decimal numbers. The IEEE 754-2008 decimal exponent types should be allowed in binary files. Most processors already use IEEE 754-1985 for binary exponent types. IBM processors already support IEEE 754-2008 decimal exponent types in hardware and can used for optimization for exact decimal. Other processors may use fixed-point exact decimal. Exact Decimal Exact decimal numbers indicate not only the value but also the precision. Thus 0.3 and 0.30 indicate the same value but with different precisions. With rounding, the value 0.3 indicates a value between 0.25 and 0.35 but the value 0.30 indicates a value between 0.295 and 0.305. These are different ranges albeit different around the same centres but must be considered different because of their precisions. Currency values are ‘exact’ as there is no legal or commercial meaning in between the smallest adjacent values defined precision. Even when the GBP went decimal with a halfpenny coin, most banks would only keep values to the penny. A lot of normal commercial exact decimal values can be held in 32-bit with fixed-point decimal to 2 places (USD, EUR and GBP currencies) up to about 20,000.00 - more than enough for weekly groceries. As such, they are as quick as 32-bit integers for addition and subtraction an nearly as fast for multiplying too. Exact decimal processing would not require IEEE 754-2008 decimal exponent types and could use decimal fixed-point indest. Indeed, the range of significand could be more than used by IEEE 754-2008 decimal exponent types (e.g. java.math.BigDecimal). Embedded processors can support fast exact decimal their own way (floating or fixed). http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1169.pdf Extensions to support embedded processors must not give a general range decimal fixed-points. http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1176.pdf Extension for the programming language C to support decimal floating-point arithmetic. Again, from IBM and not for decimal fixed-point type. http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2009/n2849.pdf Extension for the programming language C++ to support decimal floating-point arithmetic. Unfortunately the paper looks only at the IEEE 754-2008 hardware implementation rather than using decimal fixed-point implementation. The proposed solution might be enough for high-end database servers but not would helpful for x86 and ARM type embedded processors, where power savings for would be allowed by turning off the binary exponential processor as well as improved accuracy. For existing binary exponent types (float, double and long double), I think there should be new format string type (e.g “-123U-12”). This has a signed integer significand and a signed integer binary exponent. The significand cannot have decimals (no decimal point). Those IEEE 754 formats can indicate “Inf” and “NaN” as well (numeric_limits::is_iec559). There is no conversion error from binary exponent to decimal as is suffered currently. The new decimal types use a opaque arrangement. This allows each platform to use its own hardware to best effect. Each value is defined as a fixed number of decimal points. The significand grows or shrinks opaquely to take any value and can change how it works for each type. The fixed number of decimal points can be over the thousands before or after the decimal point. Thus the range of the decimal fixed points will be the same or more than those for decimal exponent types (-6143..6144). The significand has a least maximum 34 digits, again to match for decimal exponent - probably at least 38.23 for 128-bit significand. The method of keeping the significand can change with size and processor. For instance, 32-bit binary is fast on 32-bit processors (or 64-bit native binary). 30-bit (9 digit) or 10-bit (3 digit) decimal can grow (BigDecimal) for thousands of digits. IEEE 754 2008 decimal exponent types for IBM processors (also 10-bit groups of 3 digits) but slow without hardware support. Much of the work of exact decimal are similar to the SQL-92 types for NUMERIC (variable decimal places) and DECIMAL (fixed-point decimal) differ by variable or fixed decimal point. The NUMERIC type is similar to decimal exponent. The DECIMAL fixed-point decimal can be set by template or constructor. Only run-time decimal places available for NUMERIC. We don’t limit the number of decimal places but the SQL-92 types limit decimal places to 0 and number of digits (MySQL 5.0.3 supports 65 digits for NUMERIC and DECIMAL and DB2 supports 31 digits.) Accumulators There should be _Accum that can opaquely contain several decimal fixed-point accumulators of all different sizes (with the same fixed number of decimal points). Thus small efficient accumulators are used with small values. Whereas a _Decimal has a union defining the value, a _Accum might have a structure with similar members. If a overflow comes, its old accumulator value is added the to a slower bigger accumulator and reset the small accumulator. The small accumulator receives small values again. When the values are accumulated, the small accumulators are combined into the largest used accumulator for the final answer. Such a complicated behaviors arrangement needs compilation rather than C++ coding. For instance, using the overflow flag uses information from to the compiler. Operations We are only interested in (commercial) safe exact decimal operations for the following types: _Numeric: decimal exponent _Decimal: decimal fixed-point _Accum: several sized decimal fixed-point accumulators Multiply The exact decimal can be multiplied by other exact decimals and integers. The resulting decimal places are the sum of the right hand side. lhs = one * two; lhs *= integer; // or 0 decimal place Divide We can only divide by integers (or exact decimal with 0 place). The results have the same number of decimals. A divisor of zero will be thrown (no infinity). lhs = rhs / integer; lhs /= integer; Modulo There will be a remainder from a divide. Again with the same number decimals. lhs = rhs % integer; lhs %= integer; Add and Subtract We can add/subtract with other exact decimals with the same number of decimal places. Mixing values with different decimal places may cause problems for exact values (different truncation for instance). lhs = rhs + val; lhs = rhs - val; lhs += val; lhs -= val; Where values with different decimal places need combining explicitly we use trunc() to match the decimal places first. This can increase as well as decrease decimal places. It also allows tracks of errors. Comparison <, <=, ==, !=, >= and > between exact decimals with the same number of decimal places. Collections Any _Decimal collection can be limited to values with the same decimal fixed-point places. Truncation The binary exponent values float, double and long double have separate approximate values 1.3f, 1.3 or 1.3L for different sizes. I propose another exact decimal value, for example 1.300d for three decimal places. Alternatively use exact decimal exponent 1300e-3d version (using integer significand). Value Approximation 1.3f - 1.2999999523162841796875.. 1.3 - 1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452.. 1.3L - 1.3000000000000000000000000000000000385185.. 1.300d or 1300e-3d - 1.300 (exact) Where a value is not the precision, we must expand or truncate to required decimals places and should choose a method of truncation (matched to IEEE 754-2008): ceil - the most negative answer not less than the original floor - the most positive answer not greater than the original zero - the answer furthest from zero not further than the original (the usual C method) round - the answer nearest the original choosing the most positive in case of a tie bank# - like round but choosing the even last digit in case of a tie expand - not truncation (zero padding) and the error should be zero As well as tructaton is then required value, there were be a leftover (similar in % value with a /). By keeping a record of truncation we can assess of errors. template <typename T> _Decimal & _Decimal::trunc(TRUNC, T const &source, T *error = 0); This will be a preferred way to convert binary exponent types into a decimal value for printing. Formatting For place 0 decimal format like integer and between places 1 and 9, the format will be decimal and trailing zeros are significant. Otherwise with the default format will be a exponent (matched to the decimal) with a integer significand. They will resemble binary float types, except that they are accurate and avoid decimals in the significand. 123 (0 decimal place so no decimal point) -0.012340 (6 decimal places) -12340e-12 (12 decimal places or decimal exponent -12) Final number formatting will be up to Boost.Locale using Unicode.

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Range notation grammar
by Dave Abrahams 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

This ship has undoubtedly sailed, but I'd like to register my displeasure with names like "uniqued," "taken," and "strided" et. al. The effect (subjectively of course) is to take a beautiful, minimal abstract notation that reflects a common practice (seriously, it's "grep," which is a verb, not "grepped") and mess it up with unconventional and awkward linguistic insurance against misunderstanding. this-has-been-a-test-of-the-emergency-nattering-system-ly y'rs, -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing http://www.boostpro.com

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date_time bug.
by GAURAV GUPTA 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Hi All, I have reported one bug: Ticket No:7022. (Link is https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/7022 ) As I have tracked. the owner (you can see it on ticket information) assigned to my ticket is not active. I have not found any posts by him newer that year 2007. So, could anyone help in verifying my patch for the reported bug?. I found this bug using some tool. Please reffer the ticket No. 7022 -- Regards, Gaurav

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[review] status of Boost.Conversion?
by Nathan Ridge 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Hi, I am wondering, what is the status of the Boost.Conversion library? On the Review Schedule page, it indicates that a review had taken place in August 2011 and the results of the review are "pending". Does anyone when the results will be forthcoming? Thanks, Nate

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JNI library
by Felipe Magno de Almeida 28 Jun '12

28 Jun '12

Hello Boosters, I'm developing a JNI library for writing native code in C++ for Java and calling Java code within C++, using JNI as interface to the JVM. Is there any interest in this library? Regards, -- Felipe Magno de Almeida

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[Survey] utf8_codecvt_facet::do_length parameter
by Marshall Clow 28 Jun '12

28 Jun '12

There's some confusion in boost (and in various standard libraries) as to the declaration of std::codecvt<>::do_length The '03 and '11 standards say: > template <class internT, class externT, class stateT> > class codecvt : public locale::facet, public codecvt_base { > // blah blah blah > virtual int do_length(stateT&, const externT* from, const externT* end, size_t max) const; > }; But some standard libraries (notably older Dinkumware libraries, and Visual C++ before Visual Studio11) say: > virtual int do_length(const stateT&, const externT* from, const externT* end, size_t max) const; (the first parameter is a const reference) There's some preprocessor stuff to deal with this in boost/detail/utf8_codecvt_facet.hpp, but it's wrong: > #if !defined(__MSL_CPP__) && !defined(__LIBCOMO__) \ > && !defined(_LIBCPP_VERSION) > #define BOOST_CODECVT_DO_LENGTH_CONST const > #else > #define BOOST_CODECVT_DO_LENGTH_CONST > #endif > > virtual int do_length( > BOOST_CODECVT_DO_LENGTH_CONST std::mbstate_t &, > const char * from, > const char * from_end, > std::size_t max_limit > #if BOOST_WORKAROUND(__IBMCPP__, BOOST_TESTED_AT(600)) > ) const throw(); > #else > ) const; > #endif I'm happy to fix this, but I'd like to be sure which systems actually have const parameters. I've checked gcc and libc++, and they match the standard. STL assures me that all versions of Visual Studio before VS11 do not match, but VS11 does. The #defines above suggest to me that LibCOMO has this problem as well. Does anyone have access to such an install? And if anyone's standard library (that I haven't listed) does define the first parameter to std::codecvt<>::do_length as a const reference, please let me know. Thanks! -- Marshall Marshall Clow Idio Software <mailto:mclow.lists@gmail.com> A.D. 1517: Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the church door and is promptly moderated down to (-1, Flamebait). -- Yu Suzuki

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[1.50.0] Release candidate 2 available for testing
by Beman Dawes 28 Jun '12

28 Jun '12

Release candidate 2 files for 1.50.0 are available at http://boost.cowic.de/rc/ RC 2 is supposed to fix the --layout build problems reported for RC 1. As always, the release managers would appreciate it if you download the candidate of your choice and give building it a try. Please report both success and failure, and anything else that is noteworthy. This helps ensure the candidates build OK before we push them out to SourceForge. Thanks, --Beman --PS: I tested the 7z version, and it built without errors on Win7/VC++ Express 2010 sp1

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[chrono] chrono/config.hpp enforces that time.h defines CLOCK_REALTIME; should it?
by Krzysztof Czainski 28 Jun '12

28 Jun '12

Hello, Suppose I want to use durations, and time_points with a user defined clock. I don't want to use any clocks provided by Boost.Chrono. My compiler provides a <time.h>, which doesn't define CLOCK_REALTIME, which chrono/config.hpp reports as an error. This prevents me from using parts of Chrono, that I believe don't depend on anything from <time.h>. I am able to work around this by simply defining CLOCK_REALTIME. But I would like to ask: Could Boost.Chrono allow using duration.hpp and time_point.hpp in my case? Regards, Kris

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Re: [boost] Policy proposal: All user-visible exceptions should be thrown through BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION
by Brian Wood 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

Emil Dotchevski: > On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:24 AM, Brian Wood <woodbrian77(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Is there a penalty for single threaded applications here? There's >> been discussion of the support for transferring exceptions between >> threads; are there aspects of that support that are unneeded in a >> single threaded context? >> > > There are 3 aspects of boost::throw_exception: > > 1) it enables libraries to support BOOST_NO_EXCEPTIONS configurations, > 2) it enables boost::error_info, and > 3) it enables boost::exception_ptr. > > 1) and 2) have nothing to do with threads; 3) implements > std::exception_ptr, which mostly benefits multi-thread programs (until > compilers catch up with std::exception_ptr support.) > > The cost imposed by libraries that use boost::throw_exception to programs > that don't use boost::exception_ptr or boost::error_info is that sizeof() > the exception object grows a little. I'd appreciate a way at compile time to let Boost Exception know I'm using it in a single threaded application and it wouldn't add stuff to the exception object that isn't needed. Also MSDN says, "Most applications do not have to transport exceptions between threads." Shalom, Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net

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Re: [boost] program options (consider using BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION)
by Leo Goodstadt 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

> On 22 June 2012 17:51, Vladimir Prus <ghost(a)cs.msu.su> wrote: > > > On 22.06.2012 11:33, Emil Dotchevski wrote: > > > >> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 11:44 PM, Vladimir Prus<ghost(a)cs.msu.su> wrote: > >> > >> On 20.06.2012 07:44, Rowan James wrote: > >>> > >>> On a related note; is there interest in a patch set to use > >>>> BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION to add this (yes, programmer-oriented) information > >>>> to > >>>> the exceptions thrown by Program Options and/or other Boost libraries? > >>>> > >>>> > >>> Sorry, but I kinda miss context here (and I did read your original post). > >>> What are advantages of > >>> using BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION and what are drawbacks? Could you summarize > >>> those for me? > >>> > >>> > >> Allow me :- > >> > >> BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION, being a macro, is able to record the file name, the > >> function name, and the line number of the throw, which is useful when > >> diagnosing unexpected exceptions: > >> > >> catch(...) > >> { > >> std::cerr<< "Unexpected exception caught. Diagnostic information > >> follows.\n"; > >> std::cerr<< boost::current_exception_**diagnostic_information(); > >> } > >> > >> The exception object is examined dynamically for any and all useful > >> information: type, what(), throw location, any stored boost::error_info > >> objects, etc. The location of the throw (if available) is formatted in a > >> way Visual Studio understands: double-clicking shows the throw location, > >> similarly to double-clicking compile errors. > >> > >> The downside is that when templates are involved, BOOST_CURRENT_FUNCTION > >> (invoked by BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION) can bloat the code. There is a Trac > >> ticket for this. > >> > > > > Emil, > > > > thanks for explaining. Given the above, I am not sure I am interested in > > using > > BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION for program_options, given that exceptions are used > > there to report > > user mistakes mostly, and so function name or file line is of limited > > interest. > > > > Thanks, > > Volodya > > > Thanks Emil. > > If I can make the case in favour of BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION, it is for the > very reason that they are reporting user mistakes. The throw location for > an exception is typically accompanied by, or at least close to, the logic > that delineates such a user mistake from acceptable input. As such, it is > a useful remedy in itself; but also gives the user specific information for > finding documentation relevant to fixing the error. Without it, we have at > best the entry point into the library that; and often a lot less if the > exceptions are caught at a higher level. > > Documentation for valid inputs or states to a function can only say so much > about all the possible errors or exceptions that may occur. To elaborate on what Volodya said, program_options is unusual (for Boost) library in its use of exceptions: Most of the time, exceptions are there to inform the programmer of an error in the programme. However, the majority of exceptions in program_options are there to indicate a problem in the construction of the command line by the *end-user* (not the programmer). In other words, the program *is* working exactly as designed. The programmer has no interest in the provenance of these exceptions *except* that they can be used to inform the end-user how they should retype the command line and try again. So, for example, ten times a day, I will type something like ls --colour * and ls will tell me ls: unrecognized option '--colour' and I will know to retype the US spelling... ls --color * If "ls" were using program options, an unrecognised option exception message will be thrown which eventually allows this informative message to be displayed before exiting. It is entirely unhelpful for the end-user to have Exception XXX on line xxx of file yyy.... To make it easier to use program options *in English*, the exception messages have been recently rewritten to be maximally informative to the end-user rather than the programmers. Thus we can take e.what() and write it out to std::cerr without further ado. Of course, for localisation, these error messages have to be reconstructed in the appropriate language. Hopefully, there is enough data in each exception to allow this. Curiously, the current design of exceptions in program_options ended up try to mirror what Emil has done in BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION. When the exception is thrown deep in the bowels of the command line parsing, it does not have the full context which would allow an informative message to be constructed. The exception has to be propagated up, and then "decorated" before being rethrown. The alternative was to pass the full context down the function call hierarchy to each point at which exceptions can be thrown. This made the code horribly convoluted and ugly, and provoked loud cries of anguish from Volodya. Leo

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Interest in static multidimensional array.
by Brian Smith 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

Hi All, Some time ago I uploaded the maps folder, to Boost's sandbox, containing various multidimensional and mathematical arrays. The resulting discussion appeared to indicate some interest in the multidimensional arrays and that the overall design required some reworking. Having now had the opportunity to use a compiler supporting variadic templates, I have rewritten the static multidimensional array class using them. The class, documentation, and some tests are available at, https://github.com/BrianJSmith/Array All feedback would be welcome. Regards Brian -- www.maidsafe.net

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[pool] Objects of varying sizes
by Robert Dailey 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

Is it possible to create a pool for polymorphic types? For example: class A; class B : public A; class C : public A; I want to create a pool of type A, but the allocation can be for B or C at any time. Will this work?

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[build] Problem building boost libraries from trunk with layout versioned
by Thomas Heller 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

Hi, I am trying to build current trunk with layout versioned. Boost build is currently failing. This looks similar to the problem reported with the 1.50 RC. Here is the error: [heller@faui32m trunk]$ ./b2 toolset=intel --layout=versioned -j2 variant=debug Building the Boost C++ Libraries. Performing configuration checks - 32-bit : no - 64-bit : yes - x86 : yes - has_icu builds : yes warning: Graph library does not contain MPI-based parallel components. note: to enable them, add "using mpi ;" to your user-config.jam - iconv (libc) : yes - icu : yes - gcc visibility : yes - long double support : yes warning: skipping optional Message Passing Interface (MPI) library. note: to enable MPI support, add "using mpi ;" to user-config.jam. note: to suppress this message, pass "--without-mpi" to bjam. note: otherwise, you can safely ignore this message. /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/tools/build/v2/build/virtual-target.jam:1079: in virtual-target.register-actual-name from module virtual-target error: Duplicate name of actual target: <pstage/lib>libboost_context-il-mt-d.so error: previous virtual target { symlink%symlink.ln-libboost_context-il-mt-d.so.SHARED_LIB { common%common.copy-libboost_context-il-mt-d-1_50.so.1.50.0.SHARED_LIB { intel-linux%intel-linux.link.dll-libboost_context-il-mt-d-1_50.so.1.50.0.SHARED_LIB { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.asm-asm/fcontext_x86_64_sysv_elf_gas.o.OBJ { asm/fcontext_x86_64_sysv_elf_gas.S.ASM } } { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.c++-fcontext.o.OBJ { fcontext.cpp.CPP } } { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.c++-stack_allocator_posix.o.OBJ { stack_allocator_posix.cpp.CPP } } { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.c++-stack_utils_posix.o.OBJ { stack_utils_posix.cpp.CPP } } } } } error: created from ./stage-unversioned error: another virtual target { symlink%symlink.ln-libboost_context-il-mt-d.so.SHARED_LIB { symlink%symlink.ln-libboost_context-il-mt-d-1_50.so.SHARED_LIB { common%common.copy-libboost_context-il-mt-d-1_50.so.1.50.0.SHARED_LIB { intel-linux%intel-linux.link.dll-libboost_context-il-mt-d-1_50.so.1.50.0.SHARED_LIB { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.asm-asm/fcontext_x86_64_sysv_elf_gas.o.OBJ { asm/fcontext_x86_64_sysv_elf_gas.S.ASM } } { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.c++-fcontext.o.OBJ { fcontext.cpp.CPP } } { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.c++-stack_allocator_posix.o.OBJ { stack_allocator_posix.cpp.CPP } } { intel-linux%intel-linux.compile.c++-stack_utils_posix.o.OBJ { stack_utils_posix.cpp.CPP } } } } } } error: created from ./stage-unversioned error: added properties: none error: removed properties: none /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/tools/build/v2/build/virtual-target.jam:490: in actualize-no-scanner from module object(file-target)@3737 /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/tools/build/v2/build/virtual-target.jam:135: in object(file-target)(a)3737.actualize from module object(file-target)@3737 /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/tools/build/v2/build-system.jam:750: in load from module build-system /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/tools/build/v2/kernel/modules.jam:283: in import from module modules /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/tools/build/v2/kernel/bootstrap.jam:142: in boost-build from module /home/heller/programming/boost/trunk/boost-build.jam:17: in module scope from module It seems to work when using --layout=system Anyone knows a fix to this? FWIW, toolset=gcc has the same problem Thanks, Thomas

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program options (consider using BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION)
by Roger Martin 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

Hi boost, At version 1.49.0 In testing command line with known unknowns such as -V a location unknown exception is thrown from inside program_options recommending to use BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION. I've been trying to find this and apply BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION to eliminate the verbosity for users: ---- Command line incorrect: Throw location unknown (consider using BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION) Dynamic exception type: boost::exception_detail::clone_impl<boost::exception_detail::error_info_injector<boost::program_options::unknown_option> > std::exception::what: unknown option -V ---- With this fixed then it'd be closer to: -------- Command line incorrect: unknown option -V -------- Yet I haven't found where. Baffled. Any hint?

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[stl_ext_adv] array based B+ tree
by Vadim Stadnik 27 Jun '12

27 Jun '12

Hi all, First of all, I would like to thank all Boosters for previous useful discussion of dynamically allocated augmented B+ trees. The development of the new array based variant of a B+ tree has been significantly influenced by these comments and suggestions. The problem of the C++ standard sequences based on linear data structures is that every of them has at least one inefficiency, such as linear cost of insert(), erase() functions of std::vector or slow bidrectional iterators of std::list. These inefficiencies create performance bottlenecks and significantly complicate the development of efficient general algorithms based on STL sequences. The new variant of an array based B+ tree offers a solution to these problems of STL sequences by reducing the running time of inefficient operations from linear to logarithmic in the worst case. The array based B+ tree implements a simple partition of an array into a list of sub-arrays connected to a B-tree. Compared to dynamically allocated B+ trees the new tree requires less space and improves locality of reference. In some aspect the array based B+ tree represents an enhanced pool allocator. Performance of the new tree has been optimized for container operations with large numbers of elements. In a number of tests the improvement factor is about 10. A significant advantage of the array based B+ tree over standard sequences is the support of splice() functions with logarithmic running time in the worst case. The high efficiency of these functions extends move semantics for non-intrusive STL sequences, since they allow user algorithms to insert and remove any range of consecutive elements. This high efficiency is not available in standard containers of C++03 and C++11. The splice() function of std::list has linear running time in the worst case. For a discussion of this problem by Boost community, please have a look at this thread: http://boost.2283326.n4.nabble.com/Containers-How-about-a-list-with-O-1-spl… For associative containers the array based B+ tree offers random access iterators and improved efficiency of many container operations against dynamically allocated B+ trees. In the general case associative containers cannot benefit from the splice() functions. Nevertheless, they can be used in algorithms for efficient split operations, since these operations do not change the order of elements in obtained containers. I think that the array based variants of B+ trees are very important, since they offer a number of performance benefits and can be used in many areas from mobile applications to processing huge data sets. The new array based B+ tree is described in this document: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/51041088/stl_ext_adv_doc/doc/array_based_bp_trees.h… The project with source code and tests: https://github.com/vstadnik/stl_ext_adv The new file with implementation of the array based B+ tree: https://github.com/vstadnik/stl_ext_adv/blob/master/container/bp_tree_array… I will appreciate any comments, suggestions and ideas concerning augmented array based B+ trees and STL variants of containers using these data structures. Regards, Vadim Stadnik

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Re: [boost] Policy proposal: All user-visible exceptions should be thrown through BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION
by Brian Wood 26 Jun '12

26 Jun '12

Pete Bartlett: < snip > > Cons for 1) and 2): > - Always paying for the cost of #including <boost/throw_exception.hpp> > - All libraries are dependent on - and therefore become vulnerable to any > future breakages (if any) in - Boost.Exception. Is there a penalty for single threaded applications here? There's been discussion of the support for transferring exceptions between threads; are there aspects of that support that are unneeded in a single threaded context? Shalom, Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net

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Re: [boost] Interest in a "breadth first" algorithm?
by Brian Wood 26 Jun '12

26 Jun '12

Gary Powell: > > A while ago I needed to serialize and de-serialize a std::map and I > realized that the only interface was begin(), end() which of course meant > that re-creating this same map was the least efficient way possible, as all > the elements were added in sorted order. Because I wrote them out using > begin() -> end() So I wrote a breadth first template which takes a > container, a template to use as the core of a queue, a template for the > allocator, the container and a function to apply to the elements. > It doesn't quite do a true breadth first traversal because I don't look at > the inner data structure of the map, (works with sets as well) but instead > does a middle, then right, left push until it's hit all of the nodes. And > it doesn't copy the elements, it pushes the iterators, and calls the > function on that iterator when the length is 1. > It ended up speeding up my map recreation by about 20% (because I start > with a center enough node that it should never have to be rebalanced) at a > cost of about 5% to write it this way (It's more expensive to create the > queue, and traverse the map from center on out), for a roughly 15% gain in > speed. > Is there any interest this for boost? I've got working code but not any > documentation. And rather than spend a huge amount of time on that I'm > looking to see if anyone else has an interest in this. I'm interested. If you like I'll give you an investment in Ebenezer Enterprises [1]. If you post it here or send it to me, I'll probably use it in the archive available here -- http://webEbenezer.net/build_integration.html<http://webebenezer.net/build_integration.html> . [1] Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. > > "Come gather 'round people wherever you roam. And admit that the waters > around you have grown. And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the > bone. If your time to you is worth savin'. Ahh you better start swimmin' or > you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin'" Bob Dylan Huh. Bob Dylan is from the Hibbing/Duluth part of Minnesota. In the days after you posted, that area received a summer's worth of rain in 36 hours. An 8 year old boy nearly died in the flooding when he was swept down a culvert. Thankfully he popped up a mile down the system and has been giving interviews since. Shalom, Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net <http://webebenezer.net/>

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Re: [boost] Boost and exceptions
by Stewart, Robert 26 Jun '12

26 Jun '12

Robert Ramey wrote: > Dave Abrahams wrote: > >> I mean, if there is a problem with boost::throw_exception or > >> any other part of Boost Exception, I'd like to know about > >> it. > > > > It seems clear to me from his posts that Robert wants to > > talk about the process and has forgotten any specifics about > > actual problems. > > > The problem was the gratuitious inclusion of a new dependency. Emil has described repeatedly why the change was not gratuitous. That you fail to recognize the value in the change does not make it gratuitous. I looked at a recent boost/throw_exception.hpp. It includes boost/exception/detail/attribute_noreturn.hpp. That creates a dependency inversion that is unfortunate. That is, a top-level header file depends upon a header file of a library's files. That header is very short and has nothing Boost.Exception specific, so the code could be moved into boost/throw_exception.hpp or boost/detail/attribute_noreturn.hpp, for example. The header also conditionally includes the non-trivial boost/exception/exception.hpp, another dependency inversion, which defines many types and functions, and includes some inline function definitions: boost::exception_detail::refcount_ptr boost:: error_info boost::exception boost::exception_detail::error_info_base boost::exception_detail::type_info_ boost::exception_detail::error_info_container boost::exception_detail::get_info boost::exception_detail::get_diagnostic_information() boost::exception_detail::copy_boost_exception() boost::exception_detail::set_info() boost::exception_detail::error_info_injector boost::enable_error_info() boost::exception_detail::clone_base boost::exception_detail::clone_impl boost::enable_current_exception() If BOOST_EXCEPTION_DISABLE is not defined, then boost::throw_exception() tacks on Boost.Exception features to the exception being thrown. This is a non-trivial set of changes to make to the top-level header. I didn't follow the discussion at the time, but I'll presume there was a lot of discussion about the type and extent of these changes and that it was considered a good idea. In hindsight, I agree with Robert's assertion that there should have been a replacement function, boost::exception::throw_exception() or similar, to introduce the new functionality. Whether the existing function needed to be deprecated is a separate issue. The result is that libraries could knowingly choose the new version, and a dependency on Boost.Exception, or, if warranted, stick with the old. As things now stand, if there is good reason to avoid the new version, it can only be done by defining BOOST_EXCEPTION_DISABLE, which affects an entire build. > The extent/nature of any problem it created or didn't create is > not relevant here. Just the injection of a new body of code > which replaced two lines and added no functionality used/needed > by the serialization library makes the any library which used > boost::throw_exception "bigger" for no reason. The issue you're raising, as I understand it, is dependency inversion: the top-level header brings a dependency on Boost.Exception. > It makes the library more "fragil". It means I have I a new > place to look if something needs looking into. etc.etc. As Nevin pointed out, your code will always be subject to the changes in those libraries on which it depends. The more dependencies you introduce, the more fragile your code becomes, but there's a great deal of benefit to reuse, too. The only issue in this case is that one can reasonably expect a top-level header to avoid dependencies on libraries. > So we'll just move on as Vicente suggested. That will be > satisfactory from my standpoint. That is the only way forward, if there is good reason to avoid the now longstanding changes to boost::throw_exception(). However, you should work with Emil to be sure you correctly and fully understand the issues before deciding that you cannot accept boost::throw_exception() as is. (I don't pretend to know what your concerns are. I just don't want to see a new throw_exception() variant if there isn't a compelling reason, and I don't consider your fragility argument compelling in this case.) _____ Rob Stewart robert.stewart(a)sig.com Software Engineer using std::disclaimer; Dev Tools & Components Susquehanna International Group, LLP http://www.sig.com ________________________________ IMPORTANT: The information contained in this email and/or its attachments is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by reply and immediately delete this message and all its attachments. Any review, use, reproduction, disclosure or dissemination of this message or any attachment by an unintended recipient is strictly prohibited. Neither this message nor any attachment is intended as or should be construed as an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument. Neither the sender, his or her employer nor any of their respective affiliates makes any warranties as to the completeness or accuracy of any of the information contained herein or that this message or any of its attachments is free of viruses.

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[contract] relaxing preconditions in subcontracting
by Andrzej Krzemienski 26 Jun '12

26 Jun '12

Hi Lorenzo, I am trying to understand how the feature of relaxing preconditions in overridden functions work or should work. Given the situation, where I call an overridden function via base class reference: *struct Base { virtual void fun(bool b) = 0 precondition{ b == true }; }; struct Deriv : Base { void fun(bool b) override precondition{ true }; }; void test( Base & b ) { b.fun(false); **// broken contract or not?** }* Should this be treated as a broken contract or not? My reading of the documentation says that contract is not broken (because the "logic-or<http://contractpp.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/contractpp/releases/contractpp…>" logic applies), but I feel that whoever implemented function *test *made a mistake: he cannot assume what type will be implementing "interface" *Base*, so he cannot rely on the precondition being relaxed (even if he gets away with it this time). Regards, &rzej

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boost with cxxflags=-Zc:wchar_t-
by Renato Tegon Forti 25 Jun '12

25 Jun '12

Hi All, I'm mixing QT and boost and noticed problems with wchar_t! I need to compile boost: cxxflags =-Zc: wchar_t- Would like to know what problems I can find! anyone ever had to use 'wchar_t-"? Libs that I am using: boost_mpi boost_serialization boost_system boost_filesystem boost_thread boost_iostreams Thanks

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library dependencies and boost modularization [ was Boost and Exceptions]
by Robert Ramey 25 Jun '12

25 Jun '12

Boost has now close to 100 libraries. In addition there are hundreds of smaller but necessary facilities which aren't technically libraries but they add a lot to the "surface area" that one's brain has to be familiar with to take best advantage of boost facilities. There is also a lot of interconnectedness which makes it an even larger task. This wasn't a big deal when boost was 15 libraries - but now it's different. I would like to propose a classification of boost libraries and guidelines for future libraries. a) Layering of libraries =============== 0) C++ standard library 1) "boost core" libaries 2) "boost utility" libraries 3) "boost user" libraries b) Guidelines ========= 1) a library in a given layer shall include code from libraries in a higher layer 2) boost core libraries are in namespace "boost" 3) boost user libraries are in the name space boost::<name of user library> 4) there is a special user library named "utility" for small libraries which are widely used. 5) boost header directory structures should match namespace structure. example, a library named boost.range should have all it's code in namespace boost::range and in the directory boost/range. 6) exception to 5) above, a user library might have a "convenience header" in directory "boost" which includes all the header directories of that user library. c) Rationale ======== 1) it diminishes the possibility of namespace conflicts as boost/C++ grows 2) it diminishes the possibility of importing a lot more code and depencies than one expected. 3) a library can control its depencies. Often a library will rely only on "boost core". This means that users of the library can know that code is dependent only on that library. 4) It more easily supports the concept of "boost modularization" where by deployment of a subset of boost libraries is can be supported. It's often mentioned how other languages like java, C#, perl have HUGE number of libraries in comparison to C++. I believe these languages have reached their peak and are in fact in decline somwhat. It is possible that this huge number of libraries make them less attractive rather than more? Perhaps a little more formal structure applied to our work might be agood thing. Robert Ramey

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[serialization] Reading newer archives - was throwing unsupported_class_version, now crashes
by Nikolay Mladenov 25 Jun '12

25 Jun '12

Hi Robert, I remember that in the past the serialization library was throwing unsupported_class_version exception when reading of archives with future class versions. This no longer seems to be the case. We had older version of software crash when reading newer archive. The only place that I found to mention unsupported_class_version is commented out and I do not understand the attached note: BOOST_DLLEXPORT void iserializer<Archive, T>::load_object_data( basic_iarchive & ar, void *x, const unsigned int file_version ) const { // note: we now comment this out. Before we permited archive // version # to be very large. Now we don't. To permit // readers of these old archives, we have to suppress this // code. Perhaps in the future we might re-enable it but // permit its suppression with a runtime switch. #if 0 // trap case where the program cannot handle the current version if(file_version > static_cast<const unsigned int>(version())) boost::serialization::throw_exception( archive::archive_exception( boost::archive::archive_exception::unsupported_class_version, get_debug_info() ) ); #endif // make sure call is routed through the higest interface that might // be specialized by the user. boost::serialization::serialize_adl( boost::serialization::smart_cast_reference<Archive &>(ar), * static_cast<T *>(x), file_version ); } To allow class to read serialized objects of newer version by default seems very dangerous. I generally requires extra work from the class author and without it will most likely crash. So isn't it better to have an additional trait that a class author needs to define, if a class should be allowed read future versions? something like namespace boost{ namespace serialization { template<class T> struct allow_future_versions : mpl::false_ {}; }} #define BOOST_SERIALIZATION_ALLOW_FUTURE_VERSIONS(T) \ namespace boost{ namespace serialization \ { \ template<> struct allow_future_versions<T> : mpl::true_ {}; \ }} and change the code above to: BOOST_DLLEXPORT void iserializer<Archive, T>::load_object_data( basic_iarchive & ar, void *x, const unsigned int file_version ) const { // trap case where the program cannot handle the current version if( ! boost::serialization::allow_future_versions<T>::value && file_version > static_cast<const unsigned int>(version())) boost::serialization::throw_exception( archive::archive_exception( boost::archive::archive_exception::unsupported_class_version, get_debug_info() ) ); ...... Thanks in advance, Nikolay Mladenov Sitius Automation Inc.

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