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

[release][1.52.0] Release Notes
by Daniel James 06 Nov '12

06 Nov '12

Hello everyone, We're coming up to the beta release, so it's time to put together the release notes (although please don't feel you need to wait for me to start). As always you can send them to me, or if you want update them yourself in subversion. The files are at: https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/website/public_html/live/feed/history/ The actual site won't get updated until I run the update script. You can see the release notes so far at: http://www.boost.org/users/history/version_1_52_0.html As usual, they're not finished yet, and some of the links might not work as the 1.52 documentation won't be uploaded until after the beta is released. thanks, Daniel

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[contract] toward N3351 concepts
by Lorenzo Caminiti 13 Oct '12

13 Oct '12

Hello all, I'm reading N3351: http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2012/n3351.pdf It's a bottom-up approach to define concepts starting from what's needed by STL algorithms. So far so good--I like it probably more than C++0x concept proposals--N331 is simpler :) However, N3351 STL design is not fully compatible with the current STL specifications--maybe N3351 is better, more mathematically sound? In N3351, concepts are boolean constants: ``We can define concepts as simple (constant) Boolean expressions. This is useful when building constraints predicated on non-syntactic and non-semantics properties of types.`` So I can implement concepts in C++11 as boolean meta-functions using expression SFINAE to check the requirements and enable_if to disable generic algorithms when the instantiated types don't model the concepts (i.e., the concept's boolean meta-function is false). For example, that's the case for the bool{a== b} and bool{a!=b} expressions of the EqualityComparable concept below. However, N3351 says that axioms should not be checked by the compiler... ``Axioms express the semantics of a concept’s required syntax; they are assumed to be true and must not be checked by the compiler beyond conformance to the C++ syntax. Any additional checking is beyond the scope of the compiler’s translation requirements. The compiler must not generate code that evaluates axioms as preconditions, either. This could lead to program errors if the evaluated assertions have side effects. For example, asserting that distance(first, last) > 1 when the type of those iterators is istream_iterator will consume the first element of the range, causing the assertion to pass, but the algorithm to have undefined behavior.'' So what am I supposed to do with axioms? Do nothing? Axioms are just "comments" that document the semantic? For example: `` concept EqualityComparable<typename T> = requires (T a, T b, T c) { bool { a == b }; bool { a != b }; axiom { a == b <=> eq(a, b); } // true equality axiom { a == a; // reflexive a == b => b == a; // symmetric a == b && b == c => a == c; // transitive } axiom { a != b <=> !(a == b); } // complement }; So, EqualityComparable<T> is true if T 1. has == and != with result types that can be converted to bool 2. == compares for true equality 3. == is reflexive, symmetric, and transitive 4. != is the complement of == However, the compiler can only check the first of these conditions. The rest must be verified through other means (i.e. manually). '' Thanks, --Lorenzo

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[preprocessor] Variadics suggestion
by Kitten, Nicholas 11 Oct '12

11 Oct '12

Hi Folks, First of all, I'd like to say "thank you" to Edward Diener and Paul Mensonides for incorporating variadics support into Boost.Preprocessor, which has been on my wishlist for a long time. In fact, I wanted it badly enough that I've been using my own slightly modified version of the library assuming variadics for a while now, and I was interested to see what a cross-platform version would look like (mine was only tested on MSVC). I think the chosen approach of converting variadics to non-variadics is probably superior to the breaking algorithm changes I made in my own version, and I would humbly suggest a few more additions in the same spirit. The reason I chose to use variadics in the first place was to simplify the user interface for the common case of manipulating what I'll call a "variadic sequence," (a series of concatenated tuples), which I wanted to look similar to the following: #define FILTER_PARAMETERS (A, int, 3)\ (B, float, 2.0f)\ (C, const char*, "Howdy!") Of course, without variadics you need either a set of macros for each tuple size, or else double parenthesis around each tuple, which becomes even more burdensome when users are also required to parenthesize inner arguments, leading to gems like this one: #define FILTER_PARAMETERS ((A, (TypeConverter<double, float>), (TypeConverter<double,float>())) My solution admitting the preferred format was to replace most private SEQ_*(X) macros with SEQ_*(...), which also required modifying SEQ_ELEM() and SEQ_HEAD() to return (X) instead of X. However, it occurs to me now that a conversion function to go from variadic to regular sequences would've been easier to implement and backwards compatible; see the attached file, which I've tested in basic cases on MSVC 10 and gcc-4.3.4. The usage would be: #define SEQ (a,b,c)(1,2,3,4) BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SEQ_TO_SEQ( SEQ ) // expands to ((a,b,c))((1,2,3,4)) I'm submitting this because I couldn't find a way to use some combination of TUPLE/VARIADICS and SEQ transformations to do the same thing succinctly, but if I'm just missing something, please let me know. Next, I would suggest having a documented IS_EMPTY(...) function for detecting an empty variadic list. Since is_empty.hpp already exists for single arguments (though undocumented), I would guess the variadic version would look quite similar. My own (MSVC) version is attached. Finally, I would suggest using the preceding IS_EMPTY(...) function to allow VARIADIC_SIZE(...) to return 0, i.e. something along the lines of: # define BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(...) BOOST_PP_IIF( BOOST_PP_IS_EMPTY(__VA_ARGS__), 0, BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE_I( __VA_ARGS__ ) ) where BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE_I is the current definition of BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE. Thanks, -Nick Kitten Software Engineer Center for Video Understanding Excellence ObjectVideo, Inc.

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[build] Boost Build v2 documentation refer to "bjam"
by Klaim - Joël Lamotte 11 Oct '12

11 Oct '12

Hi, http://www.boost.org/boost-build2/doc/html/bbv2/overview/invocation.html I suppose this doc have not been updated in a long time? It still use "bjam" instead of "b2". Joel Lamotte

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[config] explicit call of operator templates / msvc bug workaround
by Stefan Strasser 10 Oct '12

10 Oct '12

Hi, is there already a macro in Boost.Config that allows you to insert the "template" keyword in the following code for those compilers that require it? struct functor{ template<class T> void operator()(); }; template<class F> void g(F f){ f.template operator()<int>(); //(1) works with GCC and comeau f.operator()<int>(); //(2) works with MSVC } this apparently only applies to operator calls. MSVC accepts both (1) and (2) for regular functions. (instantiating the operator template with an object of type T as argument, like mpl::for_each does, is not an option. I can't construct T.) thanks, Stefan

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[graph][heap][coroutine] interruptable dijkstra shortest path function
by Alex Hagen-Zanker 05 Oct '12

05 Oct '12

[apologies for double posting, send it to wrong list before] Hi, A few months ago I posted here to gauge interest for an interruptable and resumable version of the dijkstra_shortest_path algorithm. The initial response was positive, but Jeremiah considered the proposed solution lacking compared to an algorithm object model that inverts the control over the algorithm, Additional to my original solution, I now have two implementations of the algorithm object model. 1. Visitor based interruption. This is my original approach. It separates the algorithm into an init and main function. The main function asks the visitor if it should be halted afer each iteration. After halting, the main function can be used to resume the calculation. auto dijkstra = make_dijkstra_object(graph, named_parameters); dijkstra.init_from_sources(sources); dijkstra.expand( interruptor); dijkstra.expand( other_interruptor); auto distance_map = dijkstra.get<vertex_distance_t>(); auto color_map = dijkstra.get<vertex_color_t>(); 2. Algorithm object implementation. This was suggested by Jeremiah. The algorithm object iterates from control point to control point in the algorithm. Giving at each stop access to the intermediate results of the algorithm. The two implementations are: a) Using the [Coroutine] library that is currently under review to step in and out of the function. b) Fragmenting the function into many subfunctions that are chained together and the other works by fragmenting the original algorithm into a number of small interlinked functions starting at one control point and returning at the next. The interface of a and b is exactly the same and it works like this: auto dijkstra = make_dijkstra_object(graph, sources, named_parameters); while(dijkstra.next() ) { control_point cp = dijkstra.get_control_point(); vertex u = dijkstra.get_u(); auto distance_map = dijkstra.get<vertex_distance_t>(); if(cp == cp_finish_vertex && get(distance_map, u) > 42) { cout << "far enough" << endl; break; } } auto distance_map = dijkstra.get<vertex_distance_t>(); The algorithm object offers most flexibility for interweaving multiple searches. The visitor based solution on the other hand is more efficient. The latter has no loss in performance compared to the existing dijkstra functions. The coroutine algorithm object was extremely easy to implement but it is not very efficient. Does anybody have a suggestion how that can improve? Besides these interruptable and resumable shortest path searches, there are a few more advantages to the implementation. a. All dijkstra parameters are bundled in a light-weight dijkstra_state object that is returned by algorithms, giving direct access to all results of the algorithm, for instance: auto dijkstra_state = dijkstra_shortest_paths(graph, sources, no_named_parameters() ); auto distance_map = dijkstra_state.get<vertex_distance_t>(); b. Named parameters (old style) are also used for the priority queue and the color map c. Boost.Heap mutable queues can be used with Boost.Graph via the named parameter interface. It doesn't help performance now, but may be a good base for experimentation. d. Separation of the dijkstra shortest path algorithm in init and main function makes it easier to provide custom initialization. For instance: multiple sources or only re-initializing changed vertices Can anybody use this? The latest version is here: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/ahh34/dijkstra.zip Kind regards, Alex p.s. below are timings for a large graph: bimba_6M.obj... 2090 ms. Boost Graph Library 2121 ms. With interruption visitor 5601 ms. With Coroutine(*) 2621 ms. With fragmented functions (*) 2840 ms. With Boost.Heap (*) halting at all control points of the dijkstra visitor

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Boost.Generic, C++0x Concepts, and C++1y Concepts
by Matt Calabrese 05 Oct '12

05 Oct '12

Hey everyone, It's been a while since I've made an appearance on this list, but I was contacted regarding the recent discussion of concepts here and Lorenzo's taking the reins of a concept library, and decided to poke my head in. First, I apologize to the community for not getting Boost.Generic on the sandbox earlier (if you are unfamiliar with Boost.Generic, see my 2011 BoostCon talk http://blip.tv/boostcon/boost-generic-concepts-without-concepts-5262126 and/or the corresponding slides https://github.com/boostcon/2011_presentations/raw/master/thu/Boost.Generic… ). I've gotten numerous emails about it since 2011 and I decided to commit the current state of Boost.Generic to the sandbox today. It is still based on the "old" concepts of C++0x with pseudo-signatures. You can find it in the "generic" subdirectory of the sandbox. That said, I'm not sure anyone even cares about Boost.Generic anymore given that the standard seems to be diverging from how it originally was approaching concepts, but here it is anyway. Similarly, I'm not sure there is any interest from people for me to continue developing Boost.Generic, so I guess this is a check for interest again. And, very briefly, without getting too political here (not that my opinion has any bearing) but I personally do not agree with some of the recent design changes for what may turn out to be C++1y concepts -- specifically I think pseudo-signatures were better overall and the C++0x form of associated types was much more useful than what is currently described, especially concerning associated type deduction, which no longer appears to be possible. But I don't think this discussion is suitable for the Boost mailing list and I don't want to ruffle too many feathers beyond that, so I'll take that elsewhere. For this reason, though, I [currently] do not have a desire to support that form of concepts in my library, though I do plan to resume work on Boost.Generic. A recap of what's gone on since my Boostcon talk, for anyone who even remembers it -- I haven't been actively developing Boost.Generic for over a year as I have been busy with other things, but coincidentally in the past couple of weeks I've gone back to it and decided to update some things due to a trick I realized I could use to get full compatibility with the C++0x working paper for explicit concept map templates (N2914's 14.10.3.2 paragraph 3 highlights why it's non-trivial, see http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2009/n2914.pdf) Since then, I've had renewed interest in the project and have updated various facilities. Stuff that changed since my presentation back in 2011 -- it now supports variadic concepts using the syntax ,,, (see line 28 of boost/generic/std_concept/concepts/predicate.hpp for a simple example). All 135 of the concepts from N2914 are now implemented, though not all are working, especially ones that are not auto and use refinement (I'm still in the process of making the concept map backend changes). All of the std_concepts/concepts tests should be working, and same with std_concept/support_concepts tests, with GCC and Clang only failing on FreeStoreAllocatable (in slightly different ways). I'm updating some of the implementation to use the new Boost.Preprocessor variadic macro support that didn't exist when I started development, and Boost.Generic now also is starting to use Edward Diener's variadic_macro_data_library that's in the sandbox. I've only recently test on GCC 4.7 and Clang 3.1, both with libstdc++ on Windows. I don't think any other compilers will be able to handle it because of the amount of C++11 features currently in use... Visual C++ in particular will likely have no chance of compiling ANY of it, even if you use the fully preprocessed form of the library that I provided on the sandbox. Specifically, I currently require the updated C++11 SFINAE support, variadic templates, and template aliases, among other features which I don't believe Visual C++ yet supports. If you want to see how to use the library, for now you'll have to watch the talk, look at the slides, and/or go into generic/test/libs/generic/test/std_concept and examine the tests that are there (the latter will probably be the most enlightening in terms of using the predefined concepts). As for the tests, the ones you should look at if you want to understand how to use the predefined concepts are in the test directory's std_concept/concepts and std_concept/support_concepts subdirectories. If you want to see the syntax for creating your own concepts, the ones in std_concept/concepts are the best choice to look at, as they are simple and most do not require compiler intrinsics, unlike the support_concepts which rely on C++11 type_traits and the C++0x std::True concept. I also recently integrated Boost.Wave support to easily generate preprocessed versions of all of the concepts in the library. You can use the preprocessed headers, including Dave's suggested #line support, without having to run Boost.Wave yourself. To do this you just define a couple of macros when you build the tests. This decreases build times by over 50% on both Clang and GCC -- the tests for me in Clang go from over 7 minutes to just over 3 minutes if I use the preprocessed headers. To activate this support you need the two defines in the following format (easiest to just define them via the command-line) // NOTE: Do not use quotes around the path -- also realize that the path ends in the middle of the word generic, This is necessary. #define BOOST_GENERIC_PREPROCESSED_ROOT put_your_COMPLETE_path_to_boost_sandbox_here/generic/include/boost/gen // Also #define BOOST_GENERIC_USE_PREPROCESSED_HEADERS This will use completely preprocessed concepts, with errors properly pointing to the non-preprocessed headers, and effectively gets rid of all of the "from macro invocation" notes you'd see in clang and gcc 4.8 whenever you hit one of the Boost.Generic generated static_asserts in the non-preprocessed form. It is recommended that you use the preprocessed form unless you are making changes to the library-provided concepts, since compile-times are greatly reduced by using them and error messages are improved. Anyway, as I said, I do not personally like the direction that concepts seem to be going and so I do not currently have much of an interest in implementing what is currently proposed, however, buried somewhere in the source of Boost.Generic I believe is an early implementation of the library that was more similar to how concepts are specified in N3351, though I stopped maintaining it a long time ago -- it allowed for the specification of givens and arbitrary expression matching similar to the current design, with a brief demonstration given in my 2011 Boostcon talk (slide 20: https://github.com/boostcon/2011_presentations/raw/master/thu/Boost.Generic…) It might be useful to revive this now that standard concepts may be going in that direction, but again, I do not think this is a good idea and was why I was convinced by others to switch development to pseudo-signatures to begin with. -- -Matt Calabrese

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Who maintains boost MPI?
by Ralf Grosse-Kunstleve 04 Oct '12

04 Oct '12

Hi, we're looking for someone to merge a simple patch: https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/6123 Ralf

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[spirit] Symbols parser with overlapping symbols
by Andrey Semashev 01 Oct '12

01 Oct '12

Hi, I wonder how qi::symbols parser behaves when it contains partially overlapping symbols. For example: qi::symbols< char, int > syms; syms.add("a", 1); syms.add("aaa", 2); What will this parser return when "aaa" is passed as input? I couldn't find it in the docs.

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[1.52.0] [request permission to merge to release] Changeset 80790
by Jeffrey Lee Hellrung, Jr. 30 Sep '12

30 Sep '12

As I was updating the Release Notes for 1.52.0, I thought about a recently introduced restriction on function_input_iterator (due to addressing ticket #5825 [1] in [2]) that could be relaxed. trunk changeset is here: https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/changeset/80790 I think it's pretty benign but given that the release branch is closed tomorrow (Monday) and the beta rc is just a few days after that, I figured that whether and when this gets merged to release is up to the release managers. Please advise, - Jeff [1] https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/5825 [2] https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/changeset/80467

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Inspection tool run
by Paul A. Bristow 30 Sep '12

30 Sep '12

I've been trying to get Boost.Math off the Sinners List on the Inspection Report at http://boost.cowic.de/rc/inspect-trunk.html#math. It last ran 25 July 12, so I can't see if I have succeeded yet. When can I expect it to run again? Paul --- Paul A. Bristow, Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal LA8 8AB UK +44 1539 561830 07714330204 pbristow(a)hetp.u-net.com

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[website] Latest version of page links
by Daniel James 30 Sep '12

30 Sep '12

Hello all, I finally got round to finishing off the links from old documentation to the latest version. It's a little hacked in so the markup isn't wonderful, and it only works for libraries whose documentation is altered by the site's php scripts. That's usually the documentation with no frames and the green header (some libraries put the green header in themselves, it won't work for them). At the moment it's just on the beta site, for example: http://beta.boost.org/doc/libs/1_49_0/libs/phoenix/doc/html/index.html Not all pages have a page in the same location in the most recent version, so for some pages you will just get a link to the latest documentation list: http://beta.boost.org/doc/libs/1_41_0/doc/html/boost/units/si/constants/cod… This will go live soonish. I might tweak it a little first, maybe change the wording on the notices, but it's pretty much done for now. Please try it out with your favourite documentation to check I haven't made too much of a mess. thanks, Daniel

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Review Wizard Status Report for September 2012
by Ronald Garcia 29 Sep '12

29 Sep '12

============================================== Review Wizard Status Report for September 2012 ============================================== News ==== 1. Boost 1.51.0 Released. New Libraries: 1) Context 2. Multiprecision Accepted 3. Type Erasure Accepted 4. Contract Reviewed 5. Coroutine Reviewed 6. ODEInt Reviewed 7. Contract Accepted 8. Polygon Extensions integrated into Polygon Open Issues =========== The following libraries have review managers, but have not yet been scheduled for review: * Range Extensions - added May 2012; review manager: Neil Groves. The following libraries have been reviewed and await reports from their review managers: * Predef - reviewed February 2012; review manager: Joel Falcou. * Coroutine - reviewed September 2012; review manager: Hartmut Kaiser. The following libraries have been accepted to Boost, but have not yet been submitted to SVN: * Constrained Value - accepted September 2010; author: Robert Kawulak. * GIL.IO - accepted January 2011; author: Christian Henning. * Contract - accepted September 2012; author: Lorenzo Caminiti. The following libraries have been accepted and submitted to SVN, but have not yet appeared in a release: * Atomic - accepted July 2011; author Helge Bahmann. * Type Traits Introspection - accepted August 2011; author: Edward Diener. * Lockfree - accepted August 2011; author: Tim Blechmann. The following libraries have been accepted provisionally to Boost, but have not been submitted for mini-review and full acceptance: * Endian - accepted provisionally November 2011; author: Beman Dawes. * Log - accepted provisionally March 2010; author: Andrey Semashev. General Announcements ===================== As always, we need experienced review managers. Please take a look at the list of libraries in need of managers and check out their descriptions. In general review managers are active boost participants, including library contributors, infrastructure contributors, and other mailing list participants with a substantial track record of constructive participation. If you can serve as review manager for any of them, email Ron Garcia or John Phillips, "rxg at cs dot cmu dot edu" and "phillips at pacific dot mps dot ohio-state dot edu" respectively. We are also suffering from a lack of reviewers. While we all understand time pressures and the need to complete paying work, the strength of Boost is based on the detailed and informed reviews submitted by you. If you are interested in reviewing a library but won't have time during the review period, you can always prepare your review ahead of time. No rule says you can only work on a review during the review period. A link to this report will be posted to www.boost.org. If you would like us to make any modifications or additions to this report, please email Ron or John. The review schedule is an unordered list of the libraries awaiting review. As such, any library on the schedule can be reviewed once the developer is ready, a review manager has been secured, and the manager, developer, and wizards agree on a date to schedule the review. Review Schedule =============== * Join (M) * Pimpl (M) * Sorting (M) * Quaternions, Vectors, Matrices (M) * Variadic Macro Data (M) * Block Pointer (M) * Singularity (M) * Extended Complex Numbers (M) * Metaparse (M) * Polygon: Voronoi Extensions * Coroutine * Range Extensions * Nowide (M) * Array (M) * TypeIndex (M) ``(M)`` marks libraries that need review managers. -------------------- Join ---- :Author: Yigong Liu :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://channel.sourceforge.net/ :Description: Join is an asynchronous, message based C++ concurrency library based on join calculus. It is applicable both to multi-threaded applications and to the orchestration of asynchronous, event-based applications. It follows Comega's design and implementation and builds with Boost facilities. It provides a high level concurrency API with asynchronous methods, synchronous methods, and chords which are "join-patterns" defining the synchronization, asynchrony, and concurrency. Pimpl ----- :Author: Vladimir Batov :Review Manager: Needed :Download: https://github.com/boost-vault/Miscellaneous/blob/master/Pimpl.zip :Description: The Pimpl idiom is a simple yet robust technique to minimize coupling via the separation of interface and implementation and then implementation hiding. This library provides a convenient yet flexible and generic deployment technique for the Pimpl idiom. It's seemingly complete and broadly applicable, yet minimal, simple and pleasant to use. Sorting ------- :Author: Steven Ross :Review Manager: Needed :Download: https://github.com/boost-vault/Sorting :Description: A grouping of 3 templated hybrid radix/comparison-based sorting algorithms that provide superior worst-case and average-case performance to std::sort: integer_sort, which sorts fixed-size data types that support a rightshift (default of >>) and a comparison (default of <) operator. float_sort, which sorts standard floating-point numbers by safely casting them to integers. string_sort, which sorts variable-length data types, and is optimized for 8-bit character strings. All 3 algorithms have O(n(k/s + s)) runtime where k is the number of bits in the data type and s is a constant, and limited memory overhead (in the kB for realistic inputs). In testing, integer_sort varies from 35% faster to 2X as fast as std::sort, depending on processor, compiler optimizations, and data distribution. float_sort is roughly 70% faster than std::sort. string_sort is roughly 2X as fast as std::sort. Quaternions, Vectors, Matrices ------------------------------ :Author: Emil Dotchevski :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://www.revergestudios.com/boost-qvm/ :Description: QVM defines a set of generic functions and operator overloads for working with quaternions, vectors and matrices of static size. The library also defines vector and matrix data types, however it allows users to introduce their own types by specializing the q_traits, v_traits and m_traits templates. Variadic Macro Data ------------------- :Author: Edward Diener :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Sandbox <http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/variadic_macro_data/>`__ :Description: This library adds support and functionality for variadic macros to Boost as well as integrating variadic macros with the Boost PP library without changing the latter library in any way. Block Pointer ------------- :Author: Phil Bouchard :Review Manager: Needed :Download: https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/block_ptr/ :Description: Deterministic memory manager of constant complexity capable of handling cyclic collections. Singularity ----------- :Author: Ben Robinson :Review Manager: Needed :Download: https://github.com/cppmaven/Singularity :Description: The Singularity Design Pattern allows you to restrict any class to a single instance. Unlike the infamous Singleton, Singularity gives you direct control over the lifetime of the object, does not require you to grant global access to the object, nor does it limit you to the default constructor for that object. Extended Complex Numbers ------------------------ :Author: Matthieu Schaller :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://code.google.com/p/cpp-imaginary-numbers/ :Description: The library is an extension of the std::complex class addressing two issues: 1. The standard does not guaranty the behaviour of the complex class if instantiated with types other than float/double/long double. 2. Some calculation where pure imaginary numbers (i.e. multiples of sqrt(-1)) appear are unnecessarily slowed down due to the lack of support for these numbers. The code I submit contains two interleaved classes boost::complex and boost::imaginary which can be instantiated with any type T provided T overloads the usual arithmetic operators and some basic (real) mathematical functions depending on which complex function will be used. It is thus an extended version of Thorsten Ottosen's n1869 proposal (http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG21/docs/papers/2005/n1869.html) Metaparse --------- :Author: Abel Sinkovics :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://abel.web.elte.hu/metaparse/metaparse.zip :Description: Metaparse is a library for constructing parsers parsing at compile-time based on template metaprogramming. The parsers built with the library take boost::mpl::strings as input and can produce - types - objects (types with public static members) - callable C++ functions (types with public static method) - template metafunction classes as output (based on the input being parsed). On compilers supporting constexpr the library provides the following syntactic sugar for writing the input of the parsers: BOOST_STRING("this is a string") The library can be used for implementing DSLs in C++, including DSLs making C++ template metaprogramming easier (see examples). Polygon: Voronoi Extensions --------------------------- :Author: Andril Sydorchuk :Review Manager: Lucanus Simonson :Download: http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/gtl/ :Description: This library extends Boost.Polygon with the following features: - Robust and efficient implementation of the sweepline algorithm that allows to construct Voronoi diagram, Delaunay triangulation and medial axis of a set of points and line segments. - Coordinates of the output geometries are computed within the 64 machine epsilon relative error (6 mantissa bits). - Voronoi diagram data structure that allows efficient traversal and data association with the output Voronoi graph. - No 3rd party dependencies (e.g. GMP, MPFR), all the required multiple precision types are implemented as part of the library. - The input and output coordinate type domains are configurable via coordinate type traits, thus allowing to compute coordinates of the Voronoi vertices within any required precision. - The full construction of the Voronoi diagram of 100 000 points takes only 0.27 seconds (see benchmarks). Coroutine --------- :Author: Oliver Kowalke :Review Manager: Hartmut Kaiser :Download: http://gitorious.org/boost-dev/boost-dev/archive-tarball/coroutine :Description: This library is an implementation of coroutines and generators using Boost.Context. Range Extensions ---------------- :Author: Akira Takahashi :Review Manager: Neil Groves :Download: https://github.com/faithandbrave/OvenToBoost :Description: This project adds some features of the Oven Range Library to Boost.Range. Features: - Additional Range Adaptors (taken, taken_while, dropped, dropped_while, elements, elements_key, memoized, outdirected) - Extensions for using Lambda (regular function, regular operator) - Infinite Range (iteration function) - and additional range utilities. Nowide ------ :Author: Artyom Beilis :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://cppcms.com/files/nowide/ :Description: This library makes cross platform Unicode aware programming easier. It provides an implementation of standard C and C++ library functions, such that their inputs are UTF-8 aware on Windows without requiring to use Wide API. Array ----- :Author: Brian Smith :Review Manager: Needed :Download: https://github.com/BrianJSmith/Array :Description: The array class is a C++11 compatible implementation of static multidimensional arrays. TypeIndex --------- :Author: Antony Polukhin :Review Manager: Needed :Download: https://github.com/apolukhin/type_index :Description: TypeIndex is an extended C++11 type_index library, that * works with disabled RTTI * can store const-volatile-reference info about types (if user requested it) * has all the functionality of std::type_index * has portable across compilers and platforms functionality for getting demangled type names * works across modules/shared libraries * does not require C++11 to work Libraries under development =========================== See http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/LibrariesUnderConstruction for a current listing of libraries under development.

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[Review] ODEInt review starts today, September 19, ends September 28
by Steven Watanabe 28 Sep '12

28 Sep '12

AMDG The review of Karsten Ahnert and Mario Mulansky's ODEInt library starts today September 19th and will end on September 28. -------------------------------------- About the library: odeint provides routines for numerically solving Ordinary Differential Equations, a task heavily required when approaching scientific problems numerically. In odeint we have implemented the most common algorithms in a modern, generic way which provides several advantages over existing implementations. The main focus of odeint is to separate algorithms from the underlying basic computation unit. This allows for example to easily use the power of modern GPUs via CUDA or OpenCL to speed up computational heavy simulations. Features: - provides most of the standard algorithms, including step size control, dense ouput and extrapolation routines - symplectic routines for Hamiltonian systems - implicit routines based on boost::ublas (MTL4 in progress) - high level integrate functions - interchangeable computation backend with existing bindings to CUDA and OpenCL - native support of ODEs defined for complex values - support of Boost.Units in most of the algorithms - support of arbitrary precision types You can download the library and view the documentation here: zip: http://github.com/headmyshoulder/odeint-v2/zipball/master github: http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/ docs: http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/index.html -------------------------------------- Please always state in your review, whether you think the library should be accepted as a Boost library! Additionally please consider giving feedback on the following general topics: - What is your evaluation of the design? - What is your evaluation of the implementation? - What is your evaluation of the documentation? - What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the library? - Did you try to use the library? With what compiler? Did you have any problems? - How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick reading? In-depth study? - Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain? In Christ, Steven Watanabe

6 8

Contributing a thread pool class
by BOLTON Gawain 28 Sep '12

28 Sep '12

Hello, It seems that boost's "thread" library does not have a thread pool class. It does have a thread_group class but this class is has the following limitations: 1. It does not limit the number of threads created. 2. Threads added are not managed and raw pointers are used exposing the developer to memory leaks. 3. The API deals with threads and not "tasks" to be executed by a thread. As such I have developed a thread pool class which allows for: · A maximum number of "worker" threads to configured. · Arbitrary "tasks" to be submitted by any thread and executed by one of the worker threads. o Worker threads are created as and when needed. · Worker threads can terminate after being idle a configurable amount of time. o They will be re-created if needed afterwards. The amount of code is quite small (< 500 lines including blank lines, API usage document in the header file and comments) and just uses standard C++ and boost thread functionality. My question is, would the boost community be interested in such a contribution to the thread library? I apologize in advance if this is the Nth time such a contribution has been proposed and rejected. I have developed this while working for my employer (a French bank called Société Générale). I have my manager's support and am in the process of obtaining agreement from my employer to get permission to submit the thread pool class developed. Cheers, Gawain Bolton Domino Development ITEC/CTT/GEF/TED 17 cours Valmy 92 800 Puteaux France Telephone : +33 1 42 13 52 43 ************************************************************************* This message and any attachments (the "message") are confidential, intended solely for the addressee(s), and may contain legally privileged information. Any unauthorised use or dissemination is prohibited. E-mails are susceptible to alteration. Neither SOCIETE GENERALE nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates shall be liable for the message if altered, changed or falsified. ************ Ce message et toutes les pieces jointes (ci-apres le "message") sont confidentiels et susceptibles de contenir des informations couvertes par le secret professionnel. Ce message est etabli a l'intention exclusive de ses destinataires. Toute utilisation ou diffusion non autorisee est interdite. Tout message electronique est susceptible d'alteration. La SOCIETE GENERALE et ses filiales declinent toute responsabilite au titre de ce message s'il a ete altere, deforme ou falsifie. *************************************************************************

3 2

Release branch closing for new features
by Marshall Clow 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

[ resending because it doesn't seem to have gone through ] So, we missed announcing this on Monday, so we're pushing back the deadline until Friday. On (tomorrow) Friday, Sep 29th, the release branch will close for new features, and be open only for bug fixes and doc fixes. On Tuesday, October 2nd, the release branch will close except by permission from the release managers. This is in preparation for the first 1.52.0 beta, scheduled for Monday, Oct 8th. -- The release managers

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[reminder] [Review] ODEInt review ends tomorrow September 28
by Steven Watanabe 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

AMDG The review of Karsten Ahnert and Mario Mulansky's ODEInt library will end tomorrow. Only a few reviews have been submitted so far. If you plan to submit a review, please let me know. If anyone needs more time, we can see about extending the review period. -------------------------------------- About the library: odeint provides routines for numerically solving Ordinary Differential Equations, a task heavily required when approaching scientific problems numerically. In odeint we have implemented the most common algorithms in a modern, generic way which provides several advantages over existing implementations. The main focus of odeint is to separate algorithms from the underlying basic computation unit. This allows for example to easily use the power of modern GPUs via CUDA or OpenCL to speed up computational heavy simulations. Features: - provides most of the standard algorithms, including step size control, dense ouput and extrapolation routines - symplectic routines for Hamiltonian systems - implicit routines based on boost::ublas (MTL4 in progress) - high level integrate functions - interchangeable computation backend with existing bindings to CUDA and OpenCL - native support of ODEs defined for complex values - support of Boost.Units in most of the algorithms - support of arbitrary precision types You can download the library and view the documentation here: zip: http://github.com/headmyshoulder/odeint-v2/zipball/master github: http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/ docs: http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/index.html -------------------------------------- Please always state in your review, whether you think the library should be accepted as a Boost library! Additionally please consider giving feedback on the following general topics: - What is your evaluation of the design? - What is your evaluation of the implementation? - What is your evaluation of the documentation? - What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the library? - Did you try to use the library? With what compiler? Did you have any problems? - How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick reading? In-depth study? - Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain? In Christ, Steven Watanabe

1 0

heap corruption on windows due to windows_file_codecvt
by Pedro Larroy 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

Hi When using debug mode in windows with boost_filesystem there's "Debug Assertion Failed!" in _CtrIsValidHeapPointer When operator new is redefined it causes windows_file_codecvt not to be released with the matching release that it allocated it. We reported this to Microsoft as seems it's a bug in their STL. But so far, I tried with VS2012 and the bug seems not fixed... There's a workraround in boost that we are using for the moment: This has to be changed in path.cpp to fix it: - std::locale loc(global_loc, new windows_file_codecvt); + std::locale loc(global_loc, _NEW_CRT windows_file_codecvt); Should this fix be applied in boost until is fixed on Microsoft's side? This is a very nasty issue that will happen only with a redefined operator new. (For example we are using new with the sacalable allocator of tbb). Regards. Pedro.

1 0

[context] boost::ctx::?
by Dave Abrahams 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

ctx seems like a needlessly short abbreviation. Wouldn't it be better and more consistent with the rest of Boost to ask users to write using namespace ctx = boost::context; if they want something short? -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing Software Development Training http://www.boostpro.com Clang/LLVM/EDG Compilers C++ Boost

9 13

[shared_ptr][thread] spinlock initialization
by Yi Ding 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

I started using the spinlock in boost/smart_ptr/detail/spinlock.hpp and discovered that it needs to be manually initialized, even for the spinlock_sync version, which became a nasty bug when it manifested itself. This seems a bit out of sync with the rest of the mutexes in boost::thread. Now, I'm guessing that the fact that the spinlock is in boost::detail means that it's not really for outside consumption (newbie boost user here), but is there something in the works that will be? In the meantime, would it be possible to automatically initialize the spinlock (trivial in the case of spinlock_sync) or are there architectural issues with that? Otherwise, could we add a comment that says "in order to use these spinlocks you must initialize with BOOST_DETAIL_SPINLOCK_INIT" or "move along, these aren't the spinlocks you're looking for."

3 2

Problem using dijkstra_shortest_paths with Boost 1.51
by John Wiegley 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

Hello, I tried building my Ledger project today with Boost 1.51 and clang --std=c++11, and received the following error: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- /usr/local/include/boost-1_51/boost/mpl/eval_if.hpp:38:26: error: no type named 'type' in 'boost::no_property' typedef typename f_::type type; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~ [...] /Users/johnw/Projects/ledger/src/history.cc:455:3: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'boost::dijkstra_shortest_paths<boost::filtered_graph<boost::adjacency_list<boost::vecS, boost::vecS, boost::undirectedS, boost::property<boost::vertex_name_t, const ledger::commodity_t *, boost::property<boost::vertex_index_t, unsigned long, boost::no_property> >, boost::property<boost::edge_weight_t, long, boost::property<boost::edge_price_ratio_t, std::__1::map<boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t, std::__1::less<boost::posix_time::ptime>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t> > >, boost::property<boost::edge_price_point_t, ledger::price_point_t, boost::no_property> > >, boost::property<boost::graph_name_t, std::__1::basic_string<char>, boost::no_property>, boost::listS>, ledger::recent_edge_weight<boost::adj_list_edge_property_map<boost::undirected_tag, long, long &, unsigned long, boost::property<boost::edge_weight_t, long, boost::property<boost::edge_price_ratio_t, std::__1::map<boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t, std::__1::less<boost::posix_time::ptime>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t> > >, boost::property<boost::edge_price_point_t, ledger::price_point_t, boost::no_property> > >, boost::edge_weight_t>, boost::adj_list_edge_property_map<boost::undirected_tag, ledger::price_point_t, ledger::price_point_t &, unsigned long, boost::property<boost::edge_weight_t, long, boost::property<boost::edge_price_ratio_t, std::__1::map<boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t, std::__1::less<boost::posix_time::ptime>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t> > >, boost::property<boost::edge_price_point_t, ledger::price_point_t, boost::no_property> > >, boost::edge_price_point_t>, boost::adj_list_edge_property_map<boost::undirected_tag, std::__1::map<boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t, std::__1::less<boost::posix_time::ptime>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t> > >, std::__1::map<boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t, std::__1::less<boost::posix_time::ptime>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t> > > &, unsigned long, boost::property<boost::edge_weight_t, long, boost::property<boost::edge_price_ratio_t, std::__1::map<boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t, std::__1::less<boost::posix_time::ptime>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const boost::posix_time::ptime, ledger::amount_t> > >, boost::property<boost::edge_price_point_t, ledger::price_point_t, boost::no_property> > >, boost::edge_price_ratio_t> >, boost::keep_all>, f_max<long>, boost::distance_combine_t, boost::bgl_named_params<boost::iterator_property_map<long *, boost::vec_adj_list_vertex_id_map<boost::property<boost::vertex_name_t, const ledger::commodity_t *, boost::property<boost::vertex_index_t, unsigned long, boost::no_property> >, unsigned long>, long, long &>, boost::vertex_distance_t, boost::bgl_named_params<boost::iterator_property_map<unsigned long *, boost::vec_adj_list_vertex_id_map<boost::property<boost::vertex_name_t, const ledger::commodity_t *, boost::property<boost::vertex_index_t, unsigned long, boost::no_property> >, unsigned long>, unsigned long, unsigned long &>, boost::vertex_predecessor_t, boost::no_property> > >' requested here dijkstra_shortest_paths(fg, /* start= */ vs, ^ --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- My graph type is: typedef adjacency_list <vecS, // Store all edges in a vector vecS, // Store all vertices in a vector undirectedS, // Relations are both ways // All vertices are commodities property<vertex_name_t, const commodity_t *, property<vertex_index_t, std::size_t> >, // All edges are weights computed as the absolute difference between // the reference time of a search and a known price point. A // filtered_graph is used to select the recent price point to the // reference time before performing the search. property<edge_weight_t, long, property<edge_price_ratio_t, price_map_t, property<edge_price_point_t, price_point_t> > >, // Graph itself has a std::string name property<graph_name_t, std::string> > Graph; The full source is located here: https://github.com/jwiegley/ledger/blob/next/src/history.cc What has changed in Boost.Graph since 1.50? The same code builds fine with all the same compiler options using that version. Thanks, -- John Wiegley BoostPro Computing Software Development Training http://www.boostpro.com Clang/LLVM/EDG Compilers C++ Boost

2 4

[odeint] Documentation comments
by John Bytheway 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

This is not a review, just a few things I've caught while reading the odeint docs. Mostly cosmetic issues, but a couple of deeper questions. * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/getting… - "They also occur if partial differential equations (PDEs) are discretized in one coordinate."; wouldn't you have to discretize in all but one coordinate? * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/getting… - I see no mention of any headers except the global one boost/numeric/odeint.hpp. Is it useful or possible to include only parts of the library? * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/getting… - "a simple function calculating f(x)'"; I think you mean either "f(x)" or "x'", not "f(x)'". * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/tutoria… - There's one case here where you use "--" as an em dash. "on the example of explicit_error_rk54_ck -- a 5th order Runge-Kutta method". There are various other places throughout the docs which use just "-" for em dash. It would be best if you could use a proper em dash character, but in any case you should be consistent. * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/tutoria… - "which lead to the whole new subject of Chaos Theory"; s/lead/led/ * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/tutoria… - "the so called Rosenbrock method"; is "so called" necessary? * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/tutoria… - "the first numerical experiment which has been implemented on a computer in 1953. It was studied at Los Alamos on one of the first computer (a MANIAC I) and it triggered a whole new tree of mathematical and physical science."; This is ambiguous (it could mean the first experiment amongst those in 1953). If you really mean it was the first computational numerics experiment then you should probably say something like "the first numerical experiment to be implemented on a computer. It was studied at Los Alamos in 1953 on one of the first computers (a MANIAC I) and triggered a whole new tree of mathematical and physical science." - "For example the unit test for Boost.Units take up to 4 GB of memory at compilation."; are you referring to the unit tests of Boost.Units, or a unit test of odeint that uses Boost.Units? Please clarify. - The matrix-as-state example has a bug: for( size_t j=0 ; j<x.size2() ; ++j ) dxdt( 0 , j ) = dxdt( 0 , x.size1() -1 ) = 0.0; should be for( size_t j=0 ; j<x.size2() ; ++j ) dxdt( 0 , j ) = dxdt( x.size1() -1, j ) = 0.0; This bug makes me think that you ought to provide a debug mode where every entry in dxdt is set to NaN before calling the system operator(), and then they are checked to be non-NaN afterwards. Of course, this would only work for types with a NaN value, but I think all your examples do have that (except maybe the multiprecision types). - "This is in principle all"; awkward phrasing, perhaps "In principle this is all" - I assume you know about the unfinished chunk of docs re PDEs and equations on networks. - "for full support the min( x , y ), max( x , y ), pow( y , y ) must be callable"; what are x and y? Is it significant that pow has both arguments equal but min and max don't? I hope the requirements on the numeric type are laid out more formally elsewhere; please link to that. - "We exemplary show this for a Hamiltonian system"; "exemplary" doesn't work here. You could use s/exemplary show/demonstrate/. * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/tutoria… - "simply to small"; s/to/too/ * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/odeint_… - "Implicit solvers do only work"; s/do // - "They safe a part of their history" s/safe/save/ - In the section on controlled steppers, the formulae are getting sufficiently complex that it might be worth trying to use TeX-generated pngs rather than straight HTML (as is done in Boost.Math, e.g. <http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_51_0/libs/math/doc/sf_and_dist/html/math_to…>) - I can't figure out what the three lines after table 1.6 are about. - The long line "boost::numeric::odeint::result_of::make_dense_output< r..." in Dense output steppers is too long for my screen; can you break it? - The resizing policy names are a bit clumsy; I think always_resize, initially_resize, and never_resize might be better. - "Typical use cases for this kind of resizer are self expanding lattices like shown in the tutorial"; can you link to the relevant example in the tutorial? - "So it might be suitable that the system function itself is a pair of functions, one for computing the deterministic and one for the stochastic part. The first element of the pair simply computes the deterministic part while the second the stochastic one."; this is rather redundant; how about "So it might be suitable that the system function is a pair of functions. The first element of the pair computes the deterministic part and the second the stochastic one." * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/odeint_… - Personally I think the ranges are more useful than the iterators, so it would be nice if they were mentioned in the section title (e.g. "Iterators and Ranges") - "that is you write the above example in a shortified form"; "shortified" is not a word; perhaps "so you can write this example in a more succinct form". * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/odeint_… - The note "odeint already includes all the code presented here, see gsl_wrapper.hpp, so gsl_vectors can be used straight out-of-box. The following description is just for educational purpose." is duplicated in the subsequent paragraph. - Using x/y for element-wise division in vector_space_algebra seems potentially contentious. Similarly for abs. Perhaps it would be better to provide a customization point in boost::numeric::odeint as you have done with vector_space_reduce, whose default implementations use / and abs as in the current scheme. That way people will not be required to implement potentially misleading operators for their types. - "vector_space_reduce_impl< state_type >::reduce( state , operator , init )"; you probably shouldn't use the keyword "operator" as an identifier here. * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/odeint_… - "the state_type of the stepper must not necessarily be used to call the do_step method"; I'm not sure what this means; should it be "the state_type of the stepper need not necessarily be used to call the do_step method" * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/concept… - Concepts are normally written without underscores, so SymplecticSystem rather than Symplectic_System. * http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/boost_numeric_odeint/concept… - In various places you have ScaleSum/N/ with literal '/' characters, where I presume they were intended to be formatting to make 'N' italics. - Rather than having a dedicated array_algebra, could you not have range_algebra automatically switch to the more efficient implementation when it detects a suitable State type? I hope to get a chance to play with the library later and submit a proper review. For now, congratulations on an impressive library. John Bytheway

3 6

[test] Patches to improve test log detail for better thirdparty integration
by Jamie Allsop 26 Sep '12

26 Sep '12

In light of recent discussions regarding Boost.Test I've created 3 tickets in trac with patches against trunk that incrementally improve the ease with which Boost.Test can be integrated with thirdparty continuous integration tools, while at the same time improving the output offered. These are patches we've been using for some time locally, the recent discussions highlighted the importance of pushing patches like these to a wider audience. In summary the key changes are: * https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/7410 * all test cases/suites have file and line information captured so that external tools can use the Boost.Log output to create links into the source tree, answering questions like, "What is this test case?". It is possible to simply follow the link and see. * https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/7417 * update the Boost.Test log output to include summary status information when a test case or suite is completed. This includes the test status, assertions passed and total assertions. This allows live test status to be viewed and nicer tools to be built around this. For example each test can be shown starting, in progress and then complete with the resulting status in detail. I should note that Boost.Test reports currently output this additional test status but this is done only on completion of all tests and so cannot be used to show live progress. * this additional test status as part of the log can be easily captured using regular expressions if HRF is used and many IDEs will allow colourisation, autolinking and so on using similar approaches. * https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/7397 * update Boost.Test to use the new Boost.Timer classes introduced in Boost 1.48. This can be suppressed through the use of a macro should the old timers be preferred. The new Boost.Timer provides much better timing information than the old Boost.Timer library. You should refer to the library itself for an explanation of why the previous timer library was deprecated: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_51_0/libs/timer/doc/index.html These patches address what I believe to be important missing features of Boost.Test. We have been using these patches in our systems with Boost 1.49 and enjoy very nice CI integration with Trac Bitten and our Scons build tools. I would therefore encourage those that use Boost.Test and who are interested in these patches in general to take a look. The Boot.Timer patch is important as it also addresses compile issues. See the recent thread here: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel/234411 Gennadiy - assuming you find these acceptable they could be committed to trunk. I don't have commit privileges to do it myself and besides they need reviewed first. Also I would prefer a closer look was taken at the impact they might have on Boost.Test's tests. Finally I should also note that one reason for providing the BOOST_TEST_USE_DEPRECATED_TIMER macro was to circumvent the issue of the new Boost.Timer depending on Boost.System. I don't recall if Boost.System can used header-only? I certainly remember a lot of discussion about it. Jamie

2 2

[test] Support use of test tools and report generation in non-test programs - facilitating test/validation modes
by Jamie Allsop 26 Sep '12

26 Sep '12

An important use case that we have is the ability to run test scenarios on a production binary by specifying a 'test' mode. In test mode we essentially run through a series of different scenarios, asserting various conditions, comparing expected results and so on. In order to minimise the custom code we needed for this we decided to make use of Boost.Test. All the test tools are there, report generation and so on. In addition we have all the report analysis tools in place to interpret the output. The problem however, is that Boost.Test essentially requires a custom main() function. Either one of the ones provided by Boost.Test or one performing Boost.Test specific initialisation. In our production systems we have, like many, a fairly standard main() that ensures uniform behaviour across binaries and we do not want to pollute that with Boost.Test specific code. Notably we also do not want to pollute our command line parameters or configuration with 'global' Boost.Test arguments to control the test report output. Finally we want to control exactly when the tests are executed. I've created ticket #7419 to cover this use case and have also attached a small patch that facilitates the capabilities required to support it. https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/7419 Essentially the patch does two things: * It allows boost::unit_test_framework::init() to be called more than once. The result is to reset the test status and master test suite so that new tests can be added and new reports generated through multiple calls. The CLA parsing is also reset. Recent changes to this code may make my call to clear() redundant. I'll let Gennadiy be the judge of that. * This first change then allows the framework setup and teardown to be encapsulated in a helper class (not provided in the patch but one could be). In our systems we use a helper class that exposes a simple API that allows the user to implement a method where test units can be added directly to the master test suite - see the ticket for an example. As I said the patch focuses solely on enabling the possibility of writing such a class, not the class itself. * It provides scoped Boost.Test arguments for the commandline when BOOST_TEST_USE_QUALIFIED_COMMANDLINE_ARGUMENTS is defined. All command line arguments are then called --boost.test.<argument> for example --boost.test.log_level instead of --log_level. This of course means that all Boost.Test related arguments will not clash with any program arguments. On its own this is a generally useful feature as it allows custom main() functions to pass arguments down to other components during simple unit testing. The patch attached is based on a patch against boost 1.49. The one attached to the ticket is for trunk. Again this is a small patch that is genuinely useful so I'd like to see it make its way into trunk. As far as I know there are no side-effects for adding these changes, tests all pass and so on. Jamie

1 0

Formal Review Request [stl_ext_adv]
by Vadim Stadnik 26 Sep '12

26 Sep '12

Hi all, I would like to request a formal review of the library “STL extensions based on advanced data structures” [stl_ext_adv]. Project location: https://github.com/vstadnik/stl_ext_adv_review Quick view of documentation: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/51041088/stl_ext_adv_review/doc/index.html The previous version of this library is based on dynamically allocated data structures. It was discussed by Boost community in this thread: http://boost.2283326.n4.nabble.com/stl-ext-adv-Interest-in-advanced-data-st… The new version has two major improvements. It offers more efficient array based data structures and extensions of move semantics functions of STL containers. I am looking for the review manager. I would really appreciate if someone interested in advanced data structures could take this role. Early comments are welcome! Regards, Vadim Stadnik SUMMARY The proposed library [stl_ext_adv] offers augmented array based B+ trees and STL containers that support the interfaces of the C++03 sequences and associative containers. The library offers a number of extensions and performance improvements that are not available in C++03 and C++11 standard containers. OVERVIEW Both sequences and associative containers support: - random access iterators; - logarithmic time insert and erase operations for a single element anywhere within a container; Sequences support: - the union of interfaces of the C++03 sequence containers: std::list, std::deque and std::vector; - complete set of move semantics functions splice() and split() that guarantee logarithmic complexity in the worst case; Associative containers support: - equally efficient access to elements by their keys and positions; - logarithmic time search operations using keys of the container elements; - logarithmic time split operations in the general case and logarithmic time merge operations in special cases. One basic container implements the efficient algorithm accumulate(), which sums up any consecutive elements of a container in logarithmic time. The algorithm is fundamental to many important applications, such as the numerical integration and statistics. The array based data structures improve locality of reference and offer more efficient algorithms against equivalent dynamically allocated data structures. The wide set of the efficient member functions provided by the new containers makes them useful to improve the performance of algorithms using the standard containers with at least one relatively inefficient operation or a bidirectional iterator.

1 0