"Paul A Bristow" <pbristow@hetp.u-net.com> writes:
| -----Original Message----- | From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org | [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of JOAQUIN LOPEZ MU?Z | Sent: 15 April 2005 18:45 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: Re: [boost] Re: Boost to the rescue | | | | ----- Mensaje original ----- Speaking of which, I've got the nasty feeling that | a good portion of the C++ programming community have | heard of Boost but don't use it because: | | 1. It's too big. | 2. It's too hard to install. | 3. The docs are too technical. | 4. They fear it's too "advanced" for them to understand it. | I have also heard several comments like this too.
I would suggest that the documentation should stress that most of the Boost code is header only,
I'm not sure we should make too much of that. I don't know how long that will remain the case, and anyway it may not matter to the person who's really interested in Boost.Python or Serialization or Threads, or Regex, or...
and that one only need to add the location of the unpacked code to the include path to get access to tons of really useful stuff.
Well, as long as you put it that way, maybe there's something to it.
Grappling with new tools, like bjam (useful and essential as they may be) is a real turn off.
Yeah, well we need to make that easier and more accessible.
We need to get people started.
Yep.
Only when they are hooked will they be prepared to invest in the effort to build the invaluable regex and the like.
Yep.
And documentation MUST have TONS of EXAMPLES.
Yep.
This is where most people start. Without examples, they never start.
Someone at ACCU suggested that we have a "libraries overview page" that contains a short introduction and a mini-tutorial example for each of the libraries. I think it's a great idea and would vastly increase accessibility of the libraries. -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com