I erroneously posted this on boost-users yesterday... Reposting it here today. I'm not competent to present a full review of the Boost MSM library, but I've been following it with interest since I discovered it at BoostCon. I've read very many mailing list exchanges between Christophe and users during this time. The MSM review hasn't generated a ton of traffic, and I'd like to contribute my comments for whatever they're worth.
What is your evaluation of the design? The Boost MSM library seems to be a well-designed implementation of state machine logic that is faithful to the UML standard in most areas and thoughtfully deviates from (or extends) it in a few places.
What is your evaluation of the implementation? I feel like the implementation is a clean example of modern C++ and abstracts state machine concepts quite well. The transition table in particular is implemented elegantly.
What is your evaluation of the documentation? Adequate
What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the library? Very useful... I expect to need this library for my work within the next 3-6 months
Did you try to use the library? I have not used the library.
How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick reading? In-depth study? Something more than a quick reading, yet well short of an in-depth study.
Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain? Not particularly.. I've handwritten small state machines for GUI programming in the past
As an additional comment, I believe Christophe himself typifies the best things about Boost. He has tirelessly worked on MSM and has been very supportive of users, incorporating many suggestions for improvement. MSM should definitely be included in Boost. Thanks Erik