RE: [boost] Formal review of "Output Formatters" library begins today

Paul A Bristow wrote:
* There is a terribly central spelling mistake which nobody seems to noted so far:
A _delimiter_ does de-limit things and has nothing to do with deli_s or meter_s! A global search in replace in code and docs is vital.
<blush>
* I strongly dislike abbreviations and concatenations. It is MUCH easier to read/understand and consistent with STL styling to use full words and _s, if a bit longer to type. naryfmt really must qualify for some prize. nary_format or n_ary_format. "Boost prefers clarity to curtness".
I have been giving this some thought. What I am looking at at the moment is something like: std::pair < std::pair< int, std::vector< char > >, std::list< boost::math::quaternion< float > >
mct;
namespace io = boost::io; namespace fmt = boost::io::format; std::cout << io::object( mct, fmt::pair ( fmt::pair( fmt::basic(), fmt::container()), fmt::container( fmt::nary()) ) ); With io::delimiter holding one of the delimiter values. io::wrapped_delimiter will replace io::openclose_formatter in holding open/close delimiter pairs and io::sequence_delimiter replaces io::formatter.
| 3. What is your evaluation of the documentation? OK -
Though I am not a fan of background coloured boxes for code - I think the font change is enough.
One thing I would REALLY REALLY like is a Boost 'Standard' way of colouring and indenting code similar to Visual Studio IDE - though I don't feel their colour scheme is quite as good mine!
What do you think about the new Boost.quickdoc? The docs for quickbook are available at http://tinyurl.com/64el7, and the source is at http://tinyurl.com/4tdjj. Thanks to Eric and Joel for this great tool.
| 8. Do you think the library should be accepted as a Boost library? Yes - but with some name changes.
See above.
And I would like to see active work by all authors to ensure that this interacts with the filtering, range, more_io libraries before the first actual full release (in 1.33?) so that the documentation cross-references too, including examples of combinations of these techniques.
I am willing to co-operate.
I can understand that authors are unwilling/unable to work together until they are sure which other libraries can be assumed a part of Boost, and I think we must accept (and flag up) that there will probably be changes, perhaps major, while interworking is perfected. The three recent IO contributions, with serialisation, are prime candidates for mutual refinement.
Sure. Regards, Reece _________________________________________________________________ Want to block unwanted pop-ups? Download the free MSN Toolbar now! http://toolbar.msn.co.uk/

| -----Original Message----- | From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org | [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Reece Dunn | Sent: 13 September 2004 18:28 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: RE: [boost] Formal review of "Output Formatters" | library begins today | > One thing I would REALLY REALLY like is a Boost 'Standard' way of | >colouring and indenting code similar to Visual Studio IDE - | though I don't | >feel their colour scheme is quite as good mine! | | What do you think about the new Boost.quickdoc? The docs for | quickbook are | available at http://tinyurl.com/64el7, and the source is at | http://tinyurl.com/4tdjj. Thanks to Eric and Joel for this great tool. I don't like the greyed background to anything. I don't think it helps at all. It makes things take longer to print out if you need a paper copy - when the going gets really tough. Nor do the boxes around really help much either, but they at least don't hinder. The coloring isn't strong enough for my taste - using blue for keywords is a great help in reading, The colour scheme chosen by Textpad (my favorite replacement for Notepad) - textpad.com for coloring C and C++ seems good -and mine only slightly better ;-) My view is that color is a massive hit in helping people to read code, especially if it can be applied uniformly, something that Boost could 'impose'. Paul Paul A Bristow Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal, Cumbria UK LA8 8AB +44 1539 561830 +44 7714 330204 mailto: pbristow@hetp.u-net.com

"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 Reece Dunn | Sent: 13 September 2004 18:28 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: RE: [boost] Formal review of "Output Formatters" | library begins today
| > One thing I would REALLY REALLY like is a Boost 'Standard' way of | >colouring and indenting code similar to Visual Studio IDE - | though I don't | >feel their colour scheme is quite as good mine! | | What do you think about the new Boost.quickdoc? The docs for | quickbook are | available at http://tinyurl.com/64el7, and the source is at | http://tinyurl.com/4tdjj. Thanks to Eric and Joel for this great tool.
I don't like the greyed background to anything. I don't think it helps at all.
It doesn't; research has shown that black on white communicates most clearly.
It makes things take longer to print out if you need a paper copy - when the going gets really tough. Nor do the boxes around really help much either, but they at least don't hinder.
Every bit of extraneous visual information hurts readability a little.
The coloring isn't strong enough for my taste - using blue for keywords is a great help in reading,
Y'see, there will always be disagreement on that. Dark blue keywords are too strong for me. I use a slightly more mild purple color. Oh, and type names are green ;-) If you know emacs, these are my settings (plus defaults): (set-face-foreground font-lock-builtin-face "red3") (set-face-foreground font-lock-comment-face "red3") (set-face-foreground font-lock-constant-face "slateblue") (set-face-foreground font-lock-string-face "darkgreen")
The colour scheme chosen by Textpad (my favorite replacement for Notepad) - textpad.com for coloring C and C++ seems good -and mine only slightly better ;-)
My view is that color is a massive hit in helping people to read code, especially if it can be applied uniformly, something that Boost could 'impose'.
-- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting http://www.boost-consulting.com

| -----Original Message----- | From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org | [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of David Abrahams | Sent: 14 September 2004 04:34 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: [boost] Re: Formal review of "Output Formatters" | library beginstoday | | Y'see, there will always be disagreement on that. Dark blue keywords | are too strong for me. I use a slightly more mild purple color. Oh, | and type names are green ;-) If you know emacs, these are my | settings (plus defaults): | | (set-face-foreground font-lock-builtin-face "red3") | (set-face-foreground font-lock-comment-face "red3") | (set-face-foreground font-lock-constant-face "slateblue") | (set-face-foreground font-lock-string-face "darkgreen") Yuck ! Call the Style Police! Some people are either colour-blind or have no taste at all ;-) Paul PS But we can agree that black and white is so last millenium.

"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 David Abrahams | Sent: 14 September 2004 04:34 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: [boost] Re: Formal review of "Output Formatters" | library beginstoday | | Y'see, there will always be disagreement on that. Dark blue keywords | are too strong for me. I use a slightly more mild purple color. Oh, | and type names are green ;-) If you know emacs, these are my | settings (plus defaults): | | (set-face-foreground font-lock-builtin-face "red3") | (set-face-foreground font-lock-comment-face "red3") | (set-face-foreground font-lock-constant-face "slateblue") | (set-face-foreground font-lock-string-face "darkgreen")
Yuck ! Call the Style Police!
Some people are either colour-blind or have no taste at all ;-)
Paul
PS But we can agree that black and white is so last millenium.
I'm not sure. I think I prefer it to many coloring schemes, which I find distracting. -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting http://www.boost-consulting.com

The colour scheme chosen by Textpad (my favorite replacement for Notepad) - textpad.com for coloring C and C++ seems good -and mine only slightly better ;-)
My view is that color is a massive hit in helping people to read code, especially if it can be applied uniformly, something that Boost could 'impose'.
yes, but then we'd need (at least I would :) an automation tool to provide this if I'm not mistaken (parse the <pre> </pre> sections, etc.). Not that I'm against it - it's a wonderful idea, but someone should do it. Or perhaps it already exists and I'm not aware of ;) Best, John -- John Torjo -- john@torjo.com Contributing editor, C/C++ Users Journal -- "Win32 GUI Generics" -- generics & GUI do mix, after all -- http://www.torjo.com/win32gui/ -- v1.4.0 - save_dlg - true binding of your data to UI controls! + easily add validation rules (win32gui/examples/smart_dlg)

| -----Original Message----- | From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org | [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Reece Dunn | Sent: 13 September 2004 18:28 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: RE: [boost] Formal review of "Output Formatters" | library begins today | > "Boost prefers clarity to curtness". | | I have been giving this some thought. What I am looking at at | the moment is | something like: | | std::pair | < | std::pair< int, std::vector< char > >, | std::list< boost::math::quaternion< float > > | > mct; Which leaves me puzzling what on earth mct can be short for ! myVeryContrivedContainerType? Is this a complex demo assemblage? | namespace io = boost::io; | namespace fmt = boost::io::format; using boost::io::format; would allow you to replace fmt with format? Which is much easier to understand, especially for those for whom english is not their first language? Have I commented this correctly (and informatively)? | std::cout << io::object( mct, | fmt::pair | ( | fmt::pair( fmt::basic(), fmt::container()), // basic used for int, container is a vector. | fmt::container( fmt::nary()) // container is list, and n in the nary is 4 for a quaternion. | ) | ); | With io::delimiter holding one of the delimiter values. | io::wrapped_delimiter will replace io::openclose_formatter in holding open/close delimiter pairs why wrappED? io::wrapper? ({} [] ... | and io::sequence_delimiter replaces io::formatter. io::separator? , | ... (Of course, if English spelling made any sense whatever, it would be separater - but it hasn't got to be the premier language by being phonetic, consistent and logical, has it?) Paul PS /rubbing_it_in_mode on some filenames have the spelling mistake too ;-) This may confuse some using search later. /rubbing_it_in_mode off docs boost::io::range has a misspell: If you need to specify a range or sub-range, boost::io::formatob will not ****recongnise**** it unless it is a container. template< typename CharT > struct FormatTraits { static const CharT open_default = implemenation defined; static const CharT close_default = implemenation defined; static const CharT separator_default = implemenation defined; }; _____________________________________________^^^^^^^^^^^^^ misspell. and finally std::cout << boost::io::formatob( vec ).format( "{ ", " }" ); <<<<<<<<<<< isn't this missing a ':' separator??? // output: { 1 : 2 : 3 }
participants (4)
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David Abrahams
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John Torjo
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Paul A Bristow
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Reece Dunn