Boost is "a repository of free, portable, peer-reviewed C++ libraries." Boost is also a community of advanced C++ developers who are developing these libraries. The purpose of the Boost libraries is to extend and enhance the power of C++, and many believe the best features of the next C++ standard are in development right now within the newgroups of the Boost community.
Boost began over a dinner conversation at a C++ committee meeting in Sofia Antipolis, France, when Robert Klarer and Beman Dawes began to fantasize about a monumental new C++ library project. (The name, it seems, comes from Herb Sutter's spoof proposal for a new language called "Booze," which was supposed to be more potent than Java.) The Boost community merges the collectivist spirit of the open source movement with the uber-geek wisdom of the C++ standards process. The library names and descriptions don't have the flash you'll find in the world of commercial software, and most non-programmers probably wouldn't even understand the purpose of many of them, but C++ programmers quickly recognize the utility and ingenuity of these offerings: a C++ multithreading library, a metaprogramming framework, a collection of smart pointers, a better parsing technique.
The Boost website is well worth the visit for any C++ programmer. At the Boost site, you'll find information on the many Boost libraries now in development. You'll also learn about the review process for new Boost libraries and how you can join Boost as either a library user or a Boost contributor.
CUJ is a big supporter of Boost, and we are proud to assist with building the reserve of Boost documentation by hosting the Boost Corner. We'd like to announce a new permanent page at the CUJ site that will serve as a portal to CUJ's Boost collection. If you're looking for expert commentary on Boost, visit www.cuj.com/boost. Thanks to Dinkumware for supporting CUJ's Boost Corner. With this month's post, we officially add several Boost articles from the CUJ's print magazine to our active online Boost collection:
Smart Pointers in Boost, by Bjorn Karlsson -- A look at four new smart pointer classes provided with the Boost libraries.
The Boost.Threads Library, by Bill Kempf -- Standard C++ threads are imminent, and CUJ predicts the threading standard will come from the Boost.Threads library.
Applying BGL to Computational Geometry, by Vitaly Ablavsky -- Graphs, graphics, and generic programming combine in this novel use of the Boost Graph Library.
Lexical Conversions in Boost, by Bjorn Karlsson -- Safely casting the Boost way.
Building Hybrid Systems with Boost.Python, by David Abrahams and Ralf W. Grosse-Kuntleve -- Getting our two favorite languages to work together is much easier with the Boost.Python library. (You may recognize this article as last month's special online feature from July 2003 CUJ.)
You'll find these articles, along with other Boost features from our online Boost Corner column, at CUJ's Boost page.