| Home | Libraries | People | FAQ | More

# Welcome to Boost.org!

The Boost web site provides free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries. The emphasis is on libraries which work well with the C++ Standard Library.

Libraries gives a one line overview of each library.
Latest News gives a capsule history of recent releases.
Download gives download and installation information.
Compiler Status tells what library works with which compiler.
People identifies some of the developers who write the libraries and maintain the web site.
FAQ answers questions we hope someone will bother to ask.
Tracker lets you view and submit bug, support, and feature requests.
Formal Review Schedule shows current, future, and recent past review dates.
Library Requirements and Guidelines and Library Submission Process pages provide basic information for library authors.
Mailing List Discussion Policy explains what's permissible and what isn't in mailing list postings.

## Membership

If you are interested in Boost, please join our mailing list for discussions of both technical and site-related issues, and to participate in formal reviews of proposed libraries. Discussions can be received via email in summary or in full, or viewed online via a web browser. We use the YahooGroups list hosting service. Subscribe or unsubscribe by sending email to boost-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or boost-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com respectively, or go to the mailing list home page. Dave Abrahams, Beman Dawes, and Jens Maurer are the list moderators.

Boost also has a low-volume announce-only mailing list which announces upcoming formal reviews and software releases.

For mailing list members only, preliminary libraries under discussion are available from the YahooGroups Files section (formerly called the "vault").

Beman Dawes is the Boost webmaster; email him at beman@boost.org with any concerns you don't want to just post to the mailing list.

## Rationale

Boost was begun by members of the C++ Standards Committee Library Working Group to provide free peer-reviewed portable libraries to the C++ community. An additional objective is to establish "existing practice" and provide reference implementations so that the Boost libraries are suitable for eventual standardization. The intent is to propose many of these libraries for inclusion in the upcoming C++ Standard Library Technical Report.

## Latest News

October 1, 2001 - Version 1.25.0

- Thread Library added. Portable C++ multi-programming at last, from William Kempf.
- Base From Member added to Utility Library. Support for the base from member idiom, from Daryle Walker.
- B ind and mem_fn added - Generalized binders for function/object/pointers and member functions, from Peter Dimov.
- Array Library: Minor updates, from Nico Josuttis.
- Config Library: major redesign with much improved and automated configuration of Boost libraries for specific compilers, from John Maddock.
- Random Number Library: Fixed bug when copying normal_distribution and improved the documentation, from Michael Stevens and Jens Maurer.
- Special functions, octonions, quaternions updated, now useable with many more compilers, plus three new special functions, from Hubert Holin, Eric Ford, and others.
- Tokenizer Library: fixes/enhancements to escaped_list_separator based on empty fields and tokens comments from Johan Nillson and Jens Maurer.
- Coming Soon - A mailing list for Boost users!

August 19, 2001 - Version 1.24.0

- Tuple Library added. Tuples ease definition of functions returning multiple values, and more, from Jaakko Järvi.
- Minor fixes to some other libraries.
- Boost Build System added. Preliminary release of an innovative build system for Boost libraries, from Dave Abrahams and others.
- Formal Review Schedule added. Shows current, future, and recent past review dates.

July 6, 2001 - Version 1.23.0

- Any Library added. Safe, generic container for single values of different value types, from Kevlin Henney.
- Function Library added. Function object wrappers for deferred calls or callbacks, from Doug Gregor.
- Tokenizer Library added. Break a string into a series of tokens, from John Bandela.
- Special functions, octonions, quaternions added, from Hubert Holin.
- Smart Pointer Library: shared_ptr polymorphic pointers now work on more broken compilers.
- IBM/Aix Compiler status table contributed by Toon Knapen
- Minor fixes to a number of other libraries.

May 25, 2001 - Version 1.22.0

- CRC Library added. Compute cyclic redundancy codes from Daryle Walker.
- Graph Library: Minor fixes.
- Integer Traits: added wchar_t specialization, minor portability fixes.
- Regex Library: Minor portability fixes.
- Smart Pointer Library: fixed bugs, tightened requirements, added examples.
- Utility Library: added checked_delete() and checked_array_delete() functions.

April 24, 2001 - Version 1.21.2

- Compatibility Library added: Help for non-conforming standard libraries missing CXX headers from Ralf Grosse-Kunstleve, and help for missing standard library <limits> header from Jens Maurer. (These are unreviewed implementation libraries, treated as maintenance steps only.)
- Random Number Library: Split into separate headers, updated documentation, added lagged_fibonacci generator.
- Integer Library: Minor portability update.
- Graph Library: Changed algorithm interfaces to use named parameters technique. Added graph isomorphism algorithm.
- Download refinements - files now available from either FTP or web server.
- Tracker Added: View and submit bug, support, and feature requests.
- Minor portability fixes in several other libraries.

March 14, 2001 - Version 1.21.1

- New download page. The .zip and .tar.gz files now live on the SourceForge ftp site.
- Graph Library: Minor docs fixes.
- Python Library: Minor docs fixes.
- Regex Library: Minor portability fixes.

Revised 01 October 2001