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HTML
222 lines
8.0 KiB
HTML
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
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<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
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<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
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<title>
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Boost Background Information
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</title>
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body {
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p.c2 {font-style: italic; font-weight: bold}
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span.c1 {color: #FFFFFF; font-family: Arial; font-size: 120%}
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</head>
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<body>
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<table summary="Navigational header"
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border="1" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#007F7F">
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<tr>
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<td bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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<img src="../boost.png" alt="boost.png (6897 bytes)" width="277"
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height="86">
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</td>
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<td>
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<a href="../index.htm"><span class="c1">Home</span></a>
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</td>
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<td>
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<a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><span class="c1">Libraries</span></a>
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</td>
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<td>
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<a href="../people/people.htm"><span class="c1">People</span></a>
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</td>
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<td>
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<a href="../more/faq.htm"><span class="c1">FAQ</span></a>
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</td>
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<td>
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<a href="../more/index.htm"><span class="c1">More</span></a>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<h1>
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Boost Background Information
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</h1>
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<h2>
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Why should an organization use Boost?
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</h2>
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<p>
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In a word, <i><b>Productivity</b></i>. Use of high-quality libraries like
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Boost speeds initial development, results in fewer bugs, reduces
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reinvention-of-the-wheel, and cuts long-term maintenance costs. And since
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Boost libraries tend to become de facto or de jure standards, many
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programmers are already familiar with them.
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</p>
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<p>
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Ten of the Boost libraries are included in the <a href=
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"http://open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/library_technical_report.html">C++
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Standard Library's TR1</a>, and so are slated for later full
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standardization. More Boost libraries are in the pipeline for <a href=
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"http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1810.html">TR2</a>.
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Using Boost libraries gives an organization a head-start in adopting new
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technologies.
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</p>
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<p>
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Many organization already use programs implemented with Boost, like Adobe
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<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html">Acrobat
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Reader 7.0</a>.
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</p>
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<h2>
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Who else is using Boost?
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</h2>
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<p>
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See the <a href="../doc/html/who_s_using_boost_.html">Who's Using Boost
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page</a> for a sampling. We don't know the exact numbers, but a release
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gets around 100,000 downloads from SourceForge, and that is only one of
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several distribution routes.
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</p>
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<h2>
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What do others say about Boost?
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</h2>
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<p class="c2">
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"...one of the most highly regarded and expertly designed C++ library
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projects in the world."
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>
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-- <a href="http://www.gotw.ca/">Herb Sutter</a> and <a href=
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Alexandrescu">Andrei
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Alexandrescu</a>, <a href=
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"http://safari.awprofessional.com/?XmlId=0321113586">C++ Coding
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Standards</a>
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p class="c2">
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"Item 55: Familiarize yourself with Boost."
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>
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-- <a href="http://www.aristeia.com/">Scott Meyers</a>, <a href=
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"http://www.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-321-33487-6/">Effective C++, 3rd
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Ed.</a>
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p class="c2">
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"The obvious solution for most programmers is to use a library that
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provides an elegant and efficient platform independent to needed services.
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Examples are BOOST..."
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>
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-- <a href="http://www.research.att.com/~bs/">Bjarne Stroustrup</a>,
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<a href="http://www.research.att.com/~bs/abstraction.pdf">Abstraction,
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libraries, and efficiency in C++</a>
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<h2>
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How do users get support?
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</h2>
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<p>
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For relatively straightforward support needs, users rely on the <a href=
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"mailing_lists.htm">mailing lists</a>. One of the advantages of Boost is
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the responsiveness of other users and Boost developers.
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</p>
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<p>
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For more involved needs, <a href="links.htm#CommercialSupport">Commercial
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Support</a> is available.
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</p>
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<h2>
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What about license issues?
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</h2>
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<p>
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Boost has its own <a href="license_info.html">license</a>, developed with
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help from the Harvard Law School. The <a href=
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"license_info.html">Boost license polices</a> encourage both commercial and
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non-commercial use, and the Boost license is not related to the GPL or
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other licenses - that are sometimes seen as business unfriendly.
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</p>
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<h2>
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What about other intellectual property issues?
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</h2>
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<p>
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The Boost libraries tend to be new, fresh, and creative designs. They are
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not copies, clones, or derivations of proprietary libraries. Boost has a
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firm policy to respect the IP rights of others. The development of Boost
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libraries is publicly documented via the mailing lists and version control
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repository. The source code has been inspected by many, many knowledgeable
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programmers. Each Boost file has a copyright notice and license
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information. IP issues have been reviewed by the legal teams from some of
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the corporations which use Boost, and in some cases these lawyers have been
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kind enough to give Boost feedback on IP issues. There are no guarantees,
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but those factors all tend to reduce IP risk.
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</p>
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<h2>
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Why would anyone give away valuable software for free?
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</h2>
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<p>
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Businesses and other organizations often prefer to have code developed,
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maintained, and improved in the open source community when it does not
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contain technology specific to their application domain, because it allows
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them to focus more development resources on their core business.
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</p>
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<p>
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Individuals contribute for the technical challenge, to hone their technical
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skills, for the sense of community, as part of their graduate school
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programs, as a way around geographic isolation, to enhance their employment
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opportunities, and as advertisements for their consulting services. There
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are probably as many reasons as there are individuals. Some of the
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apparently individual contributions come from employees of support
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companies with contracts from businesses or other organizations who have an
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interest in seeing that a library is well-maintained.
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</p>
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<h2>
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Who pays Boost's expenses?
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</h2>
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<p>
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Boost doesn't really have any expenses! All the infrastructure is
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contributed by supporters, such as the <a href=
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"http://www.osl.iu.edu/">Open Systems Lab</a> at Indiana University,
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<a href="http://sourceforge.net/index.php">SourceForge</a>, <a href=
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"http://www.boost-consulting.com/">Boost Consulting</a>, <a href=
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"http://www.meta-comm.com/">MetaCommunications</a>, and the individuals,
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companies, and other organizations who run the regression tests. Borland,
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HP, Intel, and Microsoft have contributed compilers. And hundreds, or even
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thousands, of programmers contribute their time. That's what makes Boost
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possible.
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</p>
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<hr>
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<p>
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Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED"
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s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->07 July, 2005
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<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="21138" -->
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</p>
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<p>
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© Copyright Beman Dawes 2005.
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</p>
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<p>
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Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See
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accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or copy
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at <a href=
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"http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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