Boost

Language: CPP

CLI/Utils

Boost was initiated in 1998 by a group of C++ experts to provide high-quality, reusable C++ libraries. Many Boost libraries have been proposed and incorporated into the C++ Standard Library (C++11 and onwards). Boost emphasizes performance, portability, and robustness.

Boost is a collection of peer-reviewed, portable C++ libraries that extend the functionality of the C++ Standard Library. It provides utilities for smart pointers, threading, regular expressions, file system operations, and more.

Installation

linux: sudo apt install libboost-all-dev
mac: brew install boost
windows: Use precompiled binaries from https://www.boost.org/users/download/

Usage

Boost provides a wide range of libraries covering various domains: smart pointers, containers, algorithms, threading, asynchronous I/O, serialization, date/time, filesystem, and more. Each library has its own API, and many can be used header-only.

Using smart pointers

#include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    boost::shared_ptr<int> ptr(new int(10));
    std::cout << *ptr << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Demonstrates the usage of Boost shared_ptr to manage memory automatically.

Using Boost filesystem

#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    boost::filesystem::path p("test.txt");
    if (boost::filesystem::exists(p)) {
        std::cout << p << " exists." << std::endl;
    }
    return 0;
}

Checks if a file exists using Boost Filesystem.

Multithreading with Boost.Thread

#include <boost/thread.hpp>
#include <iostream>

void threadFunction() {
    std::cout << "Hello from thread!" << std::endl;
}

int main() {
    boost::thread t(threadFunction);
    t.join();
    return 0;
}

Creates and runs a thread using Boost.Thread.

Regular expressions

#include <boost/regex.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main() {
    boost::regex expr("\\d+");
    std::string s = "There are 123 apples";
    boost::smatch match;
    if(boost::regex_search(s, match, expr)) {
        std::cout << match[0] << std::endl;
    }
    return 0;
}

Uses Boost.Regex to find digits in a string.

Asynchronous I/O with Boost.Asio

// Using Boost.Asio for networking or asynchronous operations via io_context and sockets.

Error Handling

boost::filesystem::filesystem_error: Occurs when filesystem operations fail. Check paths, permissions, and existence.
boost::bad_weak_ptr: Thrown when a shared_ptr or weak_ptr is misused. Ensure proper ownership semantics.

Best Practices

Use header-only libraries when possible for simplicity.

Prefer Boost smart pointers over raw pointers for memory safety.

Combine Boost.Asio with modern C++ async/await or futures for network programming.

Check compatibility with C++ Standard version for each Boost library.

Keep Boost libraries updated as they frequently improve performance and fix bugs.

Official DocsGithub