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C++ libraries

2011-07-05T07:25:00Z

C++ libraries

We provide free and portable C++ source libraries.

Thelicense encourages both commercial and non-commercial use: most of the libraries have a Boost like license – this license is OSR compatible, – others are GPL.

The libaries section below documents the libraries, for instance specialized libraries like audio, drm, xml, rss, geoip – or more general libraries like queue or threadpool – feel free to browse through the documentation section to see what’s available …

Note: the “getting started” section describes what you will need to do (basically: download and run)

Supported compilers

Libraries have been tested on different of compilers and platforms. Since theyrely on modern C++ features not available in all compilers, not all libraries will work with every compiler. The following compilers and platforms have been extensively tested:

Apple GCC 4.0 on Mac OS X.
GNU C++ 4.0.x, 4.1.x Linux (Debian and Ubuntu)
Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1, 8.0

Sparkx Embedded Maps

2009-05-18T11:01:00Z

Showcase for Sparkx - Maps: <iframe src="http://www.sparkx.com/widgets/widget.php?userid=4676&auth=95fcd23031a5663ec49e1c14d2115492&width=400&height=300&szoom=true" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" width="400"></iframe>

object_factory

2009-05-17T12:34:00Z

For some reason, I needed a object factory. Well, that’s easy you might think: this subject is well understood and textbook material.

It turns out differently.

There are in fact several places where you can look: - Loki - Codeproject - Boost Sandbox

But these are all either too specialized or too generalized: nothing fitted quite what I needed: an object factory that creates objecst based on the types of the constructor parameters …

For example:

typedef ObjectFactory<base* (int, float), short> factory_t;

where base* (int, float) is the constructor signature, and short is the key (but you could use std::string just as easily).

The best solution was to be found on Gamedev

But this too needed a bit of attention: I wanted N constructor parameters, without having to specialize them by hand – as that would be silly.

So, with the help of Boost.Preprocessor I came up with the following.

The template is here

The template is specialized once for a constructor without arguments, and with the use of Boost.Preprocessor N times; well, between LIMIT_LOWER_BOUND and LIMIT_UPPER_BOUND – which you can adjust if you need more …

The above will allow for code like this unit-test

struct base {};

struct node1 : public base
{
  node1(int) 
  { std::cout << "node1(int)" << std::endl; }
  
  node1(int, float) 
  { std::cout <<"node1(int, float)" << std::endl; }
};

void test_object_factory()
{
  std::wcout << L"object_factory_test: " << std::endl;
  
  typedef ObjectFactory<base* (int, float),
     char*> node1_factory_t;
  
  node1_factory_t nf;
  nf.Register<node1>("node1");

  base* n1 = nf.Create("node1", 2, 3.0);
  delete n1;

This would create an object with the (int, float) signature.

rails's daemonize

2009-03-29T10:22:00Z

Isn’t this a nice and clean way of forking?

def daemonize
  exit if fork                   # Parent exits, child continues.
  Process.setsid                 # Become session leader.
  exit if fork                   # Zap session leader. See [1].
  Dir.chdir "/"                  # Release old working directory.
  File.umask 0000                # Ensure sensible umask. Adjust as needed.
  STDIN.reopen "/dev/null"       # Free file descriptors and
  STDOUT.reopen "/dev/null", "a" # point them somewhere sensible.
  STDERR.reopen STDOUT           # STDOUT/ERR should better go to a logfile.
end

That is, it’s the same as in Steven’s Advanced Programming for the Unix Environment, but a lot less verbose. Then again, above is Ruby – Stevens is C.

YouTube's Inline Ads

2009-01-23T21:58:00Z

Q: What happens when Google tries to match Disney videos to their pool of advertisers?

Ah, 31 animals . Let’s see, there’s Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, Julien, Maurice, Moto Moto, ...

iPhone Capistrano deployment

2008-10-28T10:43:00Z

You can automatically deploy your own application to the iPhonedevice by using Capistrano.

Requirements: Capistrano (gem install capistrano) and ldid (install via Cydia).

Build your application for the ARM architecture:


  bjam --toolset=darwin macosx-version=iphone-2.0 architecture=arm release

Deploy the application to the iPhone:


  cap deploy

Your app is packaged (tar), copied (scp) to your iphone and SpringBoards is restarted. I use the following Capfile:



set :application_name, "LocateMe" 
set :iphone_ip, "192.168.1.4" 
set :user, "root" 
# password = alpine

desc "Package your iPhone application" 
task :package do
 %x[cd "~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" && \
    tar -czpvf #{application_name}.tar.gz #{application_name}.app && \
    scp #{application_name}.tar.gz #{user}@#{iphone_ip}:/Applications]
end

desc "Install the application on your iPhone" 
task :install, :hosts => "#{iphone_ip}" do
  run <<-CMD
    cd /Applications/;
    tar -xzpvf #{application_name}.tar.gz;
    rm #{application_name}.tar.gz;
    ldid -S /Applications/#{application_name}.app/#{application_name};
    killall SpringBoard;                  # OS 2.0
#   /Applications/BossPrefs.app/Respring; # OS 2.1
  CMD
end

desc "Package and install the application on your iPhone" 
task :deploy, :hosts => "#{iphone_ip}" do
  package
  install
end

Building iPhone LocateMe with BJAM

2008-10-28T10:40:00Z

Here’s an example Jamfile that you can use to build the LocateMe example with BJAM. The jamfile basically just sums up the sources and resources that need to be compiled. BJAM already supports the Darwin toolset.

The application is compiled and installed in your iPhone Simulator user directory. If you want to compile for the iPhone Simulator you invoke bjam with the following command:


bjam --toolset=darwin macosx-version=iphonesim-2.0

If you want to compile for the iPhone device you have to change the architecture to ARM.


bjam --toolset=darwin macosx-version=iphone-2.0 architecture=arm release

Also see the article about automatically deploying your application to the iPhone using Capistrano.

The complete jamfile.v2 for reference:


# jamfile.v2
#
#
# bjam --toolset=darwin macosx-version=iphonesim-2.0
# bjam --toolset=darwin macosx-version=iphone-2.0 architecture=arm release

import ibtool ;

project locate_me
  : source-location .
  : requirements
  : usage-requirements
  ;

# RESOURCES = Background.png Default.png HelloWorld.xib MainWindow.xib Icon.png Info.plist ;
RESOURCES = Default.png Icon.png Info.plist Localizable.strings ;

nib resources/FlipsideView : en.lproj/FlipsideView.xib ;
nib resources/MainView : en.lproj/MainView.xib ;
nib resources/MainWindow : en.lproj/MainWindow.xib ;

alias compiled_resources : resources/FlipsideView resources/MainView resources/MainWindow ;

exe LocateMe
  : main.m
    Classes/AccuracyPickerItem.m
    Classes/FlipsideViewController.m
    Classes/LocateMeAppDelegate.m
    Classes/MainViewController.m
    Classes/MyCLController.m
    Classes/RootViewController.m
  : <framework>/System/Library/Frameworks/UIKit
    <framework>/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation
    <framework>/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreLocation
  ;

install simulator
  : LocateMe
  :
    <location>"~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/LocateMe.app" 
    <install-dependencies>on
    <install-type>EXE
  ;

install resources
  : $(RESOURCES) compiled_resources
  : <location>"~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/LocateMe.app" 
  ;

C++ iPhone development with Bjam

2008-09-28T20:34:00Z

Just got myself an outdated iPhone and a 2nd hand MacBook!

I’ve been toying with these two goodies for the last day and they are some funky goodies to get your hands on. Of course the most fun is to write your own stuff for it.

Part of the challenge is to not use the XCode IDE provided by Apple, but instead use automated command-line tools. Basically I want to stay away from the IDE and the objective-c. We’re going to use the boost-build system (bjam) and use as much plain C++ as possible.

Compiling and linking of an iPhone application is working fine. The next part is to get the application to run on the iPhone Simulator and/or the actual iPhone. The difficult part here is to get all the code signing, provisioning, packaging and copying in place.

I’ll keep you posted. If you’re doing something similar, then drop me a comment.

Arjen

Hungary

2008-09-08T15:26:00Z

Action Man says ‘Long live Apps Hungarian!’ – no arguing with him:

But saying ‘I need the ‘p’ prefix because

12	“if (size == 0)” and “if (pSize == 0)”

are different is wrong: best look @ your variable names …

(The picture came from Sutters blog).

Standards

2008-06-14T14:11:00Z

A note on standards …

These can be discussed for ever, or not at all – this tells you why.

More notes and there’s off course Sutter&Alexandrescu’s book.

And if you really must, boost has a nice summary.

It boils down to:

Use the naming conventions of the C++ Standard Library!

Sounds obvious – but what does that mean?

Here’s a few guidelines from that standard

Names (except as noted below) should be all lowercase, with words separated by underscores.
Acronyms should be treated as ordinary names (e.g. xml_parser instead of XML_parser).
Template parameter names begin with an uppercase letter.
Macro (gasp!) names all uppercase (and can have a prefix like “MYLIB_”)
Choose meaningful names – explicit is better than implicit, and readability counts. There is a strong preference for clear and descriptive names, even if lengthy.
Use fixed-width fonts.
Use spaces rather than tabs.
Limit line lengths to 80 characters.

Japan

2008-05-12T06:28:00Z

Is an amazing place – especially if you have a good friend who speaks japanese to show you around – a small impression …

There’s modern Japan

Backlight Tokyo Tower

Roppongi

View on the Rainbow bridge from Chris’ home

But there’s also the more traditional Japan, the gardens and temples:

Sankeien garden

Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in

- and if you’re in for sushi for breakfast, go to Tsukiji fishmarket

My Sushi at Daiwa

And off course, there’s a lot more: Kabukicho, Akihabara, Shibuya, Ueno park, 代々木公園 (Yoyogi kōen) ...

and the zoo – although the panda’s moved on to a better place …

Clickable

2008-05-10T09:40:00Z

Cool piece of film no?

So what if you could click or touch highlighted items and order them: you’re watching a free movie, but you have to order a pizza …

What if there was a website where you could pick ads to be layered over your movie / or vice versa …

There are some companies doing add-layover, but it’s ugly – why don’t play with the format ??

Good ACCU

2008-04-16T05:54:00Z

On april 1 I took off to attend the ACCU in Oxford, it lasts 5 days and it was amazing! Being there, listening, learning, meeting people, asking questions … (And of course drink a beer or 2 :)

Oxford saturday morning 6 am

Highlights were: on wednesday I attended Joe Armstrongs talk on Erlang – I already read parts of the book, so I had a notion of what was coming; it was very interesting, especially the figures on Moore’s law and multicores and how Erlang has concurrency baked into. Then I got the privilige to get a 3 hour introduction to Haskell by Simon Peyton Jones – great! (Interestingly enough, in 2003 he gave a talk as well, in which I was quite clueless – this time I understood more).

Christ Church

On saturday there was a full day on organizations/patterns by James Coplien – to me this was one of the best sessions, as I agree with one of Copliens statements (my words) ‘it’s the people stupid’ – it is no so much technology that is difficult but us … He authored this book – and it’s certainly worth a read!

Not far from

2008-04-13T18:07:00Z

the truth, I believe …

Saw this cartoon – and sort of liked it :)

The bigger question being, what could be the next big/fundamental/paradigm thing – or is there none, basically?

ICU on x64

2008-02-07T07:23:00Z

ICU – the international components for unicode is a very usefull library if you’re working with unicode and/or internationalization issues.

It offers all kinds of hard to work out yourself stuff – but one thing thats is a bit difficult is to the the download to build on windows x64 (vc8); as the .sln file only has 32 bits targets …

Sure, there’s a rather difficult approach with cygwin/bash/nmake/cl (have auteconf create makefiles and call m$ nmake + cl as the compiler), but even when you got sofar as the having compiled and linked the libs – you then are faced with incompatibilities: the .def and importlibs for the dlls are wrong.

The solution is really simple.

Just open the .sln file and change the targets from 32 bit to 64 bit.

This will work: libs are correct and you will get good working exe’s.

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