Sunday, March 12, 2006

Beyond the C++ Standard Library


I've been using the Boost Library for some time on both Windows and Linux and find it to be useful, flexible and easy to integrate with the C++ Standard Library. In addition the library is supported on a wide range of compilers and platforms which aids in the development of portable code. The boost library provides good documentation and plenty of examples for each individual library, however I've always wished there was a book that provided a more global look at the Boost libraries.
Recently I've discovered Beyond the C++ Standard Library, An Introduction to Boost by Bjorn Karlsson published by Addison Wesley copyright 2006. Beyond the C++ Standard Library covers 12 of the 58 Boost libraries that your likely to find especially useful. Of the 12 libraries covered in the book six have been accepted for inclusion in the Library Technical Report One (TR1) which means they will probably be included in the next version of of the C++ Standard Library. All told 10 of the 58 Boost libraries have been included in the C++ Standards Committee's Library Technical Report (TR1) as a step toward becomming part of the future C++ Standard.
I haven't dug into the book to deeply yet but it looks like a good follow on to the numeruous and excellent C++ Standard Library books currently avialable.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet


Recently I’ve been spending some time looking at the Nokia 770 tablet as an alternative to my aging Dell Axim X3. I like using a keyboard with my current Axim and just found out that the Nokia 770 supports wireless Bluetooth keyboards. I’ve had some experience using an infrared keyboard from Think-Outside with the Axim and like the action on the keys. I’ve recently discovered that they have a Stowaway Universal Bluetooth Keyboard which works with the Nokia 770.
In addition to having a large screen (as compared with my Axim) the unit runs Linux and the price, $359 US, is roughly the same as you’d pay for a good quality PDA from Dell.