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(C++) Library

A library is a collection of functions and classes.

The C++ standard library is called the Standard Template Library. The playground of the next version of the STL is the Boost library collection..

libraries can be catagorized by their way of using them in a project:

• Header-only libraries: just #include the header files to use it
• Implementation file (.cpp) must be added to the project, next to an #include of the header files to use

The STL is header-only. Most Boost libraries are header-only.

Overview of C++ libraries (incomplete)

In practice, these are the libraries I use or have used, on the platforms indicated by the pictograms.

1. Annie: neural networks
2. BigInt: near-infinite size integer
3. Blitz++: scientify computation
4. Boost: many libraries, next STL
5. Boost.Accumulators: incremental calculation, statistical accumulators [4]
6. Boost.Algorithm: algorithms [4]
7. Boost.Any: Safe, generic container for single values of different value types [4]
8. Boost.Array: STL compliant container wrapper for arrays of constant size [4]
9. Boost.Asio: Portable networking [4]
10. Boost.Assign: Filling containers [4]
11. Boost.Atomic: C++11-style atomic<> [4]
12. Boost.Bimap: Bidirectional maps [4]
13. Boost.Bind: binders
14. Boost.Call Traits: Defines types for passing parameters [4]
15. Boost.Chrono: time utilities [4]
16. Boost.Circular Buffer: Circular/ring/cyclic buffer [4]
17. Boost.Compatibility: Help for non-conforming standard libraries [4]
18. Boost.Compressed Pair: Empty member optimization [4]
19. Boost.ConceptCheck: Tools for generic programming [4]
20. Boost.Container: Standard library containers and extensions [4]
21. Boost.Context: Context switching library [4]
22. Boost.Conversion: Polymorphic and lexical casts [4]
23. Boost.Coroutine: Coroutine library [4]
24. Boost.CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Code [4]
25. Boost.Date_Time: date and time [4]
26. Boost.Dynamic_bitset: dynamic_bitset [4]
27. Boost.Enable_if: Selective inclusion of function template overloads [4]
28. Boost.Exception: The Boost Exception library [4]
29. Boost.Filesystem: The Boost Filesystem Library [4]
30. Boost.Flyweight: Flyweight Design Pattern [4]
31. Boost.Foreach: BOOST_FOREACH [4]
32. Boost.Format: text formatting [4]
33. Boost.Function: callbacks [4]
34. Boost.FunctionTypes: function to member types [4]
35. Boost.Functional: function object wrappers [4]
36. Boost.Functional/Factory: dynamic and static object creation [4]
37. Boost.Functional/Forward: allow generic function objects to accept arbitrary arguments [4]
38. Boost.Functional/Hash: A TR1 hash function object [4]
39. Boost.Functional/Overloaded Function: Overload different functions into a single function object [4]
40. Boost.Fusion: Library for working with tuples, including various containers, algorithms, etc. [4]
41. Boost.Geometry: Geometry Library [4]
42. Boost.GIL: Generic Image Library [4]
43. Boost.Graph: Graph [4]
44. Boost.Heap: Priority queue data structures [4]
45. Boost.ICL: Interval Container Library [4]
46. Boost.Identity Type: Wrap types within round parenthesis so they can always be passed as macro parameters [4]
47. Boost.In Place Factory, Typed In Place Factory: Generic in-place construction of contained objects with a variadic argument-list [4]
48. Boost.Integer: Access standard integer types without placing any names in namespace std [4]
49. Boost.Interprocess: Shared memory, memory mapped files, process-shared mutexes, condition variables, containers and allocators [4]
50. Boost.Interval: Extends the usual arithmetic functions to mathematical intervals [4]
51. Boost.Intrusive: Intrusive containers and algorithms [4]
52. Boost.IO State Savers: I/O library [4]
53. Boost.Iostreams: Framework for defining streams [4]
54. Boost.Iterator: Iterator [4]
55. Boost.Lambda: Lambda functions
56. Boost.Lexical Cast: text conversions [4]
57. Boost.Local Function: Program functions locally, within other functions, directly within the scope where they are needed [4]
58. Boost.Locale: Provide localization and Unicode handling tools for C++ [4]
59. Boost.Lockfree: Lockfree data structures [4]
60. Boost.Math: Math [4]
61. Boost.Math Common Factor: Greatest common divisor and least common multiple [4]
62. Math Octonion: Octonions [4]
63. Boost.Math Quaternion: Quaternions [4]
64. Boost.Math/Special Functions: Mathematical special functions [4]
65. Boost.Math/Statistical Distributions: Statisticals
66. Boost.Member Function: Generalized binders for function/object/pointers and member functions [4]
67. Boost.Meta State Machine: A very high-performance library for expressive UML2 finite state machines [4]
68. Boost.Min-Max: Standard library extensions for simultaneous min/max and min/max element computations [4]
69. Boost.Move: Portable move semantics for C++03 and C++11 compilers [4]
70. Boost.MPI: Message Passing Interface library, for use in distributed-memory parallel application programming [4]
71. Boost.MPL: Compile-time Metaprogramming Library
72. Boost.Multi-Array: N-dimensional array [4]
73. Boost.Multi-Index: container maintaining one or more indices with different sorting and access semantics [4]
74. Boost.Multiprecision: Extended precision arithmetic types for floating point, integer andrational arithmetic [4]
75. Boost.Numeric Conversion: Optimized Policy-based Numeric Conversions [4]
76. Boost.Odeint: Solving ordinary differential equations [4]
77. Boost.Operators: Templates ease arithmetic classes and iterators [4]
78. Boost.Optional: Discriminated-union wrapper for optional values [4]
79. Boost.Parameter: Boost.Parameter Library - Write functions that accept arguments by name [4]
80. Boost.Phoenix: Define small unnamed function objects at the actual call site, and more [4]
81. Boost.Pointer Container: Containers for storing heap-allocated polymorphic objects [4]
82. Boost.Polygon: Booleans/clipping, resizing/offsetting and more for planar polygons with integral coordinates [4]
83. Boost.Pool: Memory pool management [4]
84. Boost.Preprocessor: Preprocessor metaprogramming tools including repetition and recursion [4]
85. Boost.Program_options: parse program options
86. Boost.Property Map: Concepts defining interfaces which map key objects to value objects [4]
87. Boost.PropertyTree: saving data to XML file, parsing XML files
88. Boost.Proto: Expression template library and compiler construction toolkit [4]
89. Boost.Python: interfacing Python and C++ [4]
90. Boost.Random: A complete system for random number generation [4]
91. Boost.Range: generic algorithms that builds on top of the new iterator concepts [4]
92. Boost.Ratio: Compile time rational arithmetic [4]
93. Boost.Rational: A rational number class [4]
94. Boost.Ref: A utility library for passing references to generic functions [4]
95. Boost.Regex: Regular expression library [4]
96. Boost.Result Of: Determines the type of a function call expression [4]
97. Boost.Scope Exit: Execute arbitrary code at scope exit [4]
98. Boost.Serialization: Serialization for persistence and marshalling [4]
99. Boost.Signals: Managed signals & slots callback implementation [4]
100. Boost.Signals2: Managed signals & slots callback implementation (thread-safe version 2) [4]
101. Boost.Smart_ptr: smart pointers
102. Boost.Spirit: LL parser framework represents parsers directly as EBNF grammars in inlined C++ [4]
103. Boost.Statechart: finite state machines
104. Boost.Static Assert: Static assertions (compile time assertions) [4]
105. Boost.String Algo: String algorithms library [4]
106. Boost.Swap: Enhanced generic swap function [4]
107. Boost.System: Operating system support [4]
108. Boost.Test: Support for simple program testing, full unit testing, and for program execution monitoring [4]
109. Boost.Thread: Portable C++ multi-threading [4]
110. Boost.Timer: Event timer, progress timer, and progress display classes [4]
111. Boost.Tokenizer: Break of a string or other character sequence into a series of tokens [4]
112. Boost.TR1: TR1 library
113. Boost.Tribool: 3-state boolean type library [4]
114. Boost.Tuple: Tuple
115. Boost.Type Traits: Templates for fundamental properties of types [4]
116. Boost.Typeof: Typeof operator emulation [4]
117. Boost.uBLAS: Matrices [4]
118. Boost.Units: Zero-overhead dimensional analysis and unit/quantity manipulation and conversion [4]
119. Boost.Unordered: Unordered associative containers [4]
120. Boost.Utility: noncopyable, checked_delete(), checked_array_delete(), next(), prior() function templates, plus base-from-member idiom [4]
121. Boost.Uuid: A universally unique identifier [4]
122. Boost.Value Initialized: Wrapper for uniform-syntax value initialization [4]
123. Boost.Variant: Safe, generic, stack-based discriminated union container [4]
124. Boost.Wave: C++ implementation of the mandated C99/C++ preprocessor functionality [4]
125. Boost.Xpressive: Regular expressions allowing context-free grammars [4]
126. CLN: (near-) infinite-precision numbers
127. CLX: GUI
128. Eo: genetic algorithms
129. FANN: neural networks
130. Flood: neural networks
131. GAlib: genetic algorithms
132. GMP: multi-precision numbers
133. libnds: working with NDS
134. MathGL: visualizing data
135. NAG: algorithms
136. OpenCV: computer vision
137. OpenGL: 2D and 3D graphics
138. Poppler: render PDFs
139. QuantLib: quantitative finance
140. QT: GUI
141. Qwt: visualizing data in 2D charts/plots
142. QwtPlot3D: visualizing data in 3D charts/plots
143. SDL: multimedia
144. Shark: machine learning
145. STL: general purposes
146. STK: audio
147. VCL: GUI
148. Wt: dynamic websites

Familiarize yourself with the STL and Boost libraries [1][2]. Prefer using libraries over hand-crafted code [3].

References

1. Scott Meyers. Effective C++ (3rd edition). ISBN: 0-321-33487-6. Item 53: Familiarize yourself with the standard library, including TR1
2. Scott Meyers. Effective C++ (3rd edition). ISBN: 0-321-33487-6. Item 54: Familiarize yourself with Boost
3. Bjarne Stroustrup. Programming. 2009. ISBN: 978-0-321-54372-1. Chapter 5.9.1: 'Use library facilities rather than your own code when you can'
4. Boost documentation

Go back to Richel Bilderbeek's C++ page.

Go back to Richel Bilderbeek's homepage.