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Reviewer: Martin D. Schweitzer

Boost.org is a Web site that provides access to the Boost programming library. One can think of the Boost library as offering all of those things that were meant to be in the standard C++ library, but never quite made it. One can also think of it as a testing ground for new ideas in C++. Abrahams and Gurtovoy have been involved in Boost since its very early days (or, at least, they were around when I started using it, in about 2000). One of the subtle changes that has taken place in programming has been something called generic programming. This has proven to be as powerful a paradigm as object-oriented programming (but has gotten far less press). C++ has had support for generic programming (in the form of templates) for over ten years, but it was probably only around the time that Modern C++ design [1] was published that designing with templates became a mainstream activity. Soon afterward, the Boost library began its metaprogramming library (MPL). This book is both an introduction to template metaprogramming, and an overview (and tutorial) for the Boost MPL. As mentioned before, the authors bring a great deal of authority to the topic. The book starts with an overview of metaprogramming. The explanations and examples are quite easy to follow, and could probably be followed by almost anyone with a basic knowledge of C++ and programming. Be warned, however: this book is not for beginners. Very quickly, the book starts getting into details. This is not a bad thing, since the intended audience for the book is the intermediate-to-advanced C++ programmer. As an example, section 2.5.2 is on primary type categorization, and starts as follows: "These unary metafunctions determine which of the fundamental type categories described in the C++ standard applies to their argument." Most of the book's pages are similarly dense. The first few chapters offer a good overview of metaprogramming, and introduce some good examples. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 cover sequences and iterators, algorithms and views, and iterator adaptors. Anybody who is familiar with the standard template library (STL), who would like to get a deeper understanding, or who would like to extend the STL in uncommon ways, would get a lot of value from these chapters. One thing that I found particularly useful in these chapters was the authors' definitions of terms such as concept, model, and refinement. The final two chapters (10 and 11) examine domain-specific embedded languages. Chapter 10 presents a good overview and motivation for using them, and chapter 11 works through a realistic example (developing a finite state machine generator). This book is part of the C++ In-Depth Series, and lives up to the reputation of the other books in the series. They are not generally for beginners. This book is an ideal addition to the library of someone who feels that they have mastered the basics of C++, and now wants to progress to the next level. Online Computing Reviews Service