bsl.txt
@PURPOSE: Provide a comprehensive foundation for component-based development.
@MNEMONIC: Basic Standard Library (bsl)
@DESCRIPTION: The 'bsl' ("Basic Standard Library") package group contains
various packages that provide platform-specific classes, meta-functions,
defensive programming mechanisms, a framework for component testing, memory
allocation protocols and algorithms, and a C++ standard library
implementation.
Note that the C++ standard library is implemented in the 'bsl' namespace
instead of the standard 'std' namespace. This allow clients to use both the
native compiler provided C++ standard library together with the Bloomberg
provided C++ standard library in the same translation unit.
The 'bsl' package group is the foundation of the firm-wide BDE library and has
no dependencies beyond the allowed OS and runtime environment dependencies.
/Hierarchical Synopsis
/---------------------
The 'bsl' package group currently has 16 packages having 11 levels of physical
dependency. The list below shows the hierarchical ordering of the packages.
The order of packages within each level is not architecturally significant,
just alphabetical.
..
11. bslmt
bslx
10. bslim
9. bsl+bslhdrs
8. bslstp !DEPRECATED!
7. bslstl
6. bslalg
5. bslh
bsltf
4. bslma
3. bsldoc
bslmf
2. bsla
bslscm
1. bslfwd !DEPRECATED!
bsls
..
Note that the 'bsl+stdhdrs' package is only a compatibility layer for
Bloomberg managed code. It is not an essential package for the rest of the
BDE libraries (i.e., all other package groups above 'bsl' will compile and
function without 'bsl+stdhdrs'). This package implements the logic required
for 'BDE-STL' mode.
Note that required source control package 'bslscm' depends on 'bsls'; this
behavior is unique to 'bsl', although it is temporarily also in 'bde' for
historic reasons, since logically *every* other package should depend on
'bslscm'.
/Package Synopsis
/----------------
: 'bsl+bslhdrs':
: Provide a compatibility layer to enable BDE-STL mode in Bloomberg.
:
: 'bsla':
: Provide macros for portable use of compiler annotations.
:
: 'bslalg':
: Provide algorithms and traits used by the BDE STL implementation.
:
: 'bsldoc':
: Provide documentation of terms and concepts used throughout BDE.
:
: 'bslfwd': !DEPRECATED!
: Provide compatibility for clients using single-level namespace
:
: 'bslh':
: Provide a framework for hashing types using swappable algorithms.
:
: 'bslim':
: Provide implementation mechanisms.
:
: 'bslma':
: Provide allocators, guards, and other memory-management tools.
:
: 'bslmf':
: Provide meta-function versions of useful coding constructs.
:
: 'bslmt':
: Support for multi-threading and thread-safe processes.
:
: 'bsls':
: Provide system-level utilities for 'bsl'.
:
: 'bslscm':
: Provide versioning information for BDE library components.
:
: 'bslstl':
: Provide replacement classes for STL constructs.
:
: 'bslstp': !DEPRECATED!
: Provide replacement classes (adopted from STLport) for STL.
:
: 'bsltf':
: Provide a set of utilities and types to help with testing.
:
: 'bslx':
: Define externalization protocols and provide implementations.
/Package Overview
/----------------
This section provides a brief introduction to the packages of the 'bsl'
package group. Note that several packages, especially at lower levels in the
physical hierarchy, are primarily intended for use by other packages within
'bsl'. See the respective Package Level documents for more details.
/'bsl+bslhdrs'
/- - - - - - -
The {'bsl+bslhdrs'} package provides the 'bsl' version of the standard C++
library (e.g., 'bsl_vector.h' instead of 'vector', 'bsl_algorithm.h' instead
of 'algorithm'). Users of 'bsl' can include these headers to obtain the
corresponding C++ STL functionalities.
/'bslalg'
/ - - - -
The {'bslalg'} package provides a variety of lower-level algorithms,
comparisons, and traits.
/'bsldoc'
/ - - - -
The {'bsldoc'} package documents key terminology and concepts used throughout
BDE documentation. Note that the components in this package consist entirely
of comments, no code.
/'bslh'
/ - - -
The {'bslh'} package provides standard hashing algorithms and components
allowing the application of those hashing algorithms to types in a modular
way.
/'bslim'
/- - - -
The {'bslim'} package provides implementation mechanisms for features that
must have identical syntax and semantics in many disparate classes.
/'bslma'
/- - - -
{'bslma'} provides memory allocation and related proctor and handle objects.
/'bslmf'
/- - - -
The {'bslmf'} package provides low-level "meta-functions" implementing
"traits" and other useful properties of types, determined at compile-time.
/'bsls'
/ - - -
The {'bsls'} package provides the needed platform-independent definitions and
utilities (with platform-specific implementations) so that the rest of the bsl
library, and all conforming applications within the Development Framework, can
be written in a truly portable, platform-neutral dialect of C++ -- one having
dependency on 'bsls', but on no other system-specific services. Among the
issues dealt with in 'bsls' are hardware, operating system, and compiler
definitions, "endian-ness" and alignment of type representation in physical
memory, bit-manipulation utilities, and a uniform interface to system services
(e.g., timers).
/'bslscm'
/ - - - -
The {'bslscm'} package contains only two components, 'bslscm_version' and
'bslscm_versiontag'. The first of these components is included by every other
component in 'bsl', and provides versioning information for the package group.
Users may use the 'bslscm_version' facilities to query a particular 'bsl'
library for its version information. The second component defines macros that
can be used for conditional-compilation based on 'bsl' version information.
/'bslstl'
/ - - - -
The {'bslstl'} package provides implementations of certain containers of the
C++ standard library using the 'bslma' memory allocation model, algorithms and
traits in 'bslalg' and meta-functions in 'bslmf'.
/'bsltf'
/- - - -
The {'bsltf'} package provides a set test types and utilities that operates on
those types, which can help simplify, particularly for template, the
implementation of test drivers.
/'bslx'
/ - - -
The {'bslx'} package defines (via documentation) the BDEX protocol for
externalization (i.e., for an "out stream") and "unexternalization" (i.e., for
an "in stream"), and provides concrete byte-array-based stream implementations
of each kind of stream, including streams for testing.