Boost C++ Libraries

Improved the performance of Boost.Function's swap() operation for large function objects. Original patch contributed by Niels Dekker.

Added a new header <boost/function/function_typeof.hpp> that provides support for using the Boost.Typeof library on Boost.Function objects.

Added a new header <boost/function/function_fwd.hpp> that provides support for using the Boost.Typeof library on Boost.Function objects.

The target() function now respects the cv-qualifiers of function objects stored by reference (using boost::reference_wrapper), such that a reference to a const function object cannot be accessed as a reference to a non-const function object.

Boost.Function now implements allocator support in the same way that is is provided in C++0x, based on C++ committee proposal N2308. This change removes the Allocator template parameter of boost::function in favor of a constructor that takes an argument. While this is a backward-incompatible change, it is likely to affect only a few users. This change to Function was contributed by Emil Dotchevski, which also authored the corresponding C++ committee proposal.

Boost.Function now implements a small buffer optimization, which can drastically improve the performance when copying or construction Boost.Function objects storing small function objects. For instance, bind(&X:foo, &x, _1, _2) requires no heap allocation when placed into a Boost.Function object. Note that some exception-safety guarantees have changed: assignment provides the basic exception guarantee and swap() may throw.

All features deprecated in version 1.29.0 have been removed from Boost.Function.

boost::function and boost::functionN objects can be assigned to 0 (semantically equivalent to calling clear()) and compared against 0 (semantically equivalent to calling empty()).

The Boost.Function code is now generated entirely by the Preprocessor library, so it is now possible to generate boost::function and boost::functionN class templates for any number of arguments.

The boost::bad_function_call exception class was introduced.

The boost::function class template syntax has changed. The old syntax, e.g., boost::function<int, float, double, std::string>, has been changed to a more natural syntax boost::function<int (float, double, std::string)>, where all return and argument types are encoded in a single function type parameter. Any other template parameters (e.g., the Allocator) follow this single parameter.

The resolution to this change depends on the abilities of your compiler: if your compiler supports template partial specialization and can parse function types (most do), modify your code to use the newer syntax (preferable) or directly use one of the functionN classes whose syntax has not changed. If your compiler does not support template partial specialization or function types, you must take the latter option and use the numbered Boost.Function classes. This option merely requires changing types such as boost::function<void, int, int> to boost::function2<void, int, int> (adding the number of function arguments to the end of the class name).

Support for the old syntax with the boost::function class template will persist for a short while, but will eventually be removed so that we can provide better error messages and link compatibility.

The invocation policy template parameter (Policy) has been deprecated and will be removed. There is no direct equivalent to this rarely used feature.

The mixin template parameter (Mixin) has been deprecated and will be removed. There is not direct equivalent to this rarely used feature.

The set methods have been deprecated and will be removed. Use the assignment operator instead.