Boostcon

This page provides some information for attendees of the "Hands-on Boost++0x" sessions, where we'll be using new C++0x features to upgrade and update Boost libraries for the new world of C++0x. These "hands-on" sessions will truly be hands-on, so we ask that attendees please follow the steps below before BoostCon begins so that we can skip the set-up and get hacking!

1. Install GCC - GCC 4.3 provides a number of C++0x features as part of its experimental C++0x mode. Please follow the GCC installation instructions to configure, build, and install GCC 4.3 or newer on your laptop and bring it in to the Hands-on C++0x sessions. We strongly recommend using the configure flag --enable-languages=c++, to only build the C and C++ compilers. Trust us: you don't want to wait for the Java compiler to build! For Unix-like systems, those instructions should suffice. On Windows, you have two options:

   • For Cygwin users, the easiest approach is to install the gcc4-g++ package under the Devel section in the Cygwin installer. That will install a late beta of g++-4.3.2. If you want a true release version, the Cygwin wiki has a page about how to build and install GCC 4.3.0 (or newer) that you can follow (choose the latest 4.3.x you can find).
   • For Mingw users, there are binaries for GCC 4.3.3 available here that are relatively easy to install.

2. Get Boost++0x - We'll all be working on a special branch of Boost where we can freely make C++0x-specific changes and share ideas and code. If you don't already have access to the Boost Subversion repository, please read about the Boost Subversion repository and send a note to doug.gregor@gmail.com to let me know you'd like an account. The Boost++0x branch is located in Subversion at https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/boost0x

3. Read up about the major C++0x features we'll be using in Boost++0x. These features are:

   • Rvalue references
   • Variadic templates
   • Decltype
   • ExtendedSFINAE