Building Boost Is Easy

Building the Boost library in Windows is easy. After downloading the Boost source and the appropriate bjam binary, I extracted the Boost source under c:\boost_1_38_0 and then copy the bjam binary under the same directory. The documentation points the appropriate bjam binary to download.
Once that is done, I fire up the command line, change the directory to the extraction directory, and then type in bjam. That's it, it started building the libraries without any problem. By the way, I have Visual Studio 2008 installed.

Asynchronous IO

At last I can get my hands on the Boost ASIO library. I have been trying to for the last couple of months but could not due to work reasons.

I develop applications in C++ for the last 10 years, some of them socket applications, but mostly target Windows. I purchased a Unix book on sockets by the late Richard Stevens so I can learn how to do it in Unix. Honestly, it may have everything one needs to be proficient in sockets development; however, learning and getting familiar with a different set of APIs takes time.

So I start looking at the ASIO library. It supports most commonly used operating systems. One good thing about it is it uses IO completion ports which is a necessary requirement for server-side applications, in Windows of course, but uses its counterparts in other OSes. Read the Boost ASIO documentation for more information on what the library offers.

I will be creating a simple sockets server application that encrypts data passed to it and writes it back to the client. Of course I will be using the Boost ASIO library. Nothing much to do this time. I just want to get a feeling of what it is like to use it.

Once I am done, I will post my experience, difficulties and hopefully, joys in using the library!!!