The Boost web site provides free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries. The emphasis is on libraries which work well with the C++ Standard Library. The libraries are intended to be widely useful, and are in regular use by thousands of programmers across a broad spectrum of applications.
A further goal is to establish “existing practice” and provide reference implementations so that Boost libraries are suitable for eventual standardization. Ten Boost libraries will be included in the C++ Standards Committee’s upcoming C++ Standard Library Technical Report as a step toward becoming part of a future C++ Standard.
Although Boost was begun by members of the C++ Standards Committee Library Working Group, participation has expanded to include thousands of programmers from the C++ community at large.
Participation
If you are interested in participating in Boost, please join our main developers mailing list. Discussions are highly technical, and list members are encouraged to participate in formal reviews of proposed libraries. There is also a users mailing list, and several project specific lists.
Both the main Boost developers list and the users list are also accessible as newsgroups.