boost_beast/doc/overview.qbk

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    Copyright (c) 2013-2016 Vinnie Falco (vinnie dot falco at gmail dot com)

    Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
    file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
]

[section:overview Introduction]

Beast is a header-only, cross-platform C++ library built on Boost.Asio and
parts of Boost, containing two modules implementing widely used network
protocols. Beast offers a universal HTTP message model, plus algorithms for
parsing and serializing HTTP/1 messages. Beast.WebSocket provides a complete
implementation of the WebSocket protocol. Their design achieves these goals:

* [*Symmetry.] Interfaces are role-agnostic; the same interfaces can be
used to build clients, servers, or both.

* [*Ease of Use.] HTTP messages are modeled using simple, readily
accessible objects. Functions and classes used to send and receive HTTP
or WebSocket messages are designed to resemble Boost.Asio as closely as
possible. Users familiar with Boost.Asio will be immediately comfortable
using this library.

* [*Flexibility.] Interfaces do not mandate specific implementation
strategies; important decisions such as buffer or thread management are
left to users of the library.

* [*Performance.] The implementation performs competitively, making it a
realistic choice for building high performance network servers.

* [*Scalability.] Development of network applications that scale to thousands
of concurrent connections is possible with the implementation.

* [*Basis for further abstraction.] The interfaces facilitate the
development of other libraries that provide higher levels of abstraction.

The HTTP portion of Beast is designed to be a low-level building block for
creating higher level libraries. It implements only the HTTP protocol, and
does not handle domain specific features (for example: cookies, redirects, or
deflate content encodings).

[heading Requirements]

Beast requires:

* [*C++11.] A minimum of C++11 is needed.
* [*Boost.] Beast is built on Boost, especially Boost.Asio.
* [*OpenSSL.] If using TLS/Secure sockets (optional).

[note Tested compilers: msvc-14+, gcc 5+, clang 3.6+]

The library is [*header-only]. It is not necessary to add any .cpp files,
or to add commands to your build script for building Beast. To link your
program successfully, you'll need to add the Boost.System library to link
with. If you use coroutines you'll also need the Boost.Coroutine library.
Please visit the Boost documentation for instructions on how to do this for
your particular build system.

[heading Motivation]

Beast is built on Boost.Asio A proposal to add networking functionality to the
C++ standard library, based on Boost.Asio, is under consideration by the
committee and on track for standardization. Since the final approved networking
interface for the C++ standard library will likely closely resemble the current
interface of Boost.Asio, the choice of Boost.Asio as the network transport
layer is prudent.

The HTTP protocol is pervasive in network applications. As C++ is a logical
choice for high performance network servers, there is great utility in solid
building blocks for manipulating, sending, and receiving HTTP messages
compliant with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol and the supplements that
follow. Unfortunately reliable implementations or industry standards do not
exist in C++. The development of higher level libraries is stymied by the
lack of a common set of low-level algorithms and types for interacting with
the HTTP protocol.

Today's web applications increasingly rely on alternatives to standard HTTP
to achieve performance and/or responsiveness. While WebSocket implementations
are widely available in common web development languages such as Javascript,
good implementations in C++ are scarce. A survey of existing C++ WebSocket
solutions reveals interfaces which lack symmetry, impose performance penalties,
and needlessly restrict implementation strategies.

Beast.WebSocket takes advantage of Boost.Asio's extensible asynchronous
model, handler allocation, and handler invocation hooks. Calls to
Beast.WebSocket asynchronous initiation functions allow callers the choice
of using a completion handler, stackful or stackless coroutines, futures,
or user defined customizations (for example, Boost.Fiber). The
implementation uses handler invocation hooks (__asio_handler_invoke__),
providing execution guarantees on composed operations in a manner identical
to Boost.Asio. The implementation also uses handler allocation hooks
(__asio_handler_allocate__) when allocating memory internally for composed
operations.

There is no need for inheritance or virtual members in a
[link beast.ref.websocket__stream `websocket::stream`].
All operations are templated and transparent to the compiler, allowing for
maximum inlining and optimization.

[heading Credits]

Boost.Asio is the inspiration behind which all of the interfaces and
implementation strategies are built. Some parts of the documentation are
written to closely resemble the wording and presentation of Boost.Asio
documentation. Credit goes to Christopher Kohlhoff for the wonderful
Asio library and the ideas upon which Beast is built.

Beast would not be possible without the considerable time and patience
contributed by David Schwartz, Edward Hennis, Howard Hinnant, Miguel Portilla,
Nikolaos Bougalis, Scott Determan, Scott Schurr, and Ripple Labs for
supporting its development.

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