[LC++]Impressions of ACE?

[Torsten Rennett]

Hi Jack,

Jack Lloyd wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Has anyone here used ACE
> (http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE-overview.html)? Any impressions? I've

I'm currently using ACE in a Client/Server-Project and I'm really
satisfied. Thanks to the portability of ACE the program is running on
Linux and NCR Unix (AT&T) and the Clients also on Windows NT and Windows
2000. To compile the Clients under Windows (same source code as for Unix
with some #ifdefs) I used gcc-2.95.3 and MinGW. Some adjustments were
necessary but now it runs fine.


> heard many people like it. Looking at the tutorials, I'm somewhat
> disapoined that it doesn't use namespaces (I guess it's been around too
> long for that), and the ACE_XXX_RETURN stuff seems rather odd (I can't
> believe ACE doesn't use exceptions given it's heavy use of templates).

I think the documentation of ACE could be a bit better. But now there is
a new book about ACE:
  Douglas C. Schmidt and Stephen D. Huston:
  "C++ Network Programming, Volume I:
   Mastering Complexity with ACE and Patterns"
  Addison Wesley, 2002; C++ In-Depth Series
  ISBN: 0-201-60464-7
 
http://www.awprofessional.com/catalog/product.asp?product_id={1E34F487-4285-4C05-9BF9-B55195F3C83F}

Upcoming ACE publications:
  - "Volume II: Systematic Reuse with ACE and Frameworks" 
    (Addison Wesley)
  - "The ACE programmer's Guide" (Addison Wesley)

And also the following might be of interest:
  Douglas Schmidt, Michael Stal, Hans Rohnert, Frank Buschmann:
  "Pattern-oriented Software Architecture Vol 2:
   Patterns for Concurrent and Networked Objects"
  John Wiley and Sons, 15. August 2000
  ISBN: 0471606952


> But, OTOH, I haven't heard about any similiar C++ networking abstraction
> libraries (that are free (preferably BSD or LGPL), portable, and stable).
> So if anyone has any knowledge of any...

IMHO there is no alternative to ACE if you are programming in C++.

If you have to develop a distributed network application using CORBA
also consider using TAO - The ACE ORB.

Torsten


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