[C++ Toolkit ANNOUNCE] NCBI C++ Toolkit Release

[Denis Vakatov]

The newest release of the NCBI C++ Toolkit is available at:
		  ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/toolbox/ncbi_tools++/CURRENT/

It includes tarballs for UNIX, MS-Window and Darwin, and a
printable version of the NCBI C++ Toolkit docs (in PDF format).


This release includes a lot of changes, including but not limited to:

0) Much improved (restructured and updated) documentation:
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/index.html
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/libs.html

1) "Object manager" to automate the (up)loading and handling of bio-sequences:
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/libs.html#ref_SumXOBJMGR
   and other generic bio-sequences related functionality:
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/lxr/source/include/objects/util/

2) All-new database connectivity API (DBAPI):
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/libs.html#ref_SumDBAPI

2.1) We ship FreeTDS sources with the Toolkit UNIX tarball, which could allow 
     you to connect to the databases (e.g. MS SQL) even if you do not
     have client DB libs (such as CTLIB or DBLIB) installed on your
     computer. -- We've incorporated the FreeTDS sources into the
     Toolkit's project tree to ease the configuration, but you can use
     your own (original) FreeTDS installation (see "--with-ftds=" conf.flag).

2.2) There are database drivers for MS-Windows present, too -- but some
     of them are relatively raw material, and/or require "external"
     packages, and therefore they are not part of default ("all_core")
     project.

3) Much improved network connection and dispatcherization library:
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/libs.html#ref_SumXCONNECT

4) Changes in the code generation (by DATATOOL from ASN.1) and serialization.

5) Added MT-safety and performance (reduced inter-locking) in
   multi-threaded mode. (However, there is still more to be done here).

6) New portability-related functionality (DLL loading, sub-process
   launching, atomic counters) and extended debug and diagnostics
   support.

7) Ports to other compilers (Compaq C++), newer compiler versions
   (SUN Forte 6 Update 2, GCC 3.0.*, GCC 3.1), and OS'es (FreeBSD).

8) There is a fresh Mac/Darwin/GCC3.1 port, but it may need some
   tool patching on your side. For more details, see:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/config_darwin.html

8.1) The new Mac/CodeWarrior projects are under development right
     now, and they shoud be ready for use in a matter of days.
 
9) Built-in testsuite (make check_r) -- however many of the test are
   not going to work out-of-NCBI.

10) Tons of bug fixes and improvements.


ATTENTION:

Outside-NCBI users who have been using previous snapshot, should be
prepared to fight (maybe a lot of, but it depends) back-incompatibility
issues.
We are sorry about this extra work for you, but the Toolkit is under
heavy development now, and therefore APIs can change. To alleviate
this sort of extra hassle, we 'll try to put up the snapshots on
more regular basis;  also, some APIs are already pretty much
stabilized already, and are not going to change dramatically in the
future.


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