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  26 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
  27 <a name="boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost"></a><a class="link" href="bimap_and_boost.html" title="Bimap and Boost">Bimap and Boost</a>
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  29 <div class="toc"><dl>
  30 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.bimap_and_multiindex">Bimap
  31       and MultiIndex</a></span></dt>
  32 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html">Boost
  33       Libraries that work well with Boost.Bimap</a></span></dt>
  34 <dd><dl>
  35 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.introduction">Introduction</a></span></dt>
  36 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_serialization">Boost.Serialization</a></span></dt>
  37 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_assign">Boost.Assign</a></span></dt>
  38 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_hash">Boost.Hash</a></span></dt>
  39 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_lambda">Boost.Lambda</a></span></dt>
  40 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_range">Boost.Range</a></span></dt>
  41 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_foreach">Boost.Foreach</a></span></dt>
  42 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_typeof">Boost.Typeof</a></span></dt>
  43 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_xpressive">Boost.Xpressive</a></span></dt>
  44 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.boost_libraries_that_work_well_with_boost_bimap.boost_property_map">Boost.Property_map</a></span></dt>
  45 </dl></dd>
  46 <dt><span class="section"><a href="bimap_and_boost/dependencies.html">Dependencies</a></span></dt>
  47 </dl></div>
  48 <div class="section">
  49 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
  50 <a name="boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.bimap_and_multiindex"></a><a class="link" href="bimap_and_boost.html#boost_bimap.bimap_and_boost.bimap_and_multiindex" title="Bimap and MultiIndex">Bimap
  51       and MultiIndex</a>
  52 </h3></div></div></div>
  53 <p>
  54         <span class="emphasis"><em>MISC</em></span> - <span class="bold"><strong>M</strong></span>ulti-<span class="bold"><strong>I</strong></span>ndex <span class="bold"><strong>S</strong></span>pecialized
  55         <span class="bold"><strong>C</strong></span>ontainers
  56       </p>
  57 <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
  58           <span class="emphasis"><em> Let's be generic, construct frameworks, describe the world in
  59           an unified way... </em></span>
  60         </p></blockquote></div>
  61 <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
  62           <span class="emphasis"><em> No!, it is better to be specialized, design easy-to-use components,
  63           offer plug-and-play objects... </em></span>
  64         </p></blockquote></div>
  65 <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
  66           <span class="bold"><strong> Why not take advantage of the best of both worlds?
  67           </strong></span>
  68         </p></blockquote></div>
  69 <p>
  70         <span class="inlinemediaobject"><img src="../images/bimap/miBimapFramework.png" alt="miBimapFramework"></span>
  71       </p>
  72 <p>
  73         With Boost.Bimap, you can build associative containers in which both types
  74         can be used as key. There is a library in Boost that already allows the creation
  75         of this kind of container: Boost.MultiIndex. It offers great flexibility
  76         and lets you construct almost any container that you could dream of. The
  77         framework is very clean. You migh want to read this library's tutorial to
  78         learn about the power that has been achieved.
  79       </p>
  80 <p>
  81         But generality comes at a price: the interface that results might not be
  82         the best for every specialization. People may end up wrapping a B.MI container
  83         in its own class every time they want to use it as a bidirectional map. Boost.Bimap
  84         takes advantage of the narrower scope to produce a better interface for bidirectional
  85         maps <sup>[<a name="id797996" href="#ftn.id797996" class="footnote">2</a>]</sup>. There is no learning curve if you know how to use standard containers.
  86         Great effort was put into mapping the naming scheme of the STL to Boost.Bimap.
  87         The library is designed to match the common STL containers.
  88       </p>
  89 <p>
  90         Boost.MultiIndex is, in fact, the core of the bimap container.
  91       </p>
  92 <p>
  93         However, Boost.Bimap do not aim to tackle every problem with two indexed
  94         types. There exist some problems that are better modelled with Boost.MultiIndex.
  95       </p>
  96 <div class="sidebar">
  97 <div class="titlepage"></div>
  98 <p>
  99         <span class="bold"><strong>Problem I - An employee register</strong></span>
 100       </p>
 101 <p>
 102         <span class="emphasis"><em>Store an ID and a name for an employee, with fast search on each
 103         member.</em></span>
 104       </p>
 105 <p>
 106         This type of problem is better modelled as a database table, and <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.MultiIndex</strong></span> is the preferred choice. It is possible
 107         that other data will need to be indexed later.
 108       </p>
 109 </div>
 110 <div class="sidebar">
 111 <div class="titlepage"></div>
 112 <p>
 113         <span class="bold"><strong>Problem II - A partners container</strong></span>
 114       </p>
 115 <p>
 116         <span class="emphasis"><em>Store the names of couples and be able to get the name of a person's
 117         partner.</em></span>
 118       </p>
 119 <p>
 120         This problem is better modelled as a collection of relations, and <span class="bold"><strong>Boost.Bimap</strong></span> fits nicely here.
 121       </p>
 122 </div>
 123 <p>
 124         You can also read <a class="link" href="the_tutorial/additional_information.html" title="Additional information">Additional
 125         Information</a> for more information about the relation of this two libraries.
 126       </p>
 127 </div>
 128 <div class="footnotes">
 129 <br><hr width="100" align="left">
 130 <div class="footnote"><p><sup>[<a id="ftn.id797996" href="#id797996" class="para">2</a>] </sup>
 131           In the same fashion, Boost.MRU will allow the creation of <span class="emphasis"><em>most
 132           recent updated</em></span> aware containers, hiding the complexity of Boost.MultiIndex.
 133         </p></div>
 134 </div>
 135 </div>
 136 <table xmlns:rev="http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~gregod/boost/tools/doc/revision" width="100%"><tr>
 137 <td align="left"></td>
 138 <td align="right"><div class="copyright-footer">Copyright &#169; 2006 -2007 Matias Capeletto<p>
 139         Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
 140         file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
 141       </p>
 142 </div></td>
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