...one of the most highly
regarded and expertly designed C++ library projects in the
world.
— Herb Sutter and Andrei
Alexandrescu, C++
Coding Standards
Beast is a C++ header-only library serving as a foundation for writing interoperable networking libraries by providing low-level HTTP/1, WebSocket, and networking protocol vocabulary types and algorithms using the consistent asynchronous model of Boost.Asio.
This library is designed for:
This library is not a client or server, but it can be used to build those things. Many examples are provided, including clients and servers, which may be used as a starting point for writing your own program.
Beast empowers users to create their own libraries, clients, and servers using HTTP/1 and WebSocket. Code will be easier and faster to implement, understand, and maintain, because Beast takes care of the low-level protocol details. The HTTP and WebSocket protocols drive most of the World Wide Web. Every web browser implements these protocols to load webpages and to enable client side programs (often written in JavaScript) to communicate interactively. C++ benefits greatly from having a standardized implementation of these protocols.
Important | |
---|---|
This library is for programmers familiar with Boost.Asio. Users who wish to use asynchronous interfaces should already know how to create concurrent network programs using callbacks or coroutines. |
Beast requires:
Tested with these compilers: msvc-14+, gcc 4.8.4+, clang 3.6+.
Sources are header-only. Adding additional libraries to the linking step for your programs to use Beast is normally not necessary, except for these cases:
boost::asio::spawn
, you will need to add
the Boost.Coroutine
library to your program.
boost::asio::ssl::stream
, you will need to add
the OpenSSL library to
your program.
Please visit the Boost documentation for instructions on how to build and link with Boost libraries for your particular environment system.
To report bugs or get help using Beast, GitHub issues are preferred. Please visit https://github.com/boostorg/beast/issues to ask a question, report a defect, or request a feature. If you prefer to keep your issue or question confidential please email the author at vinnie.falco@gmail.com.
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 his wonderful Asio library and the ideas in C++ Extensions for Networking which power Beast.
Beast would not be possible without the support of Ripple during the library's early development, or the ideas, time and patience contributed by David Schwartz, Edward Hennis, Howard Hinnant, Miguel Portilla, Nik Bougalis, Scott Determan and Scott Schurr. Many thanks to Agustín Bergé, Glen Fernandes, and Peter Dimov for tirelessly answering questions on the C++ Language Slack Workspace.
Thanks to Damian Jarek for his generous participation and source code contributions.
Thanks to Richard Hodges (hodges.r@gmail.com) for maintaining Beast on behalf of the C++ Alliance.
Many thanks to Jetbrains s.r.o. for generously providing the Beast development team with All Product Developmnent Licenses.