ext

C++ EXtended Template Library

ext is a small, header-oriented C++ utility library for projects that need portable building blocks across old and modern toolchains. It focuses on independent helpers around compatibility, strings, parsing, process I/O, threading, and small application patterns rather than trying to be a framework.

The library intentionally carries compatibility code for older compilers such as Visual Studio 2008 SP1 while also exposing cleaner APIs on newer C++ standards. Some features therefore have different availability and guarantees depending on compiler, standard library, and platform support.

Requirements

• GCC 8.3.0+
• Clang 10.0+
• Visual Studio 2008 SP1+
• Boost 1.69.0+ (optional)
• Git 2.0+
• CMake 3.14+

See Build and Test for tested platforms, MSYS2 setup, and local test commands.

Quick Start

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14 FATAL_ERROR)
project(MyProject)

add_executable(tests tests.cpp)

include(cmake/CPM.cmake)
CPMAddPackage("gh:ntoskrnl7/ext@0.5.17")

target_link_libraries(tests ext)

Documentation

• API reference
• Build and test
• Portability and API contracts

Project Scope

ext is best used as a collection of opt-in headers:

• Use one feature at a time; most headers are independent utility components.
• Prefer the standard library first when it already provides the exact behavior you need on every supported toolchain.
• Treat concurrency, cancellation, process, and shared-memory APIs as thin wrappers over platform behavior. Their exact guarantees are documented per API and summarized in Portability and API contracts.
• Compatibility shims live behind feature checks and CXX_USE_* macros. New code should avoid depending on those internal macros unless it is extending ext itself.

Features

Feature	Header	Description
any_function	<ext/any_function>	Type-erased function wrapper that accepts arguments as std::any values and reports argument count/type errors explicitly.
async_result	<ext/async_result>	Asynchronous producer/result container with iterator-style consumption and cooperative cancellation flag support.
base64	<ext/base64>	Base64 encoder/decoder for strings, wide strings, byte vectors, and trivially copyable objects.
callback	<ext/callback>	Multicast callback list with add/remove operators and argument forwarding.
c_object	<ext/c_object.h>	C-compatible scoped object lifetime helpers with initializer/finalizer macros and custom allocation hooks.
cancelable_thread	<ext/cancelable_thread>	Thread wrapper with deferred and immediate cancellation paths over pthread or Windows primitives.
cdbg	<ext/cdbg>	Debug stream objects that write through platform debug sinks or console fallback streams.
chain	<ext/chain>	Composable chain-of-responsibility helper with typed results, continuation links, and exception-aware result state.
debug_utils	<ext/debug_utils.h>	Debugger detection and wait helpers for POSIX-style debug workflows.
collection	<ext/collection>	Self-registering object collection with shared or exclusive locking around global per-type item lists.
ini	<ext/ini>	INI parser and writer backed by nested string maps.
lang	<ext/lang>	Korean language helpers for Hangul syllables, postpositions, and native/Sino-Korean number words.
named_mutex	<ext/named_mutex>	Cross-process named mutex wrapper for coordinating shared resources and shared-memory payloads.
observable	<ext/observable>	Observer pattern base template with automatic unsubscribe on observer or observable destruction.
path	<ext/path>	Path helpers for existence checks, relative path detection, and path joining.
pipe	<ext/pipe>	Cross-platform anonymous pipe wrapper for narrow and wide byte streams.
process	<ext/process>	Cross-platform child process launcher with stdin/stdout/stderr pipe streams and process lifetime management.
property	<ext/property>	Observable value wrapper with assignment validation and property-to-property propagation.
pstream	<ext/pstream>	Native-handle-backed stream wrappers used to read from and write to process pipes.
result	<ext/result>	Small ok/err result type for explicit value-or-error returns.
safe_object	<ext/safe_object>	RAII lock proxy for globally named objects and mutexes selected at compile time.
shared_recursive_mutex	<ext/shared_recursive_mutex>	Shared mutex variant that permits recursive locking by the owning thread.
shared_mem	<ext/shared_mem>	Named shared memory creation, opening, mapping, unmapping, and destruction helpers.
singleton	<ext/singleton>	CRTP singleton base that exposes one static instance per derived type.
string	<ext/string>	String utility namespace for trimming, printable filtering, searching, splitting, replacement, numeric conversion, and UTF-8 helpers.
stl_compat	<ext/stl_compat>	Compatibility macros, aliases, and fallback implementations for older C++ standards and compilers.
thread_pool	<ext/thread_pool>	Fixed-size worker pool with future-returning task submission and explicit start/stop state.
type_traits	<ext/type_traits>	Type-trait helpers for removing class qualifiers from member functions and deducing member-function signatures.
typeinfo	<ext/typeinfo>	Portable type-name helper around C++ RTTI type information.
units	<ext/units>	Strongly typed SI and IEC byte-size units with arithmetic and conversion helpers.
uri	<ext/uri>	RFC 3986-oriented URI parser and percent-encoding helpers for narrow, wide, and UTF-8 input.
version	<ext/version>	Semantic version parser, formatter, hashing, comparison, and mutation helper.
wordexp	<ext/wordexp>	Environment or shell-style string expansion wrapper with platform-specific behavior.

License

This project is distributed under the BSD-3-Clause license.