Need Good C++ Libraries For Strings & HTTP Streams

Question

Hi, I'll soon be starting a project of mine that heavily involves reading and interacting with websites. So I'd like to start pulling in some decent libraries to cut down on some of the dirty work that needs to be done in C++. Thus far I've found 'The Better String Library' for string manipulation. Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

If the features provided by std::string are not enough, you can have a look at pystring.

Pystring is a collection of C++ functions which match the interface and behavior of python's string class methods using std::string. Implemented in C++, it does not require or make use of a python interpreter. It provides convenience and familiarity for common string operations not included in the standard C++ library. It's also useful in environments where both C++ and python are used.

For networking, there is ACE or Boost.Asio.

Finally, there is the POCO library that offers many tools.

Answer 2

For fetching files over HTTP, you can't go wrong with libCurl. It is small, portable, open-source and has an active developer community. It is C rather than C++, but obviously you can still call it from C++ without problems (here is an example of this from an open-source project I've worked on).

Answer 3

Your first port of call when programming in C++ should always be the C++ Standard Library, which has a perfectly adequate string class in the shape of std::string.

Answer 4

Apart from the basic Boost.Asio stuff that's already been mentioned, there's also a work-in-progress "sibling" library called Urdl by the same author. Might provide some helpful stuff (depending on your exact needs).