[/
    Boost.Optional

    Copyright (c) 2003-2007 Fernando Luis Cacciola Carballal

    Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
    (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
    http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
]


[section Acknowledgments]

[heading Pre-formal review]

* Peter Dimov suggested the name 'optional', and was the first to point out
the need for aligned storage.
* Douglas Gregor developed 'type_with_alignment', and later Eric Friedman
coded 'aligned_storage', which are the core of the optional class
implementation.
* Andrei Alexandrescu and Brian Parker also worked with aligned storage
techniques and their work influenced the current implementation.
* Gennadiy Rozental made extensive and important comments which shaped the
design.
* Vesa Karvonen and Douglas Gregor made quite useful comparisons between
optional, variant and any; and made other relevant comments.
* Douglas Gregor and Peter Dimov commented on comparisons and evaluation
in boolean contexts.
* Eric Friedman helped understand the issues involved with aligned storage,
move/copy operations and exception safety.
* Many others have participated with useful comments: Aleksey Gurotov,
Kevlin Henney, David Abrahams, and others I can't recall.

[heading Post-formal review]

* William Kempf carefully considered the originally proposed interface
and suggested the new interface which is currently used. He also started and
fueled the discussion about the analogy optional<>/smart pointer and about
relational operators.
* Peter Dimov, Joel de Guzman, David Abrahams, Tanton Gibbs and Ian Hanson
focused on the relational semantics of optional (originally undefined);
concluding with the fact that the pointer-like interface doesn't make it a
pointer so it shall have deep relational operators.
* Augustus Saunders also explored the different relational semantics between
optional<> and a pointer and developed the OptionalPointee concept as an aid
against potential conflicts on generic code.
* Joel de Guzman noticed that optional<> can be seen as an API on top of
variant<T,nil_t>.
* Dave Gomboc explained the meaning and usage of the Haskell analog to
optional<>: the Maybe type constructor (analogy originally pointed out by
David Sankel).
* Other comments were posted by Vincent Finn, Anthony Williams, Ed Brey,
Rob Stewart, and others.
* Joel de Guzman made the case for the support of references and helped
with the proper semantics.
* Mat Marcus shown the virtues of a value-oriented interface, influencing
the current design, and contributed the idea of "none".

[endsect]