Remove boost dependency

[andreyg]

Remove boost dependency

[AndreyG]

It sounds good for me. One minor clarification, that I would prefer std::span<const std::byte> instead of raw pointer const char*.

[AndreyG]

I have moved dependency on boost-iostream from ifc-core to ifc-msvc, so now it's possible to use ifc-core without Boost, see tests/core for instance.

[FireFlyForLife]

This is a good start for sure, and the std::span is indeed a bit safer. But just moving it from ifc-core to ifc-msvc still means that clients of ifc-core have to have boost installed, otherwise CMake fails to find the dependency and throws an error.

Furthermore it seems to me the ifc environment (be it msvc specific or not) should not dictate how the files should be loaded from disk. I do see how adding that abstraction is difficult though, as it needs to keep track of state.

What do you think of a similar interface to

class ifc::Environment{
public:
    virtual ~Environment() = default;

    virtual const File& get_file_by_bmi_path(stdfs::path) const;
    virtual const File& get_file_by_module_name(std::string_view) const;
};

We define a "Loader" or "DataManager" interface.

class ifc::DataLoader {
public:
    virtual ~DataLoader() = default;

    virtual const File& load_from_disk(stdfs::path);
    virtual void unload_file(stdfs::path); // Or possibly by ifc::File&
};

Then ifc::MSVCEnvironment would take a DataLoader*. And the MSVC specific logic could still be abstracted, and kept up to date in the library. But no one is locked into using Boost to load the files. We could have an optional module exposed with that boost file_mapped implementation, which the tests & example would use.

[AndreyG]

I have reworked subdivision to libraries and concept of ifc::Environment, see README. It is pretty close to what you suggested, ifc-msvc doesn't depend on Boost now. Please, let me know, it it works for you.

[FireFlyForLife]

Sorry it has been a bit since I took a look at my project, but now that I got to try it out I like the separation. This issue for me is resolved! Thanks for doing this :)