FastFormat now performance tested against Loki

As of 0.2.1 beta 6, FastFormat's performance test programs now also compare against Andrei Alexandrescu's Loki library's SafeFormat component. The results clearly demonstrate FastFormat's performance superiority over this library, as they do over C++'s standard IOStreams and Boost.Format.

Given the fact that FastFormat is more robust and more flexible than these other libraries, and is highly expressive, I think it's fair to now claim that it is the pre-eminent formatting library for C++. All that remains is to provide the planned width+alignment+fill functionality, and it'll be effectively complete.

I'll be looking for input/assistance in the new year for packaging and porting. If anyone wants to volunteer, you'll be most welcome.

FastFormat is FAST: It's official!

I just posted some performance stats on the FastFormat website. I'll just give you the summary here:

• The Format API is faster than IOStreams by between ~140-730%, faster than MFC's CString::Format() by between ~300-400%, and faster than Boost.Format by between ~470-1600%! The only formatting API that gives it a run for some architecture/compiler/configurations is sprintf(), which is not type-safe, at between ~40-380%. (FastFormat's Format API is 100% type-safe.)
• The simpler Write API is faster than IOStreams by between ~270-1350%, faster than MFC's CString::Format() by around ~420%, and faster than Boost.Format by between ~630-1800%! Again, the only formatting API that gives it a run for some architecture/compiler/configurations is sprintf(), at between ~65-390%. (FastFormat's Write API is 100% type-safe.)