David Abrahams is a computer programmer and author. He is most well-known for his activities related to the C++ programming language. In particular his contributions to the language include the delineating of a theory of exceptions, sitting on the C++ Standards Committee, being a founder member of Boost and co-authoring a book on the subject of template meta-programming. In computing, a programmer is someone who does computer programming and develops computer software. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ... C++ (pronounced see plus plus) is a general-purpose computer programming language. ... Exception handling is a programming language mechanism designed to handle runtime errors or other problems (exceptions) inside a computer program. ... Boost is a collection of libraries that extend the functionality of C++. The libraries are licensed under the Boost Software License, a very open license designed to allow Boost to be used with any project. ... Template metaprogramming is a programming technique in which templates are used in unusual ways so that the compiler, in the act of compiling the code, executes a program. ...

Abrahams became a member of the C++ Standards Committee in 1996. During the standardization process that resulted in the first ANSI standard C++ - in 1998 - Abrahams was a principal driving force behind detailing the exception safety of the C++ Standard Library. Many of the functions and methods of the standard are specified with one of three guarantees. Together these have become known as the Abraham's guarantees.

Following the standardization, Abrahams became one of the founder members of boost.org, a community group founded in order to provide reusable C++ libraries. Abrahams has written several of the libraries and assisted in the development of others. As of 2005, he still actively contributes to the group. Abrahams is also the principal member of Boost Consulting, a company that offers software development and training course with a heavy bias towards using the Boost libraries. Boost is a collection of libraries that extend the functionality of C++. The libraries are licensed under the Boost Software License, a very open license designed to allow Boost to be used with any project. ...

In 2004, Abrahams co-authored C++ Template Metaprogramming with Aleksey Gurtovoy. In concert with Boost's Metaprogramming Library, the book broke new ground in the practical use of template metaprogamming, including a re-implementation of much of the Standard Template Library in a compile-time world, with all operations on types. The Standard Template Library (STL) is a software library. ...

References

• A reprint of Appendix E of Bjarne Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language, Special Edition discussing exception safety in C++
• David Abrahams and Aleksey Gurtovoy (2004). C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from Boost and Beyond. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0321227255.