[/
    Copyright (c) 2016-2019 Vinnie Falco (vinnie dot falco at gmail dot com)

    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)

    Official repository: https://github.com/boostorg/beast
]

[section:using_io Networking]

This library uses the
[@http://cplusplus.github.io/networking-ts/draft.pdf Networking Technical Specification],
scheduled to become an official part of C++ no sooner than the year
2023. Three implementations exist, with cosmetic differences but
otherwise using the same function signatures and type declarations:
Boost.Asio, stand-alone Asio, and networking-ts-impl. This table shows
how a variable of type `io_context` is declared in each implementation
by including the appropriate header and using a suitable namespace alias:

[table Networking Implementations
[[Name][Namespace and Header Example ]]
[
    [__Asio__]
    [
```
        #include <boost/asio/io_context.hpp>
        namespace net = boost::asio;
        net::io_context ioc;
```
    ]
][
    [[@https://think-async.com/Asio/ Asio (Standalone)]]
    [
```
        #include <asio/io_context.hpp>
        namespace net = asio;
        net::io_context ioc;
```
    ]
][
    [[@https://github.com/chriskohlhoff/networking-ts-impl networking-ts-impl]]
    [
```
        #include <experimental/io_context>
        namespace net = std::experimental::net;
        net::io_context ioc;
```
    ]
]
]

This document refers to the three implementations above interchangeably and
collectively as [*Networking] (or just ['networking]). The Boost.Asio and
Asio flavors of Networking provide additional features not currently proposed
for C++, but likely to appear in a future specification, such as:

* [@boost:/doc/html/boost_asio/reference/serial_port.html Serial ports]
* [@boost:/doc/html/boost_asio/reference/local__stream_protocol.html UNIX domain sockets]
* [@boost:/doc/html/boost_asio/reference/signal_set.html POSIX signals] (e.g. SIGINT, SIGABORT)
* [@boost:/doc/html/boost_asio/reference/ssl__stream.html TLS streams] (such as OpenSSL)

Boost.Beast depends specifically on the Boost.Asio flavor of Networking,
although this may change in the future.
While this library offers performant implementations of the HTTP and
WebSocket network protocols, it depends on the networking interfaces
to perform general tasks such as performing domain name resolution
(DNS lookup), establishing outgoing connections, and accepting incoming
connections. Callers are responsible for interacting with networking
to initialize objects to the correct state where they are usable by
this library.

In this documentation, the example code, and the implementation, the `net`
namespace is used to qualify Networking identifiers. For Boost.Beast,
`net` will be an alias for the `boost::asio` namespace.

To further ease of use, this library provides an extensive collection
of types and algorithms. This section of the documentation explains these
types and algorithms, provides examples of usage, and also provides
refreshers and tutorials for working with networking.

[heading Abbreviations]

This documentation assumes familiarity with __Asio__, which is
required to work with Beast. Sample code and identifiers used
throughout are written as if the following declarations are in
effect:

[snippet_core_1a]
[snippet_core_1b]

[include 1_refresher.qbk]
[include 2_streams.qbk]
[include 3_timeouts.qbk]
[include 4__layers.qbk]
[include 5_buffers.qbk]
[include 6_files.qbk]
[include 7_composed.qbk]
[endsect]

[section:config Configuration]
[include 8_conf_macros.qbk]
[endsect]
