Using C++ DataFrame with earlier versions of C++ and build instructions from source for all supported platforms and compilers

[amehrish]

Let me start by stating that this is a wonderful effort and I look forward to using it. Would greatly appreciate if it may please be clarified whether it is possible to use this library with a version of C++ older than C++23. I understand (thanks to Hossein!) that vcpkg builds and current codebase is C++23 compatible. Most workplaces have only recently ported/ upgrade to C++17 so a leap to C++23 is quite a steep one. On MSVC, C++23 is still available in preview: /std:c++23preview. It will also be helpful if instructions for 'building from source' for all supported platforms are clearer. Thank you so much!

[hosseinmoein]

Building the current codebase with C++17 is not trivial. It requires a lot of changes that makes the code even less efficient.

The build instructions in the docs are for CMake build (recommended). I am not experienced in Windows development environment nor do I have access to one. But as far as I know MSVC supports C++23 very well. This is the output the CI build based on MSVC https://ci.appveyor.com/project/hosseinmoein/dataframe

I hope this helps

[amehrish]

Thank you Hossein!

[hosseinmoein]

Just one other thing, compiling a C++17 codebase with a C++23 compiler should just work without a need to change any code.
New versions of C++ just add more stuff. So far they all maintained backward compatibility.

[amehrish]

I succeeded in compiling and linking the library in Visual Studio 2022. One housekeeping question, it appears that vcpkg version isn't the latest becuase I could not locate for instance, "SeasonalPeriodVisitor" definition in <DataFrame/DataFrameMLVisitors.h> when trying to make your "Hello .." example work. Unless I comment out the three lines of code associated with this identifier, the program wouldn't compile. Thank you!

[hosseinmoein]

I think you are mixing two things. VCPKG installs the latest release for you. You can see all the releases and what they contain here: https://github.com/hosseinmoein/DataFrame/releases.

What you see in GitHub master branch is the latest unreleased code which also includes SeasonalPeriodVisitor. You are looking at the hello_world.cc in master and trying to compile it with the 3.4.0 (latest) release from VCPKG which doesn't include SeasonalPeriodVisitor.

If you definitely need SeasonalPeriodVisitor, you must compile the master branch using CMake. Or you can wait until early April when I make another release.

[amehrish]

Thank you so much! I wasn't mixing the two. Just confirming. No! I don't need all the functionality. I will build it if required. Once again, thank you so much! Appreciate your prompt reply!