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      <center><h1>dlib C++ library</h1></center>
      <br/><br/>


      <p>

      Dlib is a general purpose cross-platform C++ library designed using contract programming
      and modern C++ techniques.  

      It is open source software and licensed
      under the <a href="license.html">Boost Software License</a>.

      The <a href="intro.html">introduction</a> contains everything you need to know to get
      started using the library.  However, if you have any questions, comments, or complaints feel free to 
      <a href='mailto:davis@dlib.net'>email me</a><web> or post in the 
      sourceforge <a href='http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=130373'>Forums</a></web>.
      
      
      </p>

      <chm>
         <p>
            For updates to this project see <a href="http://dlib.net">dlib.net</a>.
         </p>
      </chm>

      <br/>

      <p>
         <h2>Major Features</h2>
         <ul>
            <li><b>Documentation</b>
            <ul>
               <li>Unlike a lot of open source projects, this one provides complete and precise 
                  documentation for every class and function.   There are also debugging modes that check the 
                  documented preconditions for functions.  When this is enabled it will catch the vast majority of
                  bugs caused by calling functions incorrectly or using objects in an incorrect manner.  
               </li>
               <li>Lots of example programs are provided</li>
               <li><i>I consider the documentation to be the most important part of the library</i>.  So if you find anything 
                  that isn't documented, isn't clear, or has out of date documentation, tell me and I will fix it.
               </li>
            </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Portable Code</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>All non ISO C++ code is isolated inside the OS abstraction layers which are kept as small as possible.   
                     The rest of the library is either layered on top of the OS 
                     abstraction layers or is pure ISO C++.  </li>
                  <li>Big/little endian agnostic</li>
                  <li>No other packages are required to use the library.  Only APIs that are
                     provided by an out of the box OS are needed. </li> 
                  <li>The library is tested regularly on win32, Linux, and Mac OS X systems.  However, it should 
                     work on any POSIX system and has been tested on Solaris, HPUX, and the BSDs.</li>
               </ul>
            </li>
            <li><b>Threading</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>The library provides a portable and simple <a href="api.html#threads">threading API</a></li>
                  <li>A <a href="other.html#pipe">pipe</a> for inter-thread communication</li>
                  <li>A <a href="other.html#timer">timer</a> object capable of generating events that are regularly spaced in time</li>
                  <li><a href="api.html#thread_specific_data">Thread specific data</a></li>
                  <li><a href="api.html#threaded_object">Threaded objects</a></li>
                  <li><a href="api.html#thread_function">Threaded functions</a></li>
                  <li>A <a href="api.html#thread_pool">thread_pool</a> with support for futures</li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Networking</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>The library provides a portable and simple <a href="api.html#sockets">TCP sockets API</a></li>
                  <li>An object to help you make TCP based <a href="network.html#server">servers</a></li>
                  <li>A <a href="network.html#sockstreambuf">streambuf</a> object that enables TCP sockets 
                  to interoperate with the C++ iostreams library </li>
                  <li>A simple <a href="network.html#http">HTTP server</a> object you can use to embed a 
                  web server into your applications</li> 
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Graphical User Interfaces</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>The library provides a portable and simple core <a href="api.html#gui_core">GUI API</a></li>
                  <li>Implemented on top of the core GUI API are numerous <a href="api.html#gui_widgets">widgets</a></li>
                  <li>Unlike many other GUI toolkits, the entire dlib GUI toolkit is threadsafe</li>
               </ul>
            </li>


            <li><b>Numerical Algorithms</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>A fast <a href="containers.html#matrix">matrix</a> object implemented using the expression 
                     templates technique and capable of using BLAS libraries when available.</li>
                  <li>Numerous linear algebra and mathematical operations are defined for the matrix object such as the 
                     <a href="dlib/matrix/matrix_la_abstract.h.html#svd">singular value decomposition</a>, 
                     <a href="dlib/matrix/matrix_utilities_abstract.h.html#trans">transpose</a>, 
                     <a href="dlib/matrix/matrix_math_functions_abstract.h.html#sin">trig functions</a>, etc.</li>
                  <li>Unconstrained non-linear optimization algorithms using the  
                      <a href="optimization.html#cg_search_strategy">conjugate gradient</a>, 
                      <a href="optimization.html#bfgs_search_strategy">BFGS</a>, and
                      <a href="optimization.html#lbfgs_search_strategy">L-BFGS</a> techniques</li>
                  <li>Box-constrained derivative-free optimization via the 
                      <a href="optimization.html#find_min_bobyqa">BOBYQA</a> algorithm</li> 
                  <li>An implementation of the <a href="optimization.html#oca">Optimized Cutting Plane Algorithm</a></li> 
                  <li>A <a href="algorithms.html#bigint">big integer</a> object</li>
                  <li>A <a href="algorithms.html#rand">random number</a> object</li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Machine Learning Algorithms</b>
               <ul>
                  <li><a href="ml.html#mlp">Multi layer perceptrons</a> </li>  
                  <li><a href="ml.html#svm_nu_trainer">Support vector machines</a> for classification</li>
                  <li>Reduced-rank methods for large-scale <a href="ml.html#svm_c_ekm_trainer">classification</a>
                     and <a href="ml.html#krr_trainer">regression</a></li>
                  <li>Relevance vector machines for <a href="ml.html#rvm_trainer">classification</a> 
                      and <a href="ml.html#rvm_regression_trainer">regression</a> </li>
                  <li>An online <a href="ml.html#krls">kernel RLS regression</a> algorithm</li>
                  <li>An online <a href="ml.html#svm_pegasos">SVM classification</a> algorithm</li>
                  <li>An online kernelized <a href="ml.html#kcentroid">centroid estimator</a>/novelty detector</li>
                  <li>A kernelized <a href="ml.html#kkmeans">k-means</a> clustering algorithm</li>
                  <li><a href="ml.html#rbf_network_trainer">Radial Basis Function Networks</a></li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Bayesian Network Inference Algorithms</b>
               <ul>
                  <li><a href="bayes.html#bayesian_network_join_tree">join tree</a> algorithm for exact inference</li> 
                  <li><a href="bayes.html#bayesian_network_gibbs_sampler">gibbs sampler</a> markov chain monte carlo algorithm</li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Image Processing</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>Windows BMP <a href="imaging.html#load_bmp">read</a> and <a href="imaging.html#save_bmp">write</a> support</li>
                  <li>Automatic color space conversion between various pixel types</li>  
                  <li>Common image operations such as edge finding and morphological operations</li>
                  <li>Implementations of the <a href="imaging.html#get_surf_points">SURF</a>
                  and <a href="imaging.html#hog_image">HOG</a> feature extraction algorithms.</li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Data Compression and Integrity Algorithms</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>A <a href="algorithms.html#crc32">CRC 32</a> object</li>  
                  <li><a href="algorithms.html#md5">MD5</a> functions</li>
                  <li>Various abstracted objects representing parts of <a href="compression.html">data compression</a> 
                  algorithms.  Many forms of the PPM algorithm are included.  </li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>Testing</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>A thread safe <a href="other.html#logger">logger</a> object styled after the popular Java logger log4j</li>
                  <li>A modular <a href="other.html#dlib_testing_suite">unit testing framework</a></li>
                  <li>Various <a href="metaprogramming.html">assert</a> macros useful for testing preconditions</li>
               </ul>
            </li>

            <li><b>General Utilities</b>
               <ul>
                  <li>A type-safe <a href="other.html#byte_orderer">object</a> to convert between big and little endian byte orderings</li>
                  <li>A <a href="parsing.html#cmd_line_parser">command line parser</a> with the ability to 
                  parse and validate command lines with various types of arguments and options</li>
                  <li>An <a href="parsing.html#xml_parser">XML parser</a></li>
                  <li>An object that can perform <a href="parsing.html#base64">base64</a> conversions</li>
                  <li>Many <a href="containers.html">container classes</a></li>
                  <li><a href="other.html#serialize">Serialization support</a></li>
                  <li>Many <a href="other.html#memory_manager">memory manager</a> objects that implement 
                  different memory pooling strategies</li>
               </ul>
            </li>
         </ul>

      </p>

   
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