boost

The foundational histogramming package for Python, boost-histogram, hit beta status with version 0.6! This is a major update to the new Boost.Histogram bindings. Since I have not written about boost-histogram yet here, I will introduce the library in its current state. Version 0.6.2 was based on the recently released Boost C++ Libraries 1.72 Histogram package. Feel free to visit the docs, or keep reading this post.

This Python library is part of a larger picture in the Scikit-HEP ecosystem of tools for Particle Physics and is funded by DIANA/HEP and IRIS-HEP. It is the core library for making and manipulating histograms. Other packages are under development to provide a complete set of tools to work with and visualize histograms. The Aghast package is designed to convert between popular histogram formats, and the Hist package will be designed to make common analysis tasks simple, like plotting via tools such as the mplhep package. Hist and Aghast will be initially driven by HEP (High Energy Physics and Particle Physics) needs, but outside issues and contributions are welcome and encouraged.

CLI11 started years ago as a set of tools built on Boost Program Options (PO), and has since matured into the powerful, easy-to-use stand-alone library it is available today. If you would like to see the original inspiration for CLI11, look at Program.hpp in CLI11 0.1. The rest of the post will focus on a comparison between making a CLI app in the two libraries. I am going to assume that you are preparing fairly basic but non-trivial programs in the following comparison.

TL;DR: CLI11 is more concise, and provides more control with better defaults in many cases, but was inspired by Boost PO.