Three Croatian programmers introduced Croatian technology to the world elite because their library was included in the most recognized programming community – Boost. For the first time, programmers from this part of Europe received this significant recognition. Ivica Siladić (54), Korina Šimičević (25) and Bruno Iljazović (26) – programmers from the Croatian IT company Mireo – after a year of work on their C++ library, brought this valuable recognition to Croatia. They have written an extremely high-quality programming library that will be made available within the Boost community to developers around the world to solve various challenges in mobile communication.
So far, more people have traveled into space than have written the code for Boost
C++ is the basic programming language and the tool that programmers turn to when they need top performance. Most C++ programmers dream that their code will actually be used and appreciated by other programmers. Boost library exists moreć For 30 years and from day one, it was conceived as a set of publicly available (open-source) libraries that all C++ programmers can use in their daily work.
Only libraries for a wide range of applications are accepted into Boost in an extremely meticulous, complicated and difficult verification process. To illustrate, Vinnie Falco, one of the prominent people behind the Boost organization, recently commented that “so far, more people have traveled into space than have written the code for Boost”.
Programmed a library that will be used in millions of devices around the world
The library that Croatian programmers included in Boost is an implementation of the MQTT protocol for wireless communication. In various forms, this protocol is used in billions of devices, starting from all mobile phones to telematics devices in all vehicles to sensors in the smart home industry. Every time we receive a message on Whatsapp, it is most likely delivered via MQTT.
Ivica Siladi, team leader and CTO at Mire, the company that sponsored the project as a reason for accepting the big challenge, states:
– Since we at Mire work with different types of mobile devices and our main business segment is the development of GPS navigation software, which we deliver to leading car manufacturers, we are constantly looking for a quality MQTT protocol. . How does that search last longer? for some time because existing solutions do not meet our standards, we decided to write it ourselves. I have often reached for open source libraries in my life, especially from Boost because it is the most respected and guarantees a strict check, so in a way it was a personal motivation and a challenge to see if we could offer Boost something high enough to pass their strict screening criteria – he said.
Rare opportunities are given to young people to show what they can do
Korina is only 25 years old and this is her first job, and right after the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, she started working at Mire. She especially emphasizes that for her and Bruno (who is only one year older) this is a big step in their careers.
– Usually, young programmers do not work on such important projects. You are still working on a small segment of something, and you are at home without a bigger picture. We could see the whole process, from the first to the last step, find our way around and somehow get an accelerated course for engineers. And then you get entry into Boost as a reward – I couldn’t even dream anymore – she adds.
Bruno emphasizes that they worked as a team. As an experienced programmer, Ivica set up the entire architecture, and Bruno, as a mathematician, contributed his analytical thinking, which is valuable when making every decision, and was responsible for a good part of the implementation.
A great recognition for the Croatian IT scene
Finally, Ivica tells us that this success puts Croatia on the map of the global C++ community.
– I am happy that we are bringing such a significant recognition to Croatia because we have a top IT community. Our way of working, where we put the experience of older programmers and young talents at the same table, proved to be successful on this project as well. Young people bring candlesž a way of thinking that is very important to us in the company because they have the tenacity to continue working even when they hit a wall several times, so it is extremely important that they are given the opportunity to work on important things projects – said Ivica.
The Mireo library is currently available on GitHub, and in the next Boost delivery it will also be available on Boost channels.