Improve compiling speed in VS project using C++ Boost Libraries

Question

I have just started using Boost 1.36. These libraries would be very useful in reducing the amount of code needed in the unmanaged C++ software project that I am working on.

However when I tried to used these libraries my compile times increased ten fold. This would pretty much offset the productivity gains I would receive by using the library.

I am using a 3GHz Intel Dual Core with 2GB of RAM and VS 2003.

There is a snippet of the code that I added.

#include "boost/numeric/ublas/matrix.hpp"   
#include "boost/numeric/ublas/vector.hpp"  
#include "boost/numeric/ublas/matrix_proxy.hpp"  

typedef ublas::bounded_matrix <long double,NUM_OF_COLUMNS,NUM_OF_CATEGORIES,ublas::row_major> Matrix;  
typedef ublas::bounded_vector <long double,NUM_OF_COLUMNS> Vector;  

void Print(const Matrix& amount)
{

Vector total;

total.clear();
for (int category = 0; category < NUM_OF_CATEGORIES; category++)
{
    PrintLine(ublas::row(amount, category));
    total += ublas::row(amount, category);
}

PrintLine(total);   

}

Is the problem with VS 2003?
I know that VS 2008 is faster but upgrading is going to be a hard sell.
Is it just that Boost is optimized for fast run times not fast compile times?
Am I just using the Boost Library in a sub-optimal manner?
Or am I just using the wrong tool for the job?

Answer 1

Have you tried using precompiled headers? That is including the boost headers in StdAfx.h or whatever header file you use for precompiled headers?

Answer 2

Did you try Incredibuild? It will allow you to distribute your build on multiple computers. I have seen it used successfully.