* origin/topic/bernhard/input-logging-commmon-functions:
add the last of Robins suggestions (separate info-struct for constructors).
port memory leak fix from master
harmonize function naming
move AsciiInputOutput over to threading
and thinking about it, ascii-io doesn't need the separator
change constructors
and factor stuff out the input framework too.
factor out ascii input/output.
std::string accessors to escape_sequence functionality
intermediate commit - it has been over a month since I touched this...
I cleaned up the AsciiInputOutput class somewhat, including renaming
it to AsciiFormatter, renaming some of its methods, and turning the
static methods into members for consistency.
Closes#929.
