GCC's Move to C++ -- Linda Jacobsen

By Blog Staff | Mar 24, 2013 11:46 AM | Tags: None

It's nice to see more C++ compilers being written in C++ rather than C. The Clang compiler is already all-C++. In recent years GCC has been slowly doing the same -- first compiling the C code as C++ code, and more recently using C++ itself.

Here is a readable summary of progress to date.

GCC's Move to C++

by Linda Jacobsen

Excerpt:

In 2008, 2009, and 2010, (i.e., at the beginning and after each milestone) Taylor provided formal plans for the next steps. There is no formal plan going forward from here. People will use C++ constructs in future patches as they deem necessary, but not just for the sake of doing so. Some will limit their changes to the times when they are patching the code anyway. Others approach the existing C code with an eye to converting code to C++ wherever it makes the code clearer or more efficient. Therefore, this is an ongoing effort on a meandering path for the foreseeable future.

GCC 4.8 released

By Blog Staff | Mar 22, 2013 05:48 PM | Tags: None

GCC 4.8 has been released. C++-related improvements include the following highlights.

Language improvements:

• G++ now implements the C++11 thread_local keyword...
• G++ now implements the C++11 attribute syntax, e.g.
    [[noreturn]] void f();
  and also the alignment specifier, e.g.
    alignas(double) int i;
• G++ now implements C++11 inheriting constructors, e.g.
    struct A { A(int); };
  struct B: A { using A::A; }; // defines B::B(int)
  B b(42); // OK
• G++ now supports a -std=c++1y option for experimentation with features proposed for the next revision of the standard, expected around 2017. Currently the only difference from -std=c++11 is support for return type deduction in normal functions, as proposed in N3386.
• The G++ namespace association extension, __attribute ((strong)), has been deprecated. Inline namespaces should be used instead.

Standard library improvements:

Improved experimental support for the new ISO C++ standard, C++11, including:

• forward_list meets the allocator-aware container requirements;
• this_thread::sleep_for(), this_thread::sleep_until() and this_thread::yield() are defined without requiring the configure option --enable-libstdcxx-time;
• SSE optimized normal_distribution and simd_fast_mersenne_twister_engine.
• Use of hardware RNG instruction for random_device on new x86 processors (requires the assembler to support the instruction.)

Webinar: C++ in the Multi-Device Enterprise -- David Intersimone

By David I | Mar 20, 2013 03:36 PM | Tags: intermediate basics

On Tuesday, March 26, Embarcadero's David Intersimone will be speaking live on the web:

C++ in the Multi-Device Enterprise

David Intersimone, "David I"
Vice President of Developer Relations and Chief Evangelist

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

• 6:00AM PDT / 9:00AM EDT / 13:00 UTC
• 11:00AM PDT / 2:00PM EDT / 18:00 UTC
• 5:00PM PDT / 8:00PM EDT / 11:00AM 27-Mar Australia EDT

Description:

In every conversation, social network post and industry article, you hear about the need for multi-device support inside an Enterprise.  Terms like BYOD appear in most articles and Enterprise strategies.  Computing in a modern Enterprise is not only a Microsoft Windows world.  Enterprise organizations need to support a wide array of devices that their employees are using to be more productive.  The modern enterprise also needs to support additional software architectures including Cloud computing, multi-tier, REST and SOAP web services and more.

This webinar showcases how C++ can help satisfy the Enterprise’s need to support multiple devices on desktops, servers, web, mobile and multi-tiers in their infrastructure.  Coverage includes C++Builder’s support for ISV and enterprise class integrated database, middleware and cloud computing. With C++Builder XE3, you get integrated support for SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, DB2, InterBase, SQL Anywhere, SQLite, MySQL, and cloud services including Windows Azure and Amazon.

During the webinar, you will learn how to:

• Leverage platform services, devices and sensors in your multi-device C++ applications
• Build multi-device C++ applications that connect with enterprise SQL databases
• Create multi-device C++ desktop applications that consume web services using SOAP and REST
• Build scalable multi-tier, multi-device, master detail database applications

Clang/LLVM developer conference sold out

By Blog Staff | Mar 20, 2013 09:23 AM | Tags: None

As noted yesterday, the C++ Now 2013 conference has sold out well in advance. There's one other conference that sold out almost immediately we should also mention:

For those interested in developing for the Clang C++ compiler and its LLVM back-end, the Third Annual European LLVM Conference (announced here Jan 16) also sold out quickly -- all confirmed attendees received their confirmation mail at the end of January. If you didn't receive that mail in January, you can still add yourself to the waiting list in case some spots become available.

If you missed registering for C++ Now or the Clang/LLVM Conference, check out additional C++ events coming up around the world in the Upcoming Events section on the sidebar.

C++ Now 2013 sold out

By Blog Staff | Mar 19, 2013 07:55 PM | Tags: None

As interest in C++ continues to increase, not only are we seeing more C++ events, but they're selling out quickly.

C++ Now (formerly BoostCon) just reported it is sold out with 53 days to go.

If you missed registering for C++ Now, check out additional C++ events coming up around the world in the Upcoming Events section on the sidebar.

Pre-Bristol standards papers mailing available

By Blog Staff | Mar 19, 2013 12:13 PM | Tags: None

The official pre-meeting standards papers mailing is now available. It includes the spring meeting agenda, updated issues lists, and a number of new papers including at least one that came through the public std-proposals forum. (Update: Please also direct discussion about these papers to that forum.)

Note: Most or all of these papers have also been posted already to this site's Standardization RSS feed.

New paper: N3620, Network Byte Order Conversion -- Kyle Kloepper

By Blog Staff | Mar 19, 2013 12:08 PM | Tags: None

A new WG21 paper is available. A copy is linked below, and the paper will also appear in the next normal WG21 mailing. If you are not a committee member, please use the comments section below or the std-proposals forum for public discussion.

Document number: N3620

Date: 2013-03-18

Network Byte Order Conversion

by Kyle Kloepper

Excerpt:

This proposal adds support to C++ for converting between host and network byte order.

New paper: N3619, A Proposal to Add Swappability Traits to the Standard Library -- Andrew Morrow

By Blog Staff | Mar 19, 2013 12:07 PM | Tags: None

A new WG21 paper is available. A copy is linked below, and the paper will also appear in the next normal WG21 mailing. If you are not a committee member, please use the comments section below or the std-proposals forum for public discussion.

Document number: N3619

Date: 2013-03-15

A Proposal to Add Swappability Traits to the Standard Library

by Andrew Morrow

Excerpt:

This proposal proposes the addition of two new type property predicates to the C++ standard library: std::is_swappable<T, U = T> and std::is_nothrow_swappable<T, U = T>. 

 

New paper: N3618, What Can Signal Handlers Do? (CWG 1441) -- Hans-J. Boehm

By Blog Staff | Mar 19, 2013 12:04 PM | Tags: None

A new WG21 paper is available. A copy is linked below, and the paper will also appear in the next normal WG21 mailing. If you are not a committee member, please use the comments section below or the std-proposals forum for public discussion.

Document number: N3618

Date: 2013-03-17

What Can Signal Handlers Do? (CWG 1441)

by Hans-J. Boehm

Excerpt:

CWG Issue 1441 points out that in the process of relaxing the restrictions on asynchronous signal handlers to allow use of atomics, we inadvertently made it impossible to use even local variables of non-volatile, non-atomic type. As a result of an initial discussion within CWG, Jens Maurer generated a proposed resolution, which addresses that specific issue.

Later discussion in SG1, both in Portland and during the February 2013 SG1 teleconference, raised a number of additional issues. Both Jens' solution and all prior versions of the standard still give undefined behavior to code involving signal handlers which we believe should clearly be legal. For example, a signal handler should be allowed to access "read-only" data that has not been modified since the signal handler was installed. Our goal is to correct such oversights, and allow some realistic signal handlers to be portable, while preserving a significant amount of implementation freedom with respect to what is allowable in a signal handler. In particular, we do not want to reinvent Posix' notion of async-signal-safe functions here.

...

We give several proposed changes and summarize the reasoning behind the change as well as some of the past discussion: ...

New paper: N3617, Lifting Overload Sets into Function Objects -- Philipp Juschka

By Blog Staff | Mar 19, 2013 12:03 PM | Tags: None

A new WG21 paper is available. A copy is linked below, and the paper will also appear in the next normal WG21 mailing. If you are not a committee member, please use the comments section below or the std-proposals forum for public discussion.

Document number: N3617

Date: 2013-03-14

Lifting Overload Sets into Function Objects

by Philipp Juschka

Excerpt:

Many generic libraries, including the standard library, draw from the functional programming paradigm, where passing around functions is a common occurence. This proposal aims to allow the usage of functional techniques with plain old overloaded functions and function templates without needing to create a function object by hand.