CppCon 2024 Peering Forward - C++'s Next Decade -- Herb Sutter

By Blog Staff | Aug 20, 2024 09:25 AM | Tags: None

Registration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting some upcoming talks that you will be able to attend this year. Here’s another CppCon future talk we hope you will enjoy – and register today for CppCon 2024!

Peering Forward - C++'s Next Decade

Monday, September 16 08:45 - 10:30 MDT

by Herb Sutter

Summary of the talk:

This is an exciting year for ISO C++: In just the past few months, it has started to become clear that C++ is approaching three major positive turning points that are starting to materialize together in a blossoming of usability we haven’t seen since C++11.

First, compile-time reflection, including source generation, will dominate the next decade of C++ as arguably the most powerful feature that we’ve ever standardized, and (fingers crossed!) it’s on track for being included in C++26 in the coming months. I expect reflection’s impact on library building to be comparable to that of all the other library-building improvements combined that we’ve added since C++98.

• Related: The CppCon 2024 Friday keynote will be all about reflection… more about that will be announced soon!

Second, memory safety is being taken seriously in WG21. After a decade or two of gradual smaller improvements, the committee is actively working toward taking the major step of enabling well-known proven-effective safety checks at compile time by default, without compromising performance.

• Related: The CppCon 2024 Monday evening panel and Wednesday keynote will be all about safety… more about those will be announced soon!

Third, simplifying C++ is being taken seriously. I’m not the only person actively proposing simplifications to C++, and I expect the rate of simplification proposal papers to increase again in the coming year as the fruits of in-the-field experiments turn into evidence that the experimental improvements are working and are ready to be considered for ISO C++ itself to benefit all programmers.

Most of all, the above overlap and reinforce each other. For example, reflection will enable writing more new facilities as compile-time libraries instead of as language features that have to be baked into a compiler, which helps simplify future language evolution. Reflection will also enable compile-time libraries that let developers express their intent directly and leave it to the library code to accurately generate correct implementations, which helps reduce errors and makes our code both simpler and safer.

ISO C++ has long been solidly in the top 5 programming languages and is going strong. This talk presents reasons to expect that C++’s future is bright, and that perhaps its most important decade is just ahead.

Herb is an author, designer of several Standard C++ features, and chair of the ISO C++ committee and the Standard C++ Foundation. His current interest is simplifying C++.

PVS-Studio 7.32: enhanced analysis, new plugins and more

By Andrey Karpov | Aug 18, 2024 11:27 AM | Tags: scons qt creator qt pvs-studio bazel

PVS-Studio 7.32 has been released. Discover enhanced C++ analysis optimization, new plugins and features, and a host of other updates.

PVS-Studio 7.32: enhanced analysis, new plugins and more

by Gleb Aslamov

From the article:

The PVS-Studio analyzer now supports integration with Bazel and Scons build systems for C++ projects. The PVS-Studio plugin is now available for Qt Creator 14.x. The plugin for Qt Creator 8.x is no longer supported. We aim to ensure backward compatibility between the latest plugin versions and all Qt Creator versions released in the past two years.

CppCon 2024 Perspectives on Contracts -- Lisa Lippincott

By Blog Staff | Aug 16, 2024 04:45 PM | Tags: None

Registration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting some upcoming talks that you will be able to attend this year. Here’s another CppCon future talk we hope you will enjoy – and register today for CppCon 2024!

Perspectives on Contracts

Thursday, September 19 14:00 - 15:00 MDT

by Lisa Lippincott

Summary of the talk:

For many years, members of the C++ working group, WG21, have tried to add support for contract assertions — preconditions, postconditions, and assertion statements within a function body — to the C++ language. It’s been a long and difficult road, but we now have a proposal (P2900, “Contracts for C++”) to add significant contract support in, we hope, C++26, with more complete support to follow in C++29.

Looking back, the contracts feature has been unusually difficult and contentious. I contend that the difficulty is inherent in the feature: a contracts facility, by its nature,  cannot be understood from any single point of view.

In this lecture, I will explain why understanding contracts requires seeing the feature from a panoply of perspectives, and show how shifting between these perspectives allows one to make effective use of the facility.

This lecture is derived from presentations made to the Language Evolution subgroup of WG21 at the St. Louis meeting in June 2024.

Lisa Lippincott designed the software architectures of Tanium and BigFix, two systems for managing large fleets of computers. She's also a language nerd, and has contributed to arcane parts of the C++ standard. In her spare time, she studies mathematical logic, and wants to make computer-checked proofs of correctness a routine part of programming.

CppCon 2024 Compile-time Validation -- Alon Wolf

By Blog Staff | Aug 15, 2024 04:42 PM | Tags: None

Registration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting some upcoming talks that you will be able to attend this year. Here’s another CppCon future talk we hope you will enjoy – and register today for CppCon 2024!

Compile-time Validation

Tuesday, September 17 15:15 - 16:15 MDT

by Alon Wolf

Summary of the talk:

C++ is often criticized for its lack of inherent memory safety, but the spectrum of potential program validations extends far beyond just memory concerns. This talk delves into the necessity of early validation, emphasizing the benefits of compile-time checks in C++. By leveraging compile-time validation, developers can catch errors and enforce constraints before the code is even executed, enhancing both safety and correctness.

A functional programming approach to compile-time validation will be discussed, highlighting its benefits and demonstrating its application in ensuring code correctness.

Moreover, the talk will delve into the realm of compile-time unit tests, showcasing how they enable developers to validate code behavior at compile time, paving the way for more efficient debugging and maintenance.

Exploring advanced features, we'll discuss existing compile-time techniques to implement lifetimes, borrow checker, and other validation rules by leveraging template metaprogramming for memory safety and how they can be improved with the upcoming C++26 reflection proposal.

Additionally, we will review language extensions and compiler-specific features that augment compile-time validation capabilities. Finally, the talk will cover the role of static analysis tools in detecting potential issues early in the development process, thus complementing compile-time techniques. Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of the various strategies available for enhancing program reliability through compile-time validation in C++.

Alon is a Senior Software Engineer at Medtronic specializing in 3D and computer graphics with a passion for high performance. He has developed many custom simulation and rendering engines for different platforms using modern C++. He also writes a C++ technical blog and participates in game jams.

2024-08 Mailing Available

By Administrator | Aug 15, 2024 03:07 PM | Tags: None

The 2024-08 mailing of new standards papers is now available.

A first look at the voting results for Meeting C++ 2024

By Meeting C++ | Aug 15, 2024 02:32 AM | Tags: None

On Sunday the voting for Meeting C++ 2024 ended, now the program is taking shape. The schedule should be available by end of August.

A first look at the voting results for Meeting C++ 2024

by Jens Weller

From the article:

And through this voting, these talks made it into the top 11 - forming the main track:

    Andreas Weis - C++ Modules - Getting Started Today
    Roth Michaels - Templates made easy with C++20: how constexpr/constexpr, fold expressions, and concepts change how we write code
    Bryce Adelstein Lelbach - The C++ Execution Model
    Klaus Iglberger - There is no Silver Bullet
    Boguslaw Cyganek - Pipeline architectures in C++: overloaded pipe operator |, std::expected and its monadic operations
    Nico Josuttis - C++ Concepts: What you should know and how to use them right
    Peter Muldoon - Dependency Injection in C++ : A Practical Guide
    Jonathan Müller - An (In-)Complete Guide to C++ Object Lifetimes
    Sandor Dargo - Clean code! Horrible performance?
    Andreas Fertig - Fast and small C++ - When efficiency matters
    Timur Doumler - Contracts for C++

CppCon 2024 Using Modern C++ to Avoid Vulnerabilities by Design -- Max Hoffmann

By Blog Staff | Aug 14, 2024 04:37 PM | Tags: None

Registration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting some upcoming talks that you will be able to attend this year. Here’s another CppCon future talk we hope you will enjoy – and register today for CppCon 2024!

Security Beyond Memory Safety - Using Modern C++ to Avoid Vulnerabilities by Design

Monday, September 16 11:00 - 12:00 MDT

by Max Hoffmann

Summary of the talk:

Nowadays, there is one topic that comes up in virtually all discussions on system programming languages: memory safety.
However, even though memory safety rules out many of the most common sources of vulnerabilities, there are still plenty of ways how a vulnerability may find its way into the codebase.

In this talk, we look beyond memory safety and explore how we can prevent vulnerabilities through simple yet effective C++ constructions and custom static analysis scripts. We analyze multiple examples, from basics like input validation to complex time-of-check vs time-of-use issues when accessing shared resources, all of which are inspired by real-world products, use cases, or vulnerabilities. For each example, we discuss attacker models, threats, and implementation pitfalls, before looking at potential solutions that are not just secure by themselves but also protect developers from accidentally introducing vulnerabilities in the future.

Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of security engineering and inspirations for leveraging C++ to prevent potential security issues by design.

Max Hoffmann studied cybersecurity and got his Ph.D. in hardware security at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in association with the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy at the research group of Professor Christof Paar. With a passion for teaching, he continues to contribute to the university as an external lecturer, shaping the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. As a Security Manager at ETAS, he oversees the Onboard Security portfolio, driving process improvements, supporting in technical discussions, managing vulnerabilities, and enhancing security awareness in the organization.

What to do if you don't want a default constructor? -- Sandor Dargo

By Blog Staff | Aug 13, 2024 04:38 PM | Tags: None

Do we need a default constructor? What does it mean to have a default constructor? What happens if we don’t have one? Those are the questions we are going after in this article.

What to do if you don't want a default constructor?

by Sandor Dargo

From the article:

A default constructor is a constructor that takes no arguments and initializes - hopefully - all the members with some default values. If you define no constructors at all, it’ll even be generated for you.

Do we need default constructors?

It really depends. Let’s first approach this question from a design point of view. Does it make sense to represent an object where the members are default initialized?

If you represent a tachograph, it probably makes sense to have such a default state where all the counters are initialized to zero.

The tachograph is the device that records driving times and rest periods as well as periods of other work and availability taken by the driver of a heavy vehicle.

On the other hand, if you represent a person or a task identifier - which inspired me to write this article - it doesn’t. A person with an empty name or a task ID with an empty ID doesn’t make much sense.

Well, that’s the case from a design point of view. What about the technical aspects? What happens if we don’t have a default constructor?

CppCon 2024 Template-less Meta-programming -- Kris Jusiak

By Blog Staff | Aug 13, 2024 06:34 AM | Tags: None

Registration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting some upcoming talks that you will be able to attend this year. Here’s another CppCon future talk we hope you will enjoy – and register today for CppCon 2024!

Template-less Meta-programming

Friday, September 20 09:00 - 10:00 MDT

by Kris Jusiak

Summary of the talk:

Meta-programming is one of the most significant C++ superpowers. It enables seemingly impossible feats, but there is a considerable cost associated with it as well. Therefore, its applications have been limited to experts and cases where the benefits greatly outweigh the maintenance burden.

But what if that doesn't have to be the case? In this talk, we will explore an alternative approach to template meta-programming that does not require an understanding of the traditional 'angle bracket' technique.

We will also make the case that anyone who can write C++ can become a meta-programming guru! But what about compilation times and/or testing/debugging, you may ask? Well, we will cover those as well, and it might be surprising what modern C++ is actually capable of!

Additionally, we will cover how the static reflection proposal and C++20 ranges can further improve the ability to write meta-functions and how C++ compares to other languages such as circle. However, we will also show how to apply the technique with C++17 on all major compilers with a ready-to-go solution.

Finally, we will benchmark compilation times of different approaches, showcasing their strengths and weaknesses.

If you are interested in meta-programming or have always wanted to understand its practical use cases but never really grasped them, this talk is for you!

Kris is a passionate Software Engineer with experience across various industries, including telecommunications, gaming, and most recently, finance. He specializes in modern C++ development, with a keen focus on performance and quality. Kris is also an active conference speaker and open-source enthusiast, having created multiple open-source libraries.

CppCon 2024 Deciphering C++ Coroutines - Mastering Asynchronous Control Flow -- Andreas Weis

By Blog Staff | Aug 12, 2024 04:30 PM | Tags: None

Registration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting some upcoming talks that you will be able to attend this year. Here’s another CppCon future talk we hope you will enjoy – and register today for CppCon 2024!

Deciphering C++ Coroutines - Mastering Asynchronous Control Flow

Thursday, September 19 09:00 - 10:00 MDT

by Andreas Weis

Summary of the talk:

One of the most powerful applications of coroutines is in the context of asynchronous operations, where their use allows for significant simplifactions of application code. Unfortunately, building an asynchronous library interface to enable such benefits for applications is not exactly straightforward in C++.

In this talk we will explore the essentials of managing asynchronous control flow with coroutines. We will discover how to reconstruct the call stack of nested asynchronous calls and thus bridge a significant gap between C++'s stackless coroutines and the stackful coroutines from other languages. We will learn how to build a mechanism similar to the async/await from languages like Python or Javascript for our own libraries. And we will explore how we can perform arbitrary manipulations of the call stack in such an environment to unleash the full power of C++'s coroutine mechanism.

At the end of this talk we will have a proper understanding of how the Task<> type found in many coroutine libraries works and how it can be used to manage asynchronous operations. This will serve as an important building block for understanding more advanced mechanisms, like the sender/receiver mechanism proposed for C++26.

This talk assumes basic familiarity with the components of the C++ coroutines language feature: promises, awaitables, coroutine handles, and passing data in and out of coroutines.

This is the second part in an ongoing series of talks about C++20 coroutines.

Andreas Weis has been writing C++ code in many different domains, from real-time graphics, to distributed applications, to embedded systems. As a library writer by nature, he enjoys writing portable code and exposing complex functionalities through simple, richly-typed interfaces. Both of which C++ allows him to do extensively.Andreas is also one of the co-organizers of the Munich C++ User Group, which allows him to share this passion with others on a regular basis.