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Your handy cut-out-and-keep guide to std::forward and std::move--Glennan Carnie

By Adrien Hamelin | May 1, 2018 02:00 PM | Tags: intermediate c++11

Do you know it?

Your handy cut-out-and-keep guide to std::forward and std::move

by Glennan Carnie

From the article:

I love a good ‘quadrant’ diagram.  It brings me immense joy if I can encapsulate some wisdom, guideline or rule-of-thumb in a simple four-quadrant picture.

This time it’s the when-and-where of std::move and std::forward.  In my experience, when programmers are first introduced to move semantics, their biggest struggle is to know when (or when not) to apply std::move or std::forward.  Usually, it’s a case of “keep apply std::move until it compiles”.  I’ve been there myself.

To that end I’ve put together a couple of a simple overview quadrant graphics to help out the neophyte ‘mover-forwarder’.  The aim is to capture some simple rules-of-thumb in an easy-to-digest format...

Exceptional exploration (2) -- Lucian Radu Teodorescu

By Lucian Radu Teodorescu | May 1, 2018 10:13 AM | Tags: None

Are you exceptionally curious?

Exceptional exploration (2)

by Lucian Radu Teodorescu

From the article:

To use or not to use exceptions? That is the question. Asked again.

In the previous post we explored the performance implications of various error handling mechanisms. Here we continue our exploration of error handling mechanisms but focusing on modifiability – i.e., the ability of the code to be easy to write and be modified in the future.

We argue that exceptions are both a good thing and a bad thing. We attempt to divide the scenarios into multiple categories, and we provide reasons pro and con for each category. The goal is to find the contexts in which it’s better to use exceptions. The answer may be surprising: there are more cases in which manual error handling is better than using exceptions. If only standard library would support non-exception policies…

Exceptional exploration (1) -- Lucian Radu Teodorescu

By Lucian Radu Teodorescu | Apr 30, 2018 03:04 AM | Tags: intermediate

Are you exceptionally curios?

Exceptional exploration (1)

by Lucian Radu Teodorescu

From the article:

To use or not to use exceptions? That is the question.

And if you have hoped for a simple answer, this is not the right blog to read. On this blog, finding the truth is always a complex endeavor, it involves a complex mix of perspectives and a variety of interpretations. If you are into truthing, read on.

In this post we would only cover the performance aspects of it. A follow up post should discuss aspects like modifiability (how easy is to write error handling) and appropriateness of using exceptions.

ACCUConf 2018 Trip Report--Arne Mertz

By Adrien Hamelin | Apr 27, 2018 02:26 PM | Tags: community

Were you there?

ACCUConf 2018 Trip Report

by Arne Mertz

From the article:

Two weeks ago, I attended the ACCU Conference in Bristol again, and again it was a blast. ACCUConf is by far the most interesting and enjoyable conference I have attended so far...

Quick Q: How can unique_ptr have no overhead if it needs to store the deleter?

By Adrien Hamelin | Apr 27, 2018 02:24 PM | Tags: intermediate c++11

Quick A: The default deleter does not store anything.

Recently on SO:

How can unique_ptr have no overhead if it needs to store the deleter?

std::unique_ptr<T> is quite likely to be zero-overhead (with any sane standard-library implementation). std::unique_ptr<T, D>, for an arbitrary D, is not in general zero-overhead.

The reason is simple: Empty-Base Optimisation can be used to eliminate storage of the deleter in case it's an empty (and thus stateless) type (such as std::default_delete instantiations).

Affine Space Types

By Adi | Apr 25, 2018 11:30 AM | Tags: None

Well defined semantics for positions and displacements.

Affine Space Types

by Adi Shavit

From the article:

I recently came across a geometric structure that deserves to be better known: The Affine Space. In fact, like many abstract mathematical concepts, it is so fundamental that we are all subconsciously familiar with it though may have never considered its mathematical underpinnings.
This post will introduce the Affine Space structure and focus mainly on its role in the C++ type system, the standard library and for creating new strong types.

Refactoring with C++17 std::optional--Bartlomiej Filipek

By Adrien Hamelin | Apr 23, 2018 01:01 PM | Tags: intermediate c++17

Isn't it better?

Refactoring with C++17 std::optional

by Bartlomiej Filipek

From the article:

There are many situations where you need to express that something is “optional” - an object that might contain a value or not. You have several options to implement such case, but with C++17 there’s probably the most helpful way: std::optional.

For today I’ve prepared one refactoring case where you can learn how to apply this new C++17 feature...

How to Reorder A Collection With the STL--Jonathan Boccara

By Adrien Hamelin | Apr 20, 2018 12:31 PM | Tags: stl intermediate

Did you know?

How to Reorder A Collection With the STL

by Jonathan Boccara

From the article:

The STL lets you do plenty of things on collections, and one of them is to reorder the elements inside of the collection. Or, said another way, to perform a permutation on the collection.

Inded, moving elements around a collection typically takes a fair amount of complex code to write, involving for loops and iterators. And it is perhaps the area where the STL generates the most spectacular improvements, by encapsulating those complex operations behing meaningful interfaces.

Let’s see what sorts of permutations the STL offers:

  • Lexicographical permutations
  • Cyclic permutations
  • Random permutation
  • Reverse
  • Checking for permutations
  • Other permutations