Interlude (a C++ 2015 retrospective) -- Agustín "K-ballo" Bergé

By Blog Staff | Jan 1, 2016 11:08 AM | Tags: None

As we enter 2016, here is another reminder of just how much has happened for C++ in just the past year:

Interlude (a C++ 2015 retrospective)

by Agustín "K-ballo" Bergé

From the article:

One year down the road, 2015 has gone by but not without modifications to the C++ lands. Several Technical Specification (TS) documents were published, and heavy work continues to go into both existing and new ones. Meanwhile, work is underway for what it is intended to be C++17...

... During 2015, the C++ lands grew bigger at an outstanding rate! As the TS model -- which allows to decouple and publish work independently from the standard -- is proving to be a success, 2016 it's certainly looking to be a good year for C++.

C++ status at the end of 2015, a user's view -- Bartlomiej Filipek

By Blog Staff | Dec 31, 2015 10:27 AM | Tags: None

A lot has happened in C++ in 2015! As we close out the year, here's a retrospective from an experienced C++ developer:

C++ status at the end of 2015

by Bartlomiej Filipek

From the article:

Maybe I’ll be boring with this note, but again I need to write that this was another good year for C++! Here’s a bunch of facts:

• Visual Studio 2015 was released with great support for C++14/17 and even more experimental features.
• Long-awaited GCC 5.0 was released at the beginning of the year.
• C++ gained a huge boost is popularity around July, 3rd stable place in the Tiobe Ranking.
• At CppCon 2015 there were some really important announcements made.
• C++17 seems to be just around the corner!

See my full report below...

Both keynotes from Meeting C++ 2015 are now online!

By Meeting C++ | Dec 21, 2015 08:47 AM | Tags: video performance keynote intermediate efficiency basics advanced

See Chandler Carruth and Lars Knoll giving the keynotes at Meeting C++ this year:

Both Keynotes from Meeting C++ 2015 are online!

by Jens Weller

From the article:

Great news: Since yesterday, both of the keynotes from this years Meeting C++ conference are on youtube! Both keynote speakers chose to speak on a specific topic, and delivered very well. There is also a playlist for Meeting C++ 2015.

Careful With That STL Map Insert, Eugene

By Adrien Hamelin | Dec 21, 2015 07:27 AM | Tags: performance intermediate

Some things are not as efficient as we thought:

Careful With That STL Map Insert, Eugene

by Aras Pranckevičius

From the article:

So we had this pattern in some of our code. Some sort of “device/API specific objects” need to be created out of simple “descriptor/key” structures. Think D3D11 rasterizer state or Metal pipeline state, or something similar to them...

Fun with folds--Nick Athanasiou

By Adrien Hamelin | Dec 16, 2015 02:41 PM | Tags: intermediate experimental

Everything is in the title:

Fun with folds

by Nick Athanasiou

From the article:

A fold is a higher order function (a function that has one or more function parameters and/or returns a function) that is recursively applied over a data structure...

Overload 130 is now available

By Felix Petriconi | Dec 13, 2015 12:18 PM | Tags: c++14 advanced

ACCU’s Overload journal of December 2015 is out. It contains the following C++ related articles.

Overload 130 / PDF

From the journal

Type Mosaicing with Consultables and Delegates

If several classes need to work together lots of boilerplate code is often needed. Nicolas Bouillot introduces type mosaicing to avoid this.

The Universality and Expressiveness of std::accumulate

Folding is a highly generic operation available through std::accumulate. Paul Keir goes beyond reduction, with the help of C++14’s polymorphic lambdas.

QM Bites – The two sides of Boolean Parameters

Boolean parameters are tempting but make life difficult. Matthew Wilson advises us to avoid them (almost) all the time.

Identify your Errors better with char[]

Error codes still get used instead of exceptions. Patrick Martin and Dietmar Kühl consider how to use char arrays for better information.

CPU Clocks and Clock Interrupts, and Their Effects on Schedulers

Instructions to sleep for a second almost never result in precisely one second’s sleep. Bob Schmidt walks us through the mechanics of why.

All Meeting C++ Lightning Talk videos are online

By Meeting C++ | Dec 11, 2015 09:03 AM | Tags: performance intermediate efficiency c++14 c++11 boost basics advanced

Meeting C++ just started a week ago, and I already managed to edit and upload all lightning talks:

Meeting C++ 2015 - all lightning talks are now online at youtube

by Jens Weller

From the article:

This year for the very first time we had lightning talks at the Meeting C++ conference. Two sessions with each 5 lightning talks were held...

Modern Asynchronous Request/Reply with DDS-RPC -- Sumant Tambe

By Blog Staff | Dec 9, 2015 08:27 AM | Tags: None

This article is considers lots of approaches to solving a concurrency problem, but of particular interest are the sections showing the power of the Concurrency TS future.then extension and the coroutines proposal:

Modern Asynchronous Request/Reply with DDS-RPC

by Sumant Tambe

From the article:

A quick look into N4402 reveals that the await feature relies on composable futures, especially .then (serial composition) combinator. The compiler does all the magic of transforming the asynchronous code to a state machine that manages suspension and resumption automatically. It is a great example of how compiler and libraries can work together producing a beautiful symphony.

... Indeed, this is truly an exciting time to be a C++ programmer.

First steps with Boost.Python--Stefano Saraulli

By Marco Arena | Dec 8, 2015 03:03 AM | Tags: intermediate boost

The basics of using Boost.Python:

First steps with Boost.Python

by Stefano Saraulli

From the article:

The Python interpreter can load modules written in C, compiled as dynamic libraries. Boost.Python helps, a lot, to prepare them. It joins the power of Boost and C++ with the ease of use of Python...

C++ Static Analysis using Clang -- Ehsan Akhgari

By Mantosh Kumar | Dec 7, 2015 06:33 PM | Tags: intermediate

How to write/use C++ static analyzer using Clang.

C++ Static Analysis using Clang

by Ehsan Akhgari

From the article:

Large code bases typically develop rules around how various code constructs should be used.  These rules help eliminate bugs resulting from common mistakes.  C++ gives programmers a good amount of power over enforcing such rules using the facilities that the language provides.  As a simple example, if you have a class that should not be inherited from, you can mark the class as final.

Typically one finds themselves in a situation where the language doesn’t provide an easy way to enforcey something.  In that case, the solution is typically enforcing the rules through documentation, code review, etc.  Besides the obvious downside of people making mistakes when checking for these rules, detecting violations of the some rules may be completely impractical.