A brief introduction to C++’s model for type- and resource-safety -- Stroustrup, Sutter, Dos Reis
A new paper has been posted to the CppCoreGuidelines /docs folder:
A brief introduction to C++’s model for type- and resource-safety
by Bjarne Stroustrup, Herb Sutter, and Gabriel Dos Reis
The goal of the paper is to provide a readable high-level overview of C++'s existing resource handling model and the extension of that for type safety that was announced at CppCon. A more detailed treatment of lifetime safety (avoiding leaks and dangling) can be found in Herb Sutter's CppCon talk (YouTube) (Channel 9) and Lifetime paper.
From the paper:
Abstract
You can write C++ programs that are statically type safe and have no resource leaks. You can do that without loss of performance and without limiting C++’s expressive power. This model for type- and resource-safe C++ has been implemented using a combination of ISO standard C++ language facilities, static analysis, and a tiny support library (written in ISO standard C++). This supports the general thesis that garbage collection is neither necessary nor sufficient for quality software. This paper describes the techniques used to eliminate dangling pointers and to ensure resource safety. Other aspects – also necessary for safe and effective use of C++ – have conventional solutions so they are mentioned only briefly here.
The techniques and facilities presented are supported by the Core C++ Guidelines [Stroustrup,2015] and enforced by a static analysis tool for those [Sutter,2015].
CppCon 2015's inspiring endnote video is now available below. This is last of the rush-processed plenary sessions posted quickly (see the Video feed for the others). Of course, there'll be more: Like last year, all the sessions, panels, and lightning talks were professionally recorded and will be available online worldwide for free, but processing well over 100 videos is a lot of work and it will take about a month before they can be available; your patience is appreciated.