Celebrating 30-th anniversary of the first C++ compiler: let's find bugs in it

By Andrey Karpov | Nov 5, 2015 01:57 AM | Tags: None

The idea to check Cfront occurred to me after reading an article, devoted to the 30-th anniversary of the first Release version of this compiler: "30 YEARS OF C++".

Celebrating 30-th anniversary of the first C++ compiler: let's find bugs in it

by Andrey Karpov, Bjarne Stroustrup

From the article:

Bjarne warned me that checking Cfront could be troublesome: "Please remember this is *very* old software designed to run on a 1MB 1MHz machine and also used on original PCs (640KB). It was also done by one person (me) as only part of my full time job".

Announcing Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 – standalone C++ tools for build environments--Marian Luparu

By Adrien Hamelin | Nov 4, 2015 03:18 PM | Tags: experimental

You can now compile using Visual C++ without Visual Studio:

Announcing Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 – standalone C++ tools for build environments

by Marian Luparu

From the article:

Together with the availability of Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 RC, we’re also announcing a new way of acquiring the C++ tools: as a standalone installer that only lays down the tools required to build C++ projects without installing the Visual Studio IDE. This new installer is meant to streamline the delivery of the C++ build tools in your build environments and continuous-integration systems.

CppCon: Announcing 2016 Dates

By Adrien Hamelin | Nov 4, 2015 03:14 PM | Tags: community

It has been announced: it will be on the week of September the 18th:

CppCon: Announcing 2016 Dates

C++ User Group Meetings in November

By Meeting C++ | Nov 2, 2015 08:18 AM | Tags: community

The montly overview on upcoming C++ User Group Meetings:

23 C++ User Group meetings in November

by Jens Weller

The list:

    4.11 C++ UG Saint Louis - Unit Test++, Scott Meyers "gotchas", group exercise
    4.11 C++ UG Washington, DC - Q & A / Info Sharing
    4.11 C++ UG Austin - OpenMP
    9.11 C++ UG Edinburgh - C++ Edinburgh
    9.11 C++ UG Zentralschweiz - Coding Dojo
    11.11 C++ UG Utah - Regular Monthly Meeting
    11.11 C++ UG San Francisco/ Bay area - Presentation and Q&A
    12.11 C++ UG NRW/Aachen - Variadic Templates und TMP ohne Rekursion
    12.11 C++ UG Dresden - User perspektive on Catch
    16.11 C++ UG Austin - North Austin Monthly C/C++ Pub Social
    17.11 C++ UG Berlin - November Meetup
    17.11 C++ UG Hamburg - OpenCL
    18.11 C++ UG San Francisco/ Bay area - Workshop and Discussion Group
    18.11 C++ UG Warsaw - LLVM a jakość i bezpieczeństwo oprogramowania
    18.11 C++ UG Washington, DC - Q & A / Info Sharing
    18.11 C++ UG Bristol - Thomas Guest
    18.11 C++ UG Düsseldorf - Lightning Talks
    18.11 C++ UG North West/Seattle - CppCon Keynote - Bjarne Stroustrup
    18.11 C++ UG Sacramento - Sacramento Area C++, First Meetup
    25.11 C++ UG San Francisco/ Bay area - Workshop and Discussion Group
    26.11 C++ UG Rhein-Neckar - C++11/C++14 loops of fun
    26.11 C++ UG Bremen - C++ User Group
    26.11 C++ UG Munich - Lightning Talks

CLion 1.2 is released

By Anastasia Kazakova | Nov 2, 2015 06:54 AM | Tags: None

CLion 1.2 is released with Google Test support, CMake live templates and variables completion, C++ parser and debugger performance improvements, and many other features on board.

CLion 1.2 is here!

by Anastasia Kazakova

From the article

This release covers various essentials of the software development process: unit testing, writing CMake files, working with version control, general IDE look & feel and beyond. Read on for more details.

It's also aligned with updates for other desktop products that comprise JetBrains Toolbox, that in addition makes CLion available within the All products pack.

New updates of CppHints.com, service of recommendations on C++ programming from PVS-Studio team

By Andrey Karpov | Nov 2, 2015 06:03 AM | Tags: intermediate errors bugs basics

New updates of C++Hints, service of recommendations on C++ programming

Changes in CppHints.com

by PVS-Studio Team

We got a lot of positive feedback from our readers and continue developing the C++Hints project. We have also answered two requests, that we saw quite often in the letters:

• The RSS feed is added (http://cpphints.com/rss)
• The up-to-date full list of hints is created at: http://cpphints.com/archive

By this moment we have published the following articles:

• Why incorrect code works
• Don't forget that the loop termination conditions are always evaluated completely
• Undefined behavior is closer than you think
• Visual C++ and wprintf() function
• Use a prefix increment operator (++i) in iterators instead of a postfix (i++) operator
• Avoid using a macro if you can use a simple function
• Don't name functions "empty"
• Hot on the heels
• Make your code more stable
• Insidious VARIANT_BOOL
• Do not compare 'this' to nullptr anymore
• Use the keyword "override" when overriding virtual functions
• Evaluate the string literal length automatically
• Do not use #pragma warning(default:X)
• Table-style formatting (continuation)
• Make sure you work with data in streams the right way
• Delegating constructors make life easier
• Use dedicated functions to clear private data
• Table-style formatting
• Don't spare code lines
• Start using enum class in your code, if possible
• A good compiler and coding style aren't always enough
• When using Copy-Paste, be especially careful with the last lines
• Don't try to squeeze as many operations as possible in one line
• Use the '\0' literal for the terminal null character
• Avoid using multiple small #ifdef blocks
• Beware of throwing exceptions in destructors
• Check all the fragments where a pointer is explicitly cast to integer types
• Do not call the alloca() function inside loops
• Don't Do the Compiler's Job
• Use available tools to analyze your code
• Larger than 0 does not mean 1
• Copy once, check thrice
• Beware of the ?: operator and enclose it in parentheses

An introduction to C++'s SFINAE concept -- Jean Guegant

By Felix Petriconi | Nov 2, 2015 12:49 AM | Tags: c++14 c++11 advanced

Jean Guegant describes in a very detailed way different implementation stategies of compile-time introspection of a class member for C++98, C++11 and C++14.

An introduction to C++'s SFINAE concept: compile-time introspection of a class member

by Jean Guegant

From the article:

As a C++ enthusiast, I usually follow the annual C++ conference cppconf or at least try to keep myself up-to-date with the major events that happen there. One way to catch up, if you can't afford a plane ticket or the ticket, is to follow the youtube channel dedicated to this conference. This year, I was impressed by Louis Dionne talk entitled "C++ Metaprogramming: A Paradigm Shift". One feature called is_valid that can be found in Louis's Boost.Hana library particulary caught my attention. This genious is_valid function heavily rely on an even more "magic" C++ programming technique coined with the term SFINAE discovered at the end of the previous century. If this acronym doesn't speak to you, don't be scared, we are going to dive straight in the subject.

Happy Halloween: C++ and zombies

By Meeting C++ | Oct 31, 2015 08:28 AM | Tags: intermediate c++11 advanced

Happy Halloween!

C++ and Zombies: A moving question

by Jens Weller

From the article:

And that there are two fractions, one of them stating, that it is ok to have well defined zombies, while some people think that you'd better kill them...

Meeting C++ is sold out!

By Meeting C++ | Oct 29, 2015 04:42 AM | Tags: community

Yesterday, the last avaiable ticket for Meeting C++ was sold!

Meeting C++ 2015 is sold out

by Jens Weller

From the article

In the beginning of October I decided to add 50 additional tickets to this years Meeting C++...

Random Acts of Optimization --Tony Albrecht

By Mantosh Kumar | Oct 29, 2015 01:16 AM | Tags: performance efficiency

Discussion regarding systematic approach to go about optimization of logic.

Random Acts of Optimization

by Tony Albrecht

From the article:

The three stages mentioned here, while seemingly obvious, are all too often overlooked when programmers seek to optimize. Just to reiterate:

    1. Identification: profile the application and identify the worst performing parts.
    2. Comprehension: understand what the code is trying to achieve and why it is slow.
    3. Iteration: change the code based on step 2 and then re-profile. Repeat until fast enough.

The solution above is not the fastest possible version, but it is a step in the right direction—the safest path to performance gains is via iterative improvements.