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

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!

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.

CppCast Episode 38: Mesonbuild with Jussi Pakkanen

Episode 38 of CppCast the only podcast for C++ developers by C++ developers. In this episode Rob and Jason are joined by Jussi Pakkanen to discuss the Mesonbuild multiplatform build system for C++.

CppCast Episode 38: Mesonbuild with Jussi Pakkanen

by Rob Irving and Jason Turner

About the interviewee:

Jussi Pakkanen got his doctoral degree in computer science from the Helsinki University of Technology in 2006. Since then he has worked on various problem areas ranging from mail sorting to the software stacks of Ubuntu desktop and phone. Most recently he was the SDK lead developer at Jolla. Currently he is open for new development challenges. During his spare time he has been known to be a photographer, movie director, magician, gastronomist, computer game designer and watercolour painter.

boost 1.60.0 released

The boost community has released a new version of the boost library

boost 1.60.0

From the release note:

One new library was added:

VMD: Variadic Macro Data library, from Edward Diener.

Libraries with bug fixes and enhancements are:

Atomic
Chrono
Container
Context
Core
Filesystem
Flyweight
Fusion
Interprocess
Intrusive
Lexical Cast
Locale
Log
Move
Multi-index Container
odeint
Optional
Predef
Test
Thread
UUID

Support for Android CMake projects in Visual Studio--Ion Todirel

Discover a functionnality of Visual Studio:

Support for Android CMake projects in Visual Studio

by Ion Todirel

From the article:

CMake is a cross-platform project generator that enables reuse of shared C++ code across multiple IDE and project systems.

We made a change to CMake to support our Android toolchain in Visual Studio. With this change, you can take your existing CMake project targetting Android, and with minimal modifications, you can have it open in Visual Studio, and benefit from our rich IDE experience for Android...

Fun with folds--Nick Athanasiou

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

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

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...

CppCast Episode 37: Ranges with Eric Niebler

Episode 37 of CppCast the only podcast for C++ developers by C++ developers. In this episode Rob and Jason are joined by Eric Niebler to discuss his work on Ranges and the future of the Standard Library.

CppCast Episode 37: Ranges with Eric Niebler

by Rob Irving and Jason Turner

About the interviewee:

Eric Niebler is an independent consultant specializing in C++ library development. Currently, he is working on modernizing the C++ standard library and adding support for ranges, funded by the first-ever grant from the Standard C++ Foundation. Previously, Eric was a consultant for BoostPro computing, a member of Microsoft's Visual C++ team, and a Microsoft Researcher before that. In addition, he has several libraries in Boost and is a Boost release manager and steering committee member. Eric has been an active member of the C++ Standardization Committee for well over 10 years. He speaks regularly at C++ conferences around the world.

In a previous life, Eric drifted with no fixed address, writing C++ and blog entries from cafes and beaches around the world. Today, Eric is a family man living and working in the glorious Pacific Northwest near Seattle.