Video & On-Demand

CppCon 2023 Robots Are After Your Job: Exploring Generative AI for C++ -- Andrei Alexandrescu

cpp23-alexandrescu.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Robots Are After Your Job: Exploring Generative AI for C++

by Andrei Alexandrescu

Summary of the talk:

Almost a year since the launch of ChatGPT – considered by many as the first truly compelling code generator that translates free-form human language into code – the C++ community continues to grapple with the implications. Reactions range from indifference or skepticism to genuine concern about the future of human programmers.

Although some advanced C++ techniques are already accessible to tools like ChatGPT, certain fundamental aspects remain outside the reach of current and possibly next-generation generative AI tools. This disparity raises pivotal questions: Which parts of the intricate C++ ecosystem can we confidently delegate to generative AI? What uniquely human skills must we retain and refine?

We'll probe the potential and limits of contemporary AI, taking a novel look at the age-old binary search algorithm. Although this algorithm has long been held up as a paragon of efficiency, we challenge that notion. What would ChatGPT have to say about it, and how might it partner with us to refine this cornerstone of algorithmic logic? The conversation opens a window into a future where developers become the "one percenters" of programming—focusing solely on the most cerebral and high-level challenges, while AI takes care of the everyday tasks. Join us to explore this fascinating paradigm shift and reflect on what it means for your own work in and with C++.

CppCon 2023 Coping With Other People's C++ Code -- Laura Savino

cpp23-savino.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Plenary: Coping With Other People's C++ Code

by Laura Savino

Summary of the talk:

Sometimes we're fortunate enough to work with a small group of devs who share our coding values, and when we see their PRs come in, we nod along and say, "Yup, that's what I would have done. Oh, nice, that one's even better than my usual approach, I'd better tuck that idea away for next time."

This perfect alignment is precious... and particularly elusive in C++. Most of us are living in codebases that are profitable, complex, and updated in ways with which we have legitimate beef. How can we keep a sense of curiosity, progress, and satisfaction amidst patterns we would never have chosen?

This presentation explores the often-overlooked social aspects of C++ development, offering both practical tools and light-hearted commiseration. We'll draw from the field of behavior science to build strategies that address conflicting design patterns and the strong opinions that come with them.

CppCon 2023 Writing a Better std::move -- Jonathan Müller

cpp23-muller.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Lightning Talk: Writing a Better std::move

by Jonathan Müller

Summary of the talk:

std::move allows the creation of const rvalue references, which is almost always wrong. It also allows moving out of lvalue references, which can be dangerous since you don't have real ownership over them and a caller might not expect the object to disappear. Let's fix those problems using macros, reflection, and more macros.

CppCon 2023 Linkers, Loaders and Shared Libraries in Windows, Linux, and C++ -- Ofek Shilon

cpp23-shilon.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Linkers, Loaders and Shared Libraries in Windows, Linux, and C++

by Ofek Shilon

Summary of the talk:

This talk would give a crash-intro to linkers, loaders and the layout of program binaries, and explore just enough internals to understand some observable differences in C++ builds between Linux and Windows.

We will discuss the GOT, the PLT, symbol visibility, interposition, lazy binding and more. There will be a lot of details, but also a lot of 'why's and opinions.

We will also touch/rant on what the C++ standard has to say on adjacent matters. There's a good chance you've heard before "shared libraries are outside the scope of the standard", but it doesn't mean what you think it does.

CppCon 2023 Libraries: A First Step Toward Standard C++ Dependency Mgmt--Bret Brown & Bill Hoffman

cpp23-brown.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Plenary: Libraries - A First Step Toward Standard C++ Dependency Management

by Bret Brown & Bill Hoffman

Summary of the talk:

Prebuilt libraries have existed for decades… they even predate C++! After all these years, techniques to use prebuilt libraries are still ad hoc and difficult to maintain. A root cause of this variety of techniques is the variety of things that are C++ libraries: header-only libraries, statically-linked archives, dynamically-linked binaries, and so on. The consuming projects need to build against these libraries in consistent ways or risk unproductive workflows – and potentially, even catastrophic failure in production environments. This lack of convergence creates enormous interoperability problems across broad portions of the worldwide programming ecosystem, not just the C++ parts of it.

This talk will explore the complexities of defining what is a “C++ library.” It will then present the joint work of Kitware, Bloomberg, and others toward a preliminary design for creating initial standards for dependency management in C++ – metadata files to describe prebuilt libraries. A roadmap for maturing the design will also be shared, including proposing a standard definition for C++ libraries, building on previous proposals such as P1313: Package Specification (https://wg21.link/P1313).

This talk is intended for anyone who produces, maintains, or consumes C++ libraries. Special knowledge of C++ tooling, build systems, or package managers is not required.

Sean Baxter: Safe C++

Sean Baxter demonstrates memory safe C++ using his Circle compiler

Safe C++
Sean Baxter

From the talk:

Does a subset of a superset of C++ exists that achieves similar safety guarantees to rust, is useful and expressive enough, and is compatible with today's C++? If so, is anyone mad enough to do it? There is an answer to that

CppCon 2023 Let's Fix Sparse Linear Algebra with C++. It'll Be Fun and Easy! -- Benjamin Brock

cpp23-brock.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Lightning Talk: Let's Fix Sparse Linear Algebra with C++. It'll Be Fun and Easy!

by Benjamin Brock

Summary of the talk:

Sparse linear algebra is hard.  There are a large variety of different sparse linear algebra formats, and they all require obtuse index arithmetic in order to use.  But what if we could fix this?  In this talk, I'll present an idea for "fixing sparse linear algebra" using customization points, the ranges library, and high-level multi-dimensional iteration.

CppCon 2023 Implementing Coroutines Using C++17 -- Alon Wolf

cpp23-wolf.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Lightning Talk: Implementing Coroutines Using C++17

by Alon Wolf 

Summary of the talk:

In this lightning talk, we will explore the journey of implementing coroutines in C++17 before they were added to the language in C++20.

The implementation uses macros, template metaprogramming, assembly functions, and more that resulting in working coroutines despite somewhat "horrible" code.

Discover how local variables within the coroutine body were leveraged to calculate frame sizes and ensure correct variable lifetimes during suspension, resumption, and destruction.

CppCon 2023 C++ Memory Model: from C++11 to C++23 -- Alex Dathskovsky

cpp23-dathskovsky.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

C++ Memory Model: from C++11 to C++23

by Alex Dathskovsky

Summary of the talk:

In the realm of C++ development, threading and memory management play a crucial role in crafting highly parallel and optimized programs. However, the absence of a memory model in C++98 posed challenges. Thankfully, with the advent of C++11, significant changes were introduced, including the introduction of a memory model, which brought forth a plethora of new and exciting tools for developers to leverage. This talk aims to delve into the realm of the C++ memory model, showcasing the arsenal of tools at our disposal. Attendees will gain insights into how CPUs and compilers optimize code and understand the criticality of adhering to the memory model correctly. Practical guidelines on utilizing these tools effectively will also be explored.

Throughout the talk, we will illustrate practical examples and share best practices for utilizing the diverse set of tools now available to us. From atomic operations to memory barriers, we will explore the range of techniques that allow us to develop robust and thread-safe code.

This talk will also illustrate the newer tools from newer C++ standards like JThread and so this talk will show how memory model is used and how it advanced since C++11.

CppCon 2023 Help! My Expression Template Type Names Are Too Long! -- Braden Ganetsky

cpp23-ganetsky.pngRegistration is now open for CppCon 2024! The conference starts on September 15 and will be held in person in Aurora, CO. To whet your appetite for this year’s conference, we’re posting videos of some of the top-rated talks from last year's conference. Here’s another CppCon talk video we hope you will enjoy – and why not register today for CppCon 2024!

Lightning Talk: Help! My Expression Template Type Names Are Too Long!

by Braden Ganetsky 

Summary of the talk:

Even the name of this talk is too long! If we're ever working with expression templates, we can easily make type names long enough to slow down compilation time. Suddenly our "zero-overhead" expression templates start giving a large compile time overhead. I'll show off a C++20 trick to fix this problem.