Persisting C++ Classes in Relational Databases with ODB

by Boris Kolpackov

(watch on YouTube) (watch on Channel 9)

ODB is an open source, cross-platform and cross-database (SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MS SQL Server, Oracle) object-relational mapping (ORM) system for C++. It allows you to persist C++ objects to a relational database without having to deal with tables, columns, or SQL, and without manually writing any mapping code.

In the first part of this two-part talk we will cover the basics of transactionally persisting, loading, updating, and deleting simple C++ classes in a database as well as querying the database for objects. We will then look into persisting C++ classes that have more interesting data members, such as containers and pointers to objects, or that form a polymorphic hierarchy. Support for C++11, Qt, and Boost value types, containers, and smart pointers will also be covered.

Targeting 5 different database systems at the same time may sound like a daunting task but as we will see it is not that hard with ODB. Life would also be a lot easier if our C++ classes never changed. The next best thing is to have comprehensive tooling support. So we will conclude the first half with a discussion of database schema evolution and its support in ODB.

the asynchronous library

by Christophe Henry

An infrastructure library on which Boost Meta State Machine can build. This will be provided by the Asynchronous library: Active Objects, proxies, threadpools, parallelization algorithms, work-stealing, distributed programming...

How HHVM Uses Modern C++ for Fun and Profit (Literally)

by Drew Paroski

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HHVM is a just-in-time compiler for PHP used by Facebook to serve billions of requests each day. This talk will give a quick overview of HHVM's history and architecture, followed by a deep dive into what made C++ the language of choice for writing HHVM.

C++ hits a sweet spot between performance and control on one end, and safety, maintainability, and convenience on the other.

The topics we’ll cover will include:
how to call into generated machine code from C++;
taking advantage of C++'s power to control "unsafe" details with memory including how memory is allocated, field size and layout, unions, reinterpret_casts, bit-stealing;
integrating generated machine code with C++ exception handling and C++ profiling tools;
leveraging templates and using the X Macro technique to improve performance and maintainability;
and taking advantage of new C++11 features like unrestricted unions and move constructors.
Finally, we'll go over some obstacles we encountered such as generating machine code that calls C++ virtual methods, and how C++'s superb flexibility allowed us to work around these obstacles.

Modernizing Legacy C++ Code

by James McNellis and Kate Gregory

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C++ is a programming language with a long, storied history spanning over three decades--four if one includes its C ancestry. The C++ language has undergone many changes during that time, compiler technology has advanced substantially, and computers today are very different from the computers of decades past. But despite all of these advances, there's an awful lot of C++ code in use today that looks like it was written in the 1980s. In some cases, the code was written in the 1980s and it's still in use; in other cases, it's recently-written code that just doesn't use modern style.

In this talk, we'll discuss some of the problems with legacy code, and review some practical techniques for applying principles of modern C++ to gradually improve the quality of legacy code and improve maintainability and debuggability. We'll show how some very small changes to code can yield huge benefits.

Writing Data Parallel Algorithms on GPUs

by Ade Miller

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Today most PCs, tablets and phones support multi-core processors and most programmers have some familiarity with writing (task) parallel code. Many of those same devices also have GPUs but writing code to run on a GPU is harder. Or is it?

Getting to grips with GPU programming is really about understanding things in a data parallel way. This talk will look at some of the common patterns for implementing algorithms on today's GPUs using examples from the C++ AMP Algorithms Library. Along the way it will cover some of the unique aspects of writing code for GPUs and contrast them with a more conventional code running on a CPU.

Designing value classes for modern C++

by Mark Mutz

C++11 is now widely available, and so is C++14. Like for users of the language, C++11/14 is a new language for C++ library writers, too. In this talk, we will walk you through the new C++ features that impact class design...

Sqlpp11, An EDSL For Type-Safe SQL In C++

by Roland Bock

Most C/C++ interfaces to SQL databases are string based. Theses strings effectively hide expression structures, names and types from the compiler. And they are vendor-specific. And they defer expression parsing and validation until the test phase or (even worse) production...

Back to the Basics! Essentials of Modern C++ Style

by Herb Sutter

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This talk revisits basic questions, such as how to declare and initialize a variable, how to pass a value to a function, how to write a simple loop, and how to use smart pointers, in the light of experience with C++11 and the latest C++14 refinements. This involves examining auto, rvalue references, range-for loops, uniform initialization, lambda expressions, unique_ptr and shared_ptr, and more.

Objects? No Thanks!

by Wouter van Ooijen

Micro-controller programming can benefit from compile-time polymorphism without paying a run-time price by using static class templates...

Paying for Lunch: C++ in the ManyCore Age

moderated by Herb Sutter, with Pablo Halpern, Jared Hoberock, Artur Laksberg, Ade Miller, Gor Nishanov and Michael Wong.

(watch on YouTube) (watch on Channel 9)

Concurrency is one of the major focuses of C++17 and one of the biggest challenges facing C++ programmers today. Hear what this panel of experts has to say about how to write concurrent C++ now and in the future.