intermediate : Standard C++

Boost 1.56.0 has been released

These open-source libraries work well with the C++ Standard Library, and are usable across a broad spectrum of applications.
The Boost license encourages both commercial and non-commercial use.

This release contains one new library and numerous enhancements and bug fixes for existing libraries.

This is the first release since November of last year, and the last one since Boost migrated from a monolithic Subversion repository to modularized git repositories on github.com. The end users should see no change though, since the archives have the same layout as previous releases.

Read the full announcement for all the details, and for download links.

A Clang edition of the C++11/14 Rocks book is now available

By Blog Staff | Aug 1, 2014 01:22 PM | Tags: intermediate basics

Korban's C++11/14 feature overview book now has a Clang edition, in addition to VS2013 and GCC:

Clang Edition of the C++11/14 Rocks Book

by Alex Korban

From the announcement:

Do you use Clang to compile C++? Would you like to know all about the C++11 and C++14 language features it supports?

You can read about them in the new edition of my C++11/14 Rocks book tailored to Clang.

...

For those who have the GCC edition of the book: you’ll already be familiar with all the C++11 content as GCC also has full C++11 support. However, the Clang edition has full C++14 coverage instead of an overview.

Inline Functions -- Andrzej Krzemieński

By Blog Staff | Jul 14, 2014 08:18 AM | Tags: intermediate

Today from Andrzej:

Inline Functions

by Andrzej Krzemieński

From the article:

Inlining functions can improve or worsen your program’s performance (however you define ‘performance’). It has been described in detail in Herb Sutter’s GotW #33. Compiler can decide to inline your function, even if it was not declared inline and conversely: it can decide not to inline it even if it is declared inline. So, you might be tempted to think that declaring functions as inline has no useful portable meaning in C++. This is not so. I have found inline functions useful, and its usefulness has nothing to do with inlining...

Async Programming in Qt/C++ Using Tasks and Continuation -- mhogomchungu

By Blog Staff | Jul 14, 2014 04:02 AM | Tags: intermediate experimental

Recently @GitHub:

Async Programming in Qt/C++ Using Tasks and Continuation

by mhogomchungu

From the repo notes:

This project is inspired by this video on channel9

The project seeks to do async based programming in Qt/C++ using modern C++ with lambdas.

A Cheat Sheet for HTTP Libraries in C++ -- Vladimir

By Blog Staff | Jul 11, 2014 08:37 AM | Tags: intermediate

Recently on Kukuruku:

A Cheat Sheet for HTTP Libraries in C++

By Vladimir

From the article:

... I decided to make a cheat sheet with examples of HTTP requests in C++ using different libraries. I guess Kukuruku is the best place for keeping such cheat sheets.

We’re going to take a look at the following libraries:

WinInet

WinHttp

Casablanca

Qt

POCO

wxWidgets

Boost.Asio

libcurl

neon

.NET (С++/CLI)

IXMLHTTPRequest

HappyHttp

cpp-netlib

Erasing the Concrete -- K-ballo

By Blog Staff | Jul 8, 2014 11:53 PM | Tags: intermediate

Have you heard of "type erasure"?

Erasing the Concrete

by K-ballo

From the article:

Type erasure is any technique in which a single type can be used to represent a wide variety of types that share a common interface. In the C++ lands, the term type-erasure is strongly associated with the particular technique that uses templates in the interface and dynamic polymorphism in the implementation.

A union is the simplest form of type erasure.

It is bounded, and all participating types have to be mentioned at the point of declaration.

A void pointer is a low-level form of type erasure. Functionality is provided by pointers to functions that operate on void* after casting it back to the appropriate type.

It is unbounded, but type unsafe.

Virtual functions offer a type safe form of type erasure. The underlying void and function pointers are generated by the compiler.

It is unbounded, but intrusive.

Has reference semantics.

A template based form of type erasure provides a natural C++ interface. The implementation is built on top of dynamic polymorphism.

It is unbounded and unintrusive.

Has value semantics.

C++11 Final Override -- 741MHz

By Blog Staff | Jul 8, 2014 10:39 PM | Tags: intermediate basics

A good article posted last year and making the rounds again this week:

C++11 Final Override

by 741MHz

From the article:

C++11 introduces two important keywords in relation to polymorphism and inheritance — the override and final. Using those keywords should become a habit of any C++ developer. It is worth using every time except when writing a base class. This will make the code clear, maintainable, and potentially save hours that would have been otherwise wasted chasing an error in debugger.

The Drawbacks of Implementing Move Assignment in Terms of Swap -- Scott Meyers

By Blog Staff | Jun 24, 2014 12:02 PM | Tags: performance intermediate efficiency

Hot off the Meyers press: How would you implement move, and why? Scott Meyers explains two related issues:

The Drawbacks of Implementing Move Assignment in Terms of Swap

by Scott Meyers

From the article:

More and more, I bump into people who, by default, want to implement move assignment in terms of swap. This disturbs me, because (1) it's often a pessimization in a context where optimization is important, and (2) it has some unpleasant behavioral implications as regards resource management.

Effective Modern C++ due October, preview in early July -- Scott Meyers

By Blog Staff | Jun 24, 2014 07:44 AM | Tags: intermediate

Scott Meyers' highly anticipated new book Effective Modern C++ is on the way:

Effective Modern C++ Status Report

by Scott Meyers

From the announcement:

In recent days, two major milestones for Effective Modern C++ have been achieved. First, I sent a draft of the book's Introduction out for technical review. That was the last part of the book to be written, so I finally have a full draft manuscript. Second, I received an image of the book cover from my publisher, so I now know what the book will look like.

...

Early October: Digital versions of the book become available.

Late October: Print versions of the book become available.

If you're dying to see what's in the book, and you don't mind dealing with a manuscript that's in draft form (and hence contains technical errors, awkward prose, Item titles in need of revision, primitive diagrams, confusing explanations, and, I hope, some stuff in decent shape), Effective Modern C++ will be part of O'Reilly's Early Release Program, meaning you'll have a chance to see the book in the same form as my technical reviewers. You'll also be able to offer comments on it. As things stand now, the book is slated to be available in Early Release form the week of July 7th.