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Editorial Policy

This page documents the editorial policy and guidelines for isocpp.org blog posts.

Overview and Goals

isocpp.org publishes links to quality content about modern C++. Our goal is to share correct and current information that will be interesting and useful to working C++ developers, and especially to draw attention to modern best practices.

What We Post

We want to link to content that meets the following criteria:

  • It’s about modern C++ (not C++98 or C).
  • It’s correct and recommends modern C++ best practices (not dated practices, or questionable “cute” practices).
  • It’s of broad interest to many working C++ developers (not limited to a small niche).
  • It’s high quality and well written.

Here are some examples:

  • Articles, tips, and experience reports. Example: How to migrate a code base from C or C++98 to modern C++.
  • Questions and answers. Example: A StackOverflow item that has a good question of probable broad interest such as something a lot of people may wonder or run up against, and a quality answer where the selected and/or most-upvoted answers recommend correct and appropriate solutions.
  • Significant releases of products and tools. The announcement should be both technical and clear about how the product is relevant to C++ developers and C++ code. Examples: A new major version of an open source C++ library; a new address/thread sanitizer release with examples of how they apply to C++ code; a tutorial on how to use a new product release in C++.
  • Updates about upcoming public events. Example: When a C++ conference opens its call for submissions, or provides new session information.
  • High-quality recordings of good talks about using C++.

What We Don't Post

Here are some counterexamples – things we don’t want because they are off-topic or not the best use of our readers' limited attention:

  • Content that isn’t about C++. Example: Articles about preprocessor techniques in C are probably not of interest because there are nearly always better solutions in C++.
  • Content that isn’t of significant usefulness or importance. Example: Minor bug-fix updates to libraries and other products.
  • Content that isn’t of broad applicability. Example: A niche library that is only of interest in a very narrow domain or environment.
  • Content that is low-quality. Example: A talk video where a significant part of the advice is questionable and/or the recording quality is low (hard to see and/or hear).
  • Product marketing press releases. See above for what is wanted. An product announcement should not just be marketing-speak. Example: Announcements that contain executive quotes or customer testimonial quotes are almost guaranteed to be rejected as marketing PR. (General note about marketing to software developers in any language: If you want to engage with a developer community, a great way is to have a developer-oriented blog where each post is written by one of your developers talking to the reader as a fellow developer and talking about how to solve a technical programming problem. Example: Facebook Engineering Blog.)

Q&A

Q: Most of the links we post are to recent articles and events. Do we link to blogs and articles that are not recent but still valuable?

A: Yes. We mostly link to new items, but there is also other good content that is worth drawing people’s attention to, including from months ago that we didn’t link to and especially before late 2012 when this site started. When we post to things that aren’t immediately new, we usually use words like “In case you missed it” (example), “Classic StackOverflow” (example), or similar. There’s no limit on good content, whether “hot off the press” or “classics / good reminders.”

For example, we encourage editors to occasionally check out StackOverflow’s all-time most frequently viewed C++ posts and most highly upvoted C++ posts, and post links to some of these to give them even more visibility. (Note: These particular queries use “[c++] or [c++11] or [c++14] or [c++-concepts]” but feel free to customize further with other tags.) There is a lot of good content and useful reminders out there, and by publishing links to the good ones we help draw attention to quality material, whether written this morning or months or even years ago.

Q: As an editor, how can I see whether isocpp.org has linked to a specific item before, so that I don’t create a duplicate post?

A: Use site search – either the search bar on isocpp.org or a websearch restricted to “site:isocpp.org” – and search for a quoted “key phrase” from the article title. That should find it, because the original article title is sure to be included in the body of the blog post.

Q: Do we link to things that aren’t directly related to mainstream production C++, such as esoteric C++ techniques, C++ "tricks," or language-neutral articles about Category Theory?

A: Occasionally, no, and no, respectively. We link to material that is directly related to C++, and we want a balanced mix of introductory/intermediate/advanced articles – think “what working modern C++ programmers should know and would be interested in.” So we will occasionally link to material on esoteric C++ techniques, but not too often because we want to maintain the site's overall content balance. We do not link to material about “tricks” that abuse the language. And C++-unrelated content like Category Theory would be more appropriately linked to elsewhere, such as a suitable sub-Reddit or on Lambda the Ultimate, rather than at isocpp.org.