Thanks to C++ on Sea for inviting me to speak in June! The talk video is now live, linked below. It was recorded just 48 hours after the Sofia meeting ended, with key updates hot off the press. Not…| Sutter’s Mill
A unique milestone: “Whole new language” Today marks a turning point in C++: A few minutes ago, the C++ committee voted the first seven (7) papers for compile-time reflection into draft…| Sutter’s Mill
I recently contributed a guest post on my employer’s blog about the importance of the almost-feature-complete C++26 draft standard: “Sea change in C++: Why opportunities abound” I…| Sutter’s Mill
For more background on safety and security issues related to C++, including definitions of “language safety” and “software security” and similar terms, see my March 2024 essay “C++ safety, in conte…| Sutter’s Mill
On Saturday, the ISO C++ committee completed the second-last design meeting of C++26, held in Hagenberg, Austria. There is just one meeting left before the C++26 feature set is finalized in June 2025 and draft C++26 is sent out for its international comment ballot (aka “Committee Draft” or “CD”), and C++26 is on track to … Continue reading Trip report: February 2025 ISO C++ standards meeting (Hagenberg, Austria)→| Sutter’s Mill
After my code::dive talk in November, the organizers also recorded an extra 9-minute interview that covered these questions: Here it is…| Sutter’s Mill
The Biden administration just issued another executive order (EO) on hardening U.S. cybersecurity. This is all great stuff. (*) (**) A lot of this EO is repeating the same things I urged in my essay nearly a year ago, “C++ safety — in context”… here’s a cut-and-paste of my “Call(s) to action” conclusion section I … Continue reading New U.S. executive order on cybersecurity→| Sutter’s Mill
Next week, on January 15, I’ll be speaking at the University of Waterloo, my alma mater. There’ll be a tech talk on key developments in C++ and why I think the language’s future over the next decade will be exciting, with lots of time allocated to a “fireside chat / interview” session for Q&A. The … Continue reading Speaking at University of Waterloo on January 15→| Sutter’s Mill
Less than two weeks from now, on January 13 I’ll be speaking at the New York C++ meetup in Midtown East (Clinton Hall at 230 E 51st Street). I’ll be giving a condensed update of my recent “Peering forward: C++’s next decade” talk, so that there’ll be plenty of time for Q&A — please have … Continue reading Speaking at New York C++ meetup on January 13→| Sutter’s Mill
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Two weeks ago, Bjarne and I and lots of ISO committee members had a blast at the code::dive C++ conference held on November 25, just two days after the end of the Wrocław ISO C++ meeting. Thanks again to Nokia for hosting the ISO meeting, and for inviting us all to speak at their conference! … Continue reading My code::dive talk video is available: New Q&A→| Sutter’s Mill
On Saturday, the ISO C++ committee completed the third-last design meeting of C++26, held in Wrocław, Poland. There are just two meetings left before the C++26 feature freeze in June 2025, and C++26 is on track to be completed two more meetings after that in early 2026. Implementations are closely tracking draft C++26; GCC and … Continue reading Trip report: November 2024 ISO C++ standards meeting (Wrocław, Poland)→| Sutter’s Mill
Starting today I’m excited to be working on a new team, with my C++ standards and community roles unchanged. I also wanted to write a few words about why I’m excited about continuing to invest my time heavily in C++’s standardization and evolution especially now, because I think 2024 has been a pivotal year for … Continue reading A new chapter, and thoughts on a pivotal year for C++→| Sutter’s Mill
In early September I had a very enjoyable technical chat with Steve Klabnik of Rust fame and interviewer Kevin Ball of Software Engineering Daily, and the podcast is now available. Update: I asked them to please change the “Rust vs C++” title to “Rust and C++” and they kindly did so. Thanks! Here’s the info…| Sutter’s Mill
Boy, Jens Weller turns these things around quickly! Thanks again, Jens, for having me on your Meeting C++ Live show. I’ve put a list of the questions, with timestamped links, below… All the questions and answers, with links 00:19 What are you up to with C++ currently / what keeps you excited? 04:04 Sean Baxter … Continue reading My AMA yesterday is up on YouTube→| Sutter’s Mill
Tomorrow I’ll be joining Jens Weller for a live AMA on “Meeting C++ online.” The coordinates are: I’m looking forward to your technical questions about C++26 evolution, cppfront, Rust, reflection, safety and security, concurrency and parallelism, and software in general… and optionally questions about SF/fantasy novels and cinema, but then I might ask some similar … Continue reading Live AMA tomorrow (Friday): Meeting C++ Online→| Sutter’s Mill
Yesterday I gave the opening talk at CppCon 2024 here in Aurora, CO, USA, on “Peering Forward: C++’s Next Decade.” Thanks to the wonderful folks at Bash Films and DigitalMedium pulling out all the stops overnight to edit and post the keynote videos as fast as possible, it’s already up on YouTube right now, below! … Continue reading My CppCon keynote yesterday is available on YouTube→| Sutter’s Mill
Here’s a super simple question: “How do I write a parameter that accepts any non-const std::istream argument? I just want an istream I can read from.” (This question isn’t limited to streams, but includes any similar type you have to modify/traverse to use.) Hopefully the answer will be super simple, too! So, before reading further: … Continue reading Reader Q&A: What’s the best way to pass an istream parameter?→| Sutter’s Mill
Over the winter and spring I spent a bunch of time building my essay “C++ safety, in context” and the related ACCU 2024 safety keynote, and on behind-the-scenes work toward improving C++ memory safety that you’ll be hearing more about in the coming months (including a lock-free data structure that’s wait-free and constant-time for nearly … Continue reading cppfront: Midsummer update→| Sutter’s Mill
On Saturday, the ISO C++ committee completed its fourth meeting of C++26, held in St Louis, MO, USA. Our host, Bill Seymour, arranged for high-quality facilities for our six-day meeting from Monday through Saturday. We had over 180 attendees, about two-thirds in-person and the others remote via Zoom, formally representing over 20 nations. At each … Continue reading Trip report: Summer ISO C++ standards meeting (St Louis, MO, USA)→| Sutter’s Mill
Also in April, I was interviewed by Jordi Mon Companys for Software Engineering Daily, and that interview was just published on the SE Daily podcast. Here is a copy of the page’s additional details, including a transcript link at bottom. The U.S. government recently released a report calling on the technical community to proactively reduce … Continue reading Podcast: Interview with Software Engineering Daily→| Sutter’s Mill
Many thanks to ACCU for inviting me back again this April. It was my first time back to ACCU (and only my second trip to Europe) since the pandemic began, and it was a delight to see many ACCUers in person again for the first time in a few years. I gave this talk, which … Continue reading April talk video posted: “Safety, Security, Safety[sic] and C/C++[sic]”→| Sutter’s Mill
On Friday, I sat down with Kevin Carpenter to do a short (12-min) interview about my ACCU talk coming up on April 17, and other topics. Apologies in advance for my voice quality: I’ve been sick with some bug since just after the Tokyo ISO meeting, and right after this interview I lost my voice … Continue reading Pre-ACCU interview video is live→| Sutter’s Mill
With the winter ISO meeting behind us, it’s onward into spring conference season! ACCU Conference 2024. On April 17, I’ll be giving a talk on C++’s current and future evolution, where I plan to talk about safety based on my recent essay “C++ safety, in context,” and progress updates on cppfront. I’m also looking forward … Continue reading Effective Concurrency course & upcoming talks→| Sutter’s Mill
I generally give one or two courses a year on C++ and related technologies. This year, on April 22-25, I’ll be giving a live online public course for four half-days, on the topic of high-performance low-latency coding in C++ — and the early registration discount is available for a few more days until this Thursday: Effective … Continue reading Effective Concurrency: Live online course in April→| Sutter’s Mill
My Thursday CppCon talk is now online. Note: There’s already a Reddit thread for it, so if you want to comment on the video I suggest you use that thread instead of creating a new one. At CppCon 2022, I argued for why we should try to make C++ 10x simpler and 50x safer, and this … Continue reading My new CppCon talk is on YouTube: “Cooperative C++ Evolution – Toward a TypeScript for C++”→| Sutter’s Mill
Thanks again to C++ Now for inviting me to speak this year in glorious Aspen, Colorado, USA! It was nice to see many old friends again there and make a few new ones too. The talk I gave there was just posted on YouTube, you can find it here: At CppCon 2022, I argued for … Continue reading My C++ Now 2023 talk is online: “A TypeScript for C++”→| Sutter’s Mill
A few days ago I recorded CppCast episode 357. Thanks to Timur Doumler and Phil Nash for inviting me on their show – and for continuing CppCast, which was so wonderfully founded by Rob Irving and Jason Turner! This time, we chatted about news in the C++ world, and then about my Cpp2 and cppfront … Continue reading Interview on CppCast→| Sutter’s Mill
Thanks again for all the bug reports and feedback for Cpp2 and cppfront! As I mentioned last weekend, I’ve started a wiki with “Design notes” about specific aspects of the design to answer why I’ve made them they way they currently are… basic rationale, alternatives considered, in a nutshell, as quick answers to common questions I encounter repeatedly. … Continue reading Weekend update: Operator and parsing design notes→| Sutter’s Mill
Thanks to everyone who has offered bug reports and constructive suggestions for Cpp2 and cppfront. To answer common questions I encounter repeatedly, I’ve started a wiki with “Design notes” about specific aspects of the design to answer why I’ve made them they way they currently are… basic rationale, alternatives considered, in a nutshell. There are … Continue reading Cpp2 design notes: UFCS, “const”, “unsafe”, and (yes) ABI→| Sutter’s Mill
[Edited to add pre-publication link to next draft of P2392, revision 2, and correct iterator comparison] Brief background As I presented at CppCon 2021 starting at 11:15, I’m proposing is (a general type or value query) and as (a general cast, for only the safe casts) for C++ evolution. The talk, and the ISO C++ … Continue reading Something I implemented today: “is void”→| Sutter’s Mill
It was great to see many of you at CppCon, in person and online! It was a really fun conference this year, and the exhibitor hall felt crowded again which was a good feeling as we all start traveling more again. The talk I gave on Friday is now on YouTube. In it I describe … Continue reading My CppCon 2022 talk is online: “Can C++ be 10x simpler & safer … ?”→| Sutter’s Mill
Whew — I’m now back from CppCon, after remembering how to travel. My talk video is now online. If you haven’t already seen this via JetBrains’ CppCon 2021 video page or the Reddit post, here’s a link: Please direct technical comments to the Reddit thread and I’ll watch for them there and respond to as … Continue reading My CppCon 2021 talk video is online→| Sutter’s Mill
This special Guru of the Week series focuses on contracts. Now that we have considered assertions, postconditions, and preconditions in GotWs #97-101, let’s pause and reflect: To what extent does a failed contract imply “UB”… either the Hidden Dragon of Undefined Behavior, or the Crouching Tiger of Unspecified Behavior? 1. Briefly, what is the difference … Continue reading GotW #102 Solution: Assertions and “UB” (Difficulty: 7/10)→| Sutter’s Mill
This special Guru of the Week series focuses on contracts. Now that we have considered assertions, postconditions, and preconditions in GotWs #97-101, let’s pause and reflect: To what extent does a failed contract imply “UB”… either the Hidden Dragon of Undefined Behavior, or the Crouching Tiger of Unspecified Behavior? JG Question 1. Briefly, what is … Continue reading GotW #102: Assertions and “UB” (Difficulty: 7/10)→| Sutter’s Mill
This special Guru of the Week series focuses on contracts. We covered some basics of preconditions in GotW #100. This time, let’s see how we can use preconditions in some practical examples… 1. Consider these functions, expanded from an article by Andrzej Krzemieński: [1] … How many ways could a caller of each function get … Continue reading GotW #101 Solution: Preconditions, Part 2 (Difficulty: 7/10)→| Sutter’s Mill
This special Guru of the Week series focuses on contracts. We covered some basics of preconditions in GotW #100. This time, let’s see how we can use preconditions in some practical examples… JG Question 1. Consider these functions, expanded from an article by Andrzej Krzemieński: [1] How many ways could a caller of each function … Continue reading GotW #101: Preconditions, Part 2 (Difficulty: 7/10)→| Sutter’s Mill
This special Guru of the Week series focuses on contracts. We’ve seen how postconditions are directly related to assertions (see GotWs #97 and #99). So are preconditions, but that in one important way makes them fundamentally different. What is that? And why would having language support benefit us even more for writing preconditions more than … Continue reading GotW #100 Solution: Preconditions, Part 1 (Difficulty: 8/10)→| Sutter’s Mill
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Davis Herring, Jens Maurer, Richard Smith, Krystian Stasiowski, and Ville Voutilainen, who are all ISO C++ committee core language experts, for helping make my answer bel…| Sutter’s Mill
Moments ago, the ISO C++ committee completed its third meeting of C++26, held in Tokyo, Japan. Our hosts, Woven by Toyota, arranged for high-quality facilities for our six-day meeting from Monday t…| Sutter’s Mill
Scope. To talk about C++’s current safety problems and solutions well, I need to include the context of the broad landscape of security and safety threats facing all software. I chair the ISO C++ s…| Sutter’s Mill
Since the year-end mini-update, progress has continued on cppfront. (If you don’t know what this personal project is, please see the CppCon 2022 talk on YouTube.) This update covers Acknowledg…| Sutter’s Mill
On Saturday, the ISO C++ committee completed technical work on C++23 in Issaquah, WA, USA! We resolved the remaining international comments on the C++23 draft, and are now producing the final docum…| Sutter’s Mill
As we close out 2022, I thought I’d write a short update on what’s been happening in Cpp2 and cppfront. If you don’t know what this personal project is, please see the CppCon 2022…| Sutter’s Mill
A few minutes ago, the ISO C++ committee completed its second-to-last meeting of C++23 in Kona, HI, USA. Our host, the Standard C++ Foundation, arranged for high-quality facilities for our six-day …| Sutter’s Mill
Today, the ISO C++ committee completed its second meeting of C++26, held in Kona, HI, USA. Our hosts, Standard C++ Foundation and WorldQuant, arranged for high-quality facilities for our six-day me…| Sutter’s Mill
Minutes ago, the ISO C++ committee finished its meeting in-person in Varna, Bulgaria and online via Zoom, where we formally began adopting features into C++26. Our hosts, VMware and Chaos, arranged…| Sutter’s Mill
Since the 2022-12-31 year-end mini-update and the 2023-04-30 spring update, progress has continued on cppfront. (If you don’t know what this personal project is, please see the CppCo…| Sutter’s Mill
On Monday, the ISO C++ committee held its third full-committee (plenary) meeting of the pandemic and adopted a few more features and improvements for draft C++23. We had representatives from 17 vot…| Sutter’s Mill
Today, the ISO C++ committee held its second full-committee (plenary) meeting of the pandemic and adopted a few more features and improvements for draft C++23. A record of 18 voting nations sent re…| Sutter’s Mill
Assertions have been a foundational tool for writing understandable computer code since we could write computer code… far older than C’s assert() macro, they go back to at least John von Neumann an…| Sutter’s Mill
On Monday, the ISO C++ committee completed its final full-committee (plenary) meeting of 2020 and adopted the first changes to the C++23 working draft, including a few new features. This was a firs…| Sutter’s Mill
A couple of interesting things happened in the ISO C++ world this week… C++20 passed unanimously, on track to publish later this year On Friday September 4, C++20’s DIS (Draft Internati…| Sutter’s Mill
C++ “move” semantics are simple, and unchanged since C++11. But they are still widely misunderstood, sometimes because of unclear teaching and sometimes because of a desire to view move…| Sutter’s Mill
A few minutes ago, the ISO C++ committee completed its final meeting of C++20 in Prague, Czech Republic. Our host, Avast Software, arranged for spacious and high-quality facilities for our six-day …| Sutter’s Mill
