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Bjarne Stroustrup - The Essence of C++ With Examples in C++84, C++98, C++11, and C++14

The document outlines the key aspects and features of C++, emphasizing its design goals such as type safety, resource management, and performance. It discusses the language's evolution through various standards (C++84, C++98, C++11, and C++14) and highlights its suitability for systems programming and resource-constrained applications. Additionally, it covers concepts like object-oriented programming, templates, and resource management techniques like RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization).

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
21 views64 pages

Bjarne Stroustrup - The Essence of C++ With Examples in C++84, C++98, C++11, and C++14

The document outlines the key aspects and features of C++, emphasizing its design goals such as type safety, resource management, and performance. It discusses the language's evolution through various standards (C++84, C++98, C++11, and C++14) and highlights its suitability for systems programming and resource-constrained applications. Additionally, it covers concepts like object-oriented programming, templates, and resource management techniques like RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization).

Uploaded by

Vit
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 64

The Essence of C++

with examples in C++84, C++98, C++11, and C++14

Bjarne Stroustrup
Texas A&M University
www.stroustrup.com
Overview
• Aims and constraints
• C++ in four slides
• Resource management
• OOP: Classes and Hierarchies
– (very briefly)
• GP: Templates
– Requirements checking
• Challenges

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 3


What did/do I want?
• Type safety
– Encapsulate necessary unsafe operations
• Resource safety
– It’s not all memory
• Performance
– For some parts of almost all systems, it’s important
• Predictability
– For hard and soft real time
• Teachability
– Complexity of code should be proportional to the complexity of the task
• Readability
– People and machines (“analyzability”)
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 4
Who did/do I want it for?
• Primary concerns
– Systems programming
– Embedded systems
– Resource constrained systems
– Large systems

• Experts
– “C++ is expert friendly”
• Novices
– C++ Is not just expert friendly

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 5


Template What is C++? Class hierarchies
meta-programming!
A hybrid language
A multi-paradigm
Buffer
programming language
overflows

It’s C!
Classes
Embedded systems
Too big! programming language

Low level!
Generic programming
An object-oriented
programming language A random collection
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13
of features 6
C++
A light-weight abstraction
programming language

Key strengths:
• software infrastructure
• resource-constrained applications
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 7
Programming Languages

Domain-specific
abstraction
General-purpose abstraction
Fortran

Cobol Simula Java

C++ C++11
Direct mapping to
hardware
C#
Assembler BCPL C

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 8


What does C++ offer?
• Not perfection
– Of course
• Not everything for everybody
– Of course
• A solid fundamental model
– Yes, really
• 30+ years of real-world “refinement”
– It works
• Performance
– A match for anything
• The best is buried in “compatibility stuff’’
– long-term stability is a feature

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 9


What does C++ offer?
• C++ in Four slides
– Map to hardware
– Classes
– Inheritance
– Parameterized types

• If you understand int and vector, you understand C++


– The rest is “details” (1,300+ pages of details)
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 10
Map to Hardware
• Primitive operations => instructions
– +, %, ->, [], (), …
• int, double, complex<double>, Date, …
value

handle • vector, string, thread, Matrix, …

value
• Objects can be composed by simple concatenation:
– Arrays
– Classes/structs
value handle
value
value handle
value

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 11


Classes: Construction/Destruction
• From the first week of “C with Classes” (1979)
class X { // user-defined type
public: // interface
X(Something); // constructor from Something
~X(); // destructor
// …
private: // implementation
// …
};

“A constructor establishes the environment for the members to


run in; the destructor reverses its actions.”
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 12
Abstract Classes and Inheritance
• Insulate the user from the implementation
struct Device { // abstract class
virtual int put(const char*) = 0; // pure virtual function
virtual int get(const char*) = 0;
};
• No data members, all data in derived classes
– “not brittle”
• Manipulate through pointer or reference
– Typically allocated on the free store (“dynamic memory”)
– Typically requires some form of lifetime management (use resource
handles)
• Is the root of a hierarchy of derived classes
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 13
Parameterized Types and Classes
• Templates
– Essential: Support for generic programming
– Secondary: Support for compile-time computation
template<typename T>
class vector { /* … */ }; // a generic type

vector<double> constants = {3.14159265359, 2.54, 1, 6.62606957E-34, }; // a


use

template<typename C>
void sort (Cont& c) { /* … */ } // a generic function

sort(constants); // a use
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 14
Not C++ (fundamental)
• No crucial dependence on a garbage collector
– GC is a last and imperfect resort
• No guaranteed type safety
– Not for all constructs
– C compatibility, history, pointers/arrays, unions, casts, …
• No virtual machine
– For many reasons, we often want to run on the real machine
– You can run on a virtual machine (or in a sandbox) if you want to

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 15


Not C++ (market realities)
• No huge “standard” library
– No owner
• To produce “free” libraries to ensure market share
– No central authority
• To approve, reject, and help integration of libraries
• No standard
– Graphics/GUI
• Competing frameworks
– XML support
– Web support
– …

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 16


Resource Management

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 17


Resource management
• A resource should be owned by a “handle”
– A “handle” should present a well-defined and useful abstraction
• E.g. a vector, string, file, thread
• Use constructors and a destructor
class Vector { // vector of doubles
Vector(initializer_list<double>); // acquire memory; initialize elements
~Vector(); // destroy elements; release memory
// …
private:
double* elem; // pointer to elements handle
int sz; // number of elements
};
Value

void fct()
{
Vector v {1, 1.618, 3.14, 2.99e8}; // vector of doubles
// …
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 18
}
Resource management
• A handle usually is scoped
– Handles lifetime (initialization, cleanup), and more

Vector::Vector(initializer_list<double> lst)
:elem {new double[lst.size()]}, sz{lst.size()}; // acquire memory
{
uninitialized_copy(lst.begin(),lst.end(),elem); // initialize elements
}

Vector::~Vector()
{
delete[] elem; // destroy elements; release memory
};

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 19


Resource management
• What about errors?
– A resource is something you acquire and release
– A resource should have an owner
– Ultimately “root” a resource in a (scoped) handle
– “Resource Acquisition Is Initialization” (RAII)
• Acquire during construction
• Release in destructor
– Throw exception in case of failure
• Can be simulated, but not conveniently
– Never throw while holding a resource not owned by a handle
• In general
– Leave established invariants intact when leaving a scope

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 20


“Resource Acquisition is Initialization” (RAII)
• For all resources
– Memory (done by std::string, std::vector, std::map, …)
– Locks (e.g. std::unique_lock), files (e.g. std::fstream), sockets, threads
(e.g. std::thread), …

std::mutex mtx; // a resource


int sh; // shared data

void f()
{
std::lock_guard lck {mtx}; // grab (acquire) the mutex
sh+=1; // manipulate shared data
} // implicitly release the mutex

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 21


Pointer Misuse
• Many (most?) uses of pointers in local scope are not exception safe

void f(int n, int x)


{
Gadget* p = new Gadget{n}; // look I’m a java programmer! 
// …
if (x<100) throw std::runtime_error{“Weird!”}; // leak
if (x<200) return; // leak
// …
delete p; // and I want my garbage collector! 
}

– But, garbage collection would not release non-memory resources


anyway
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 22
– But, why use a “naked” pointer?
Resource Handles and Pointers
• A std::shared_ptr releases its object at when the last shared_ptr to it is
destroyed

void f(int n, int x)


{
shared_ptr<Gadget> p {new Gadget{n}}; // manage that pointer!
// …
if (x<100) throw std::runtime_error{“Weird!”}; // no leak
if (x<200) return; // no leak
// …
}

– shared_ptr provides a form of garbage collection


– But I’m not sharing anything
• use a unique_ptr
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 23
Resource Handles and Pointers
• But why use a pointer at all?
• If you can, just use a scoped variable

void f(int n, int x)


{
Gadget g {n};
// …
if (x<100) throw std::runtime_error{“Weird!”}; // no leak
if (x<200) return; // no leak
// …
}

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 24


Why do we use pointers?
• And references, iterators, etc.

• To represent ownership
– Don’t! Instead, use handles
• To reference resources
– from within a handle
• To represent positions
– Be careful
• To pass large amounts of data (into a function)
– E.g. pass by const reference
• To return large amount of data (out of a function)
– Don’t! Instead use move operations
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 25
How to get a lot of data cheaply out of a function?

• Ideas
– Return a pointer to a new’d object
• Who does the delete?
- Return a reference to a new’d object
- Who does the delete?
- Delete what?
- Pass a target object
- We are regressing towards assembly code
- Return an object
- Copies are expensive
- Tricks to avoid copying are brittle
- Tricks to avoid copying are not general
- Return a handle
- Simple and cheap
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 26
Move semantics
• Return a Matrix
Matrix operator+(const Matrix& a, const Matrix& b)
{
Matrix r;
// copy a[i]+b[i] into r[i] for each i
return r;
}
Matrix res = a+b;
• Define move a constructor for Matrix
– don’t copy; “steal the representation” r:

res:
……..
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 27
Move semantics
• Direct support in C++11: Move constructor
class Matrix {
Representation rep;
// …
Matrix(Matrix&& a) // move constructor
{
rep = a.rep; // *this gets a’s elements
a.rep = {}; // a becomes the empty Matrix
}
};
r:
Matrix res = a+b;
res:
……..
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 28
No garbage collection needed
• For general, simple, implicit, and efficient resource management
• Apply these techniques in order:
1. Store data in containers
• The semantics of the fundamental abstraction is reflected in the interface
• Including lifetime
2. Manage all resources with resource handles
• RAII
• Not just memory: all resources
3. Use “smart pointers”
• They are still pointers
4. Plug in a garbage collector
• For “litter collection”
• C++11 specifies an interface
• Can still leak non-memory resources
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 29
Range-for, auto, and move
• As ever, what matters is how features work in combination
template<typename C, typename V>
vector<Value_type<C>*> find_all(C& c, V v) // find all occurrences of v in c
{
vector<Value_type<C>*> res;
for (auto& x : c)
if (x==v)
res.push_back(&x);
return res;
}

string m {"Mary had a little lamb"};


for (const auto p : find_all(m,'a'))// p is a char*
if (*p!='a')
cerr << "string bug!\n";

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 30


RAII and Move Semantics
• All the standard-library containers provide it
• vector
• list, forward_list (singly-linked list), …
• map, unordered_map (hash table),…
• set, multi_set, …
• …
• string
• So do other standard resources
• thread, lock_guard, …
• istream, fstream, …
• unique_ptr, shared_ptr
• …

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 31


OOP

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 32


Class hierarchies Class’ own members
Derived classes
All users

• Protection model public


protected
• No universal base class private
– an unnecessary implementation-oriented artifact
– imposes avoidable space and time overheads.
– encourages underspecified (overly general) interfaces

• Multiple inheritance
– Separately consider interface and implementation
– Abstract classes provide the most stable interfaces
• Minimal run-time type identification
– dynamic_cast<D*>(pb)
– typeid(p) Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 33
Inheritance
• Use it
– When the domain concepts are hierarchical
– When there is a need for run-time selection among hierarchically ordered
alternatives

• Warning:
– Inheritance has been seriously and systematically overused and misused
• “When your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail”

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 34


GP

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 35


Generic Programming: Templates
• 1980: Use macros to express generic types and functions
• 1987 (and current) aims:
– Extremely general/flexible
• “must be able to do much more than I can imagine”
– Zero-overhead
• vector/Matrix/… to compete with C arrays
– Well-specified interfaces
• Implying overloading, good error messages, and maybe separate
compilation

• “two out of three ain’t bad”


– But it isn’t really good either
– it has kept me concerned/working for 20+ years
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 36
Templates
• Compile-time duck typing
– Leading to template metaprogramming

• A massive success in C++98, better in C++11, better still in C++14


– STL containers
• template<typename T> class vector { /* … */ };
– STL algorithms
• sort(v.begin(),v.end());
– And much more

• Better support for compile-time programming


– C++11: constexpr (improved in C++14)

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 37


Algorithms
• Messy code is a major source of errors and inefficiencies
• We must use more explicit, well-designed, and tested algorithms
• The C++ standard-library algorithms are expressed in terms of
half-open sequences [first:last)
– For generality and efficiency
void f(vector<int>& v, list<string>& lst)
{
sort(v.begin(),v.end()); // sort the vector using <

auto p = find(lst.begin(),lst.end(),"Aarhus"); // find “Aarhus” in the list

// …
} Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 38
Algorithms
• Simple, efficient, and general implementation
– For any forward iterator
– For any (matching) value type

template<typename Iter, typename Value>


Iter find(Iter first, Iter last, Value val) // find first p in [first:last) so that *p==val
{
while (first!=last && *first!=val)
++first;
return first;
}

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 39


Algorithms and Function Objects
• Parameterization with criteria, actions, and algorithms
– Essential for flexibility and performance

void g(vector< string>& vs)


{
auto p = find_if(vs.begin(), vs.end(), Less_than{"Griffin"});

// …
}

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 40


Algorithms and Function Objects
• The implementation is still trivial

template<typename Iter, typename Predicate>


Iter find_if(Iter first, Iter last, Predicate pred) // find first p in [first:last) so that pred(*p)
{
while (first!=last && !pred(*first))
++first;
return first;
}

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 41


Function Objects and Lambdas
• General function object
– Can carry state
– Easily inlined (i.e., close to optimally efficient)

struct Less_than {
String s;
Less_than(const string& ss) :s{ss} {} // store the value to compare against
bool operator()(const string& v) const { return v<s; } // the comparison
};

Lambda notation
– We can let the compiler write the function object for us

auto p = std::find_if(vs.begin(),vs.end(),
[](const string& v) { return v<"Griffin"; } );
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 42
Container algorithms
• The C++ standard-library algorithms are expressed in terms of half-open
sequences [first:last)
– For generality and efficiency
– If you find that verbose, define container algorithms

namespace Extended_STL {
// …
template<typename C, typename Predicate>
Iterator<C> find_if(C& c, Predicate pred)
{
return std::find_if(c.begin(),c.end(),pred);
}
// …
}

auto p = find_if(v, [](int x)Stroustrup


{ return x%2;- Going
- Essence } ); Native'13
// assuming v is a vector<int> 43
Duck Typing is Insufficient
• There are no proper interfaces
• Leaves error detection far too late
– Compile- and link-time in C++
• Encourages a focus on implementation details
– Entangles users with implementation
• Leads to over-general interfaces and data structures
– As programmers rely on exposed implementation “details”
• Does not integrate well with other parts of the language
– Teaching and maintenance problems
• We must think of generic code in ways similar to other code
– Relying on well-specified interfaces (like OO, etc.)

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 44


Generic Programming is just Programming
• Traditional code
double sqrt(double d); // C++84: accept any d that is a double
double d = 7;
double d2 = sqrt(d); // fine: d is a double
double d3 = sqrt(&d); // error: &d is not a double

• Generic code
void sort(Container& c); // C++14: accept any c that is a Container
vector<string> vs { "Hello", "new", "World" };
sort(vs); // fine: vs is a Container
sort(&vs); // error: &vs is not a Container

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 45


C++14: Constraints aka “Concepts lite”
• How do we specify requirements on template arguments?
– state intent
• Explicitly states requirements on argument types
– provide point-of-use checking
• No checking of template definitions
– use constexpr functions
• Voted as C++14 Technical Report
• Design by B. Stroustrup, G. Dos Reis, and A. Sutton
• Implemented by Andrew Sutton in GCC
• There are no C++0x concept complexities
– No concept maps
– No new syntax for defining concepts
– No new scope and lookup issues
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 46
What is a Concept?
• Concepts are fundamental
– They represent fundamental concepts of an application area
– Concepts are come in “clusters” describing an application area
• A concept has semantics (meaning)
– Not just syntax
– “Subtractable” is not a concept
• We have always had concepts
– C++: Integral, arithmetic
– STL: forward iterator, predicate
– Informally: Container, Sequence
– Algebra: Group, Ring, …

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 47


What is a Concept?
• Don’t expect to find a new fundamental concept every year
• A concept is not the minimal requirements for an implementation
– An implementation does not define the requirements
– Requirements should be stable
• Concepts support interoperability
– There are relatively few concepts
– We can remember a concept

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 48


C++14 Concepts (Constraints)
• A concept is a predicate on one or more arguments
– E.g. Sequence<T>() // is T a Sequence?

• Template declaration
template <typename S, typename T>
requires Sequence<S>()
&& Equality_comparable<Value_type<S>, T>()
Iterator_of<S> find(S& seq, const T& value);

• Template use
void use(vector<string>& vs)
{
auto p = find(vs,"Jabberwocky");
// …
} Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 49
C++14 Concepts: Error handling
• Error handling is simple (and fast)

template<Sortable Cont>
void sort(Cont& container);

vector<double> vec {1.2, 4.5, 0.5, -1.2};


list<int> lst {1, 3, 5, 4, 6, 8,2};

sort(vec); // OK: a vector is Sortable


sort(lst);// Error at (this) point of use: Sortable requires random access

• Actual error message


error: ‘list<int>’ does not satisfy the constraint ‘Sortable’
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 50
C++14 Concepts: “Shorthand Notation”
• Shorthand notation
template <Sequence S, Equality_comparable<Value_type<S>> T>
Iterator_of<C> find(S& seq, const T& value);

• We can handle essentially all of the Palo Alto TR


– (STL algorithms) and more
• Except for the axiom parts
– We see no problems checking template definitions in isolation
• But proposing that would be premature (needs work, experience)
– We don’t need explicit requires much (the shorthand is usually fine)

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 51


C++14 Concepts: Overloading
• Overloading is easy
template <Sequence S, Equality_comparable<Value_type<S>> T>
Iterator_of<S> find(S& seq, const T& value);

template<Associative_container C>
Iterator_type<C> find(C& assoc, const Key_type<C>& key);

vector<int> v { /* ... */ };
multiset<int> s { /* … */ };
auto vi = find(v, 42); // calls 1st overload:
// a vector is a Sequence
auto si = find(s, 12-12-12); // calls 2nd overload:
// a multiset is an Associative_container

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 52


C++14 Concepts: Overloading
• Overloading based on predicates
– specialization based on subset
– Far easier than writing lots of tests
template<Input_iterator Iter>
void advance(Iter& p, Difference_type<Iter> n) { while (n--) ++p; }

template<Bidirectional_iterator Iter>
void advance(Iter& i, Difference_type<Iter> n)
{ if (n > 0) while (n--) ++p; if (n < 0) while (n++) --ip}

template<Random_access_iterator Iter>
void advance(Iter& p, Difference_type<Iter> n) { p += n; }
• We don’t say
Input_iterator < Bidirectional_iterator < Random_access_iterator
we compute it
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 53
C++14 Concepts: Definition
• How do you write constraints?
– Any bool expression
• Including type traits and constexpr function
– a requires(expr) expression
• requires() is a compile time intrinsic function
• true if expr is a valid expression
• To recognize a concept syntactically, we can declare it concept
– Rather than just constexpr

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 54


C++14 Concepts: “Terse Notation”
• We can use a concept name as the name of a type than satisfy
the concept
void sort(Container& c); // terse notation
– means
template<Container __Cont> // shorthand notation
void sort(__Cont& c);
– means
template<typename __Cont> // explicit use of predicate
requires Container<__Cont>()
void sort(__Cont)& c;
– Accepts any type that is a Container
vector<string> vs;
sort(vs);
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 55
C++14 Concepts: “Terse Notation”
• We have reached the conventional notation
– with the conventional meaning
• Traditional code
double sqrt(double d); // C++84: accept any d that is a double
double d = 7;
double d2 = sqrt(d); // fine: d is a double
double d3 = sqrt(&d); // error: &d is not a double
• Generic code
void sort(Container& c); // C++14: accept any c that is a Container
vector<string> vs { "Hello", "new", "World" };
sort(vs); // fine: vs is a Container
sort(&vs); // error: &vs is not a Container

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 56


C++14 Concepts: “Terse Notation”
• Consider std::merge
• Explicit use of predicates:
template<typename For,
typename For2,
typename Out>
requires Forward_iterator<For>()
&& Forward_iterator<For2>()
&& Output_iterator<Out>()
&& Assignable<Value_type<For>,Value_type<Out>>()
&& Assignable<Value_type<For2,Value_type<Out>>()
&& Comparable<Value_type<For>,Value_type<For2>>()
void merge(For p, For q, For2 p2, For2 q2, Out p);
• Headache inducing, and accumulate() is worse
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 57
C++14 Concepts: “Terse Notation”
• Better, use the shorthand notation
template<Forward_iterator For,
Forward_iterator For2,
Output_iterator Out>
requires Mergeable<For,For2,Out>()
void merge(For p, For q, For2 p2, For2 q2, Out p);
• Quite readable

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 58


C++14 Concepts: “Terse Notation”
• Better still, use the “terse notation”:

Mergeable{For,For2,Out} // Mergeable is a concept requiring three types


void merge(For p, For q, For2 p2, For2 q2, Out p);

• The
concept-name { identifier-list }
notation introduces constrained names

• Make simple things simple!

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 59


C++14 Concepts: “Terse Notation”
• Now we just need to define Mergeable:
template<typename For, typename For2, typename Out>
concept bool Mergeable()
{
return Forward_iterator<For>()
&& Forward_iterator<For2>()
&& Output_iterator<Out>()
&& Assignable<Value_type<For>,Value_type<Out>>()
&& Assignable<Value_type<For2,Value_type<Out>>()
&&
Comparable<Value_type<For>,Value_type<For2>>();
}

• It’s just a predicate


Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 60
Challenges

Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 61


C++ Challenges
• Obviously, C++ is not perfect
– How can we make programmers prefer modern styles over low-level code
• which is far more error-prone and harder to maintain, yet no more efficient?
– How can we make C++ a better language given the Draconian constraints of
C and C++ compatibility?
– How can we improve and complete the techniques and models
(incompletely and imperfectly) embodied in C++?
• Solutions that eliminate major C++ strengths are not acceptable
– Compatibility
• link, source code
– Performance
• uncompromising
– Portability
– Range of application areas
• Preferably increasingStroustrup
the range
- Essence - Going Native'13 62
Long-term C++ Challenges
• Close more type loopholes
– in particular, find a way to prevent misuses of delete without spoiling RAII
• Simplify concurrent programming
– in particular, provide some higher-level concurrency models as libraries
• Simplify generic programming
– in particular, introduce simple and effective concepts
• Simplify programming using class hierarchies
– in particular, eliminate use of the visitor pattern
• Better support for combinations of object-oriented and generic programming
• Make exceptions usable for hard-real-time projects
– that will most likely be a tool rather than a language change
• Find a good way of using multiple address spaces
– as needed for distributed computing
– would probably involve defining a more general module mechanism that would also
address dynamic linking, and more.
• Provide many more domain-specific libraries
• Develop a more precise and formal
Stroustrup specification
- Essence of C++
- Going Native'13 63
“Paradigms”
• Much of the distinction between object-oriented programming,
generic programming, and “conventional programming” is an
illusion
– based on a focus on language features
– incomplete support for a synthesis of techniques
– The distinction does harm
• by limiting programmers, forcing workarounds

void draw_all(Container& c) // is this OOP, GP, or conventional?


requires Same_type<Value_type<Container>,Shape*>
{
for_each(c, [](Shape* p) { p->draw(); } );
}
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 64
Questions?
C++: A light-weight abstraction
programming language

Key strengths: Practice type-rich


• software infrastructure programming
• resource-constrained applications
Stroustrup - Essence - Going Native'13 65

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