cpp.chat

This week we chat with a vector-of-bool (a.k.a. Colby Pike).

We talk about pseudonyms, modules, build systems and his standard layout proposal, Pitchfork.

But what prompts Michael Caisse, in the chat, to respond, "because we are not monsters",

Links:

• The 'Dam Book'- John Lakos' long-awaited 'Large Scale C++ Volume 1'
• Upcoming C++ virtual meetups, worldwide- On the Sweden C++ usergroups site
• Pitchfork
• DDS

This week we chat with a Yuri Minaev, of PVS Studio, about static analysis - and why you shouldn't be skipping on this essential part of software development.

Why is using a static analysis tool better than peer review (the clue is in the title)? Should you do both?

We also discuss the billion dollar mistake and the perils of copy & paste (and how you can mitigate them).

All in all, a step towards safer coding.

Links:

• Evaluate PVS-Studio- with promotion discount for cpp.chat listeners

This week we chat with a panel of C++ trainers from around the world (but mostly from Germany, for some reason) - Nicolai Josuttis, Jason Turner, Rainer Grimm, Klaus Iglberger and Mateusz Pusz.

We talk about how bringing in a good trainer will keep your costs down, whether online training works or not, and why C++ is different to most other languages when it comes to training.

One of our guests reveals that he has had, and has recovered from, COVID-19 - but who?

Links:

• CLion 2020.1 released- Dozens of Improvements Across the IDE, and Benefits for CUDA and Embedded Projects
• CLion turns 5- This story starts in AppCode. Back in 2011, Max Shafirov, the current JetBrains CEO, announced the first steps toward C++ support in AppCode, our IDE for iOS/macOS development

This week we chat with Bryce Adelstein Lelbach about how the ISO C++ WG21 committee is evolving - and his roles within it (and beyond) are evolving, too.

We also look at the cross-over and interaction with the C standard, and even other languages. Is C really the Latin of programming languages? What is the relationship between the languages and the committees at this point? And why did so many committee members agree to a plan that contains items they may not be interested in?

And what happened to the Varna meeting, anyway?

Links:

• D2145R1 Evolving C++ Remotely- Due to the ongoing global health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, the ISO C++ Committee’s planned June 2020 meeting in Varna, Bulgaria was called off. During this uncertain time, our priority must be the safety and well-being of the committee and the public at large
• C++ Events Affected By Coronavirus- I think it will be helpful to everyone to collect information about C++ events that have been or may be affected by the coronavirus
• To boldly suggest an overall plan for C++23- Various people have lamented our lack of direction, and that we don't have a plan for the next standard (or beyond). Since I haven't heard anyone promising to propose such a plan, here goes
• PL22 - Programming Languages- The PL22 Technical committee is concerned with any ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 issue which does not fall within the domain of a single U.S. Task Group

This week we chat with five members of the SG16 Unicode Study Group, Zach Laine, Tom Honermann, Steve Downey, Peter Brett and Corentin Jabot.

We talk about their efforts to get all things Unicode into the C++ standard in a tour that takes us from 5000 years ago, through the 80s and 90s up to the 2020s! We look at every known language, including a few dead ones - and some that are purely fictional.

Do you know the difference between a code unit and code point? A glyph and a grapheme cluster? String a Text? And what's wrong with Locales anyway?

This show sorts it all out.

Links:

• SG16: Unicode Direction- SG16 initial Unicode direction and guidance for C++20 and beyond
• WG21 SG16 Unicode study group- Collection of SG16 resources and links
• SG16 on cpplang Slack
• SG16 mailing list
• It's my fault you can't `throw 💩;` anymore- Steve's tweet

This week we chat with James Berrow about colo(u)r, and how we're doing it all wrong (and not just the spelling).

We look at why colour management is complicated, how RGB doesn't exist, and how everybody (well, almost everybody) gets it all wrong.

Links:

• P2005R0 - 2D Graphics: A Brief Review- James' graphics proposal review
• Color proposal implementation- James' colour proposal implementation
• Everyone Does sRGB Wrong Because Everyone Else Does sRGB Wrong
• Hana's Prague trip report on CppCast
• C++20 is here!- Video made in Prague by Bryce Adelstein Lelbach and Conor Hoekstra
• C++ Now individual sponsors
• ACCU 2020 Conference page- including up-to-date information regarding COVID-19
• C++ CoreHard Spring 2020 conference in Minsk

This week we chat with JeanHeyd Meneide (A.K.A. ThePhD) about coming full circle on std::embed, as well as whether optional references should rebind or assign-through.

Packed with edge-of-the-seat stories of interesting proposals adventures through the standardisation process, as well as a decent amount of ranting.

Links:

• Going Full Circle on Embed in C++- JeanHeyd's post on std::embed and CircleLang
• To Bind and Loose a Reference- JeanHeyd's post on rebind vs pass-through optional refs
• All the C++30 Features - but Right Now- cpp.chat episode with Sean Baxter (Circle)
• ABI - Now or Never- Titus Winters' first ABI paper

This week we chat with Ansel Sermersheim and Barbara Geller about Copperspice, Doxypress, csLibGuarded and kitchen utensils.

We find out that Barbara and Ansel are not just library people but are actually programmers - and programmers that know how to build abstractions.

We chat about why they started CopperSpice, how it got it's name, and what else they've been working on.

Links:

• CopperSpice- The main site
• Doxypress
• csLibGuarded
• CopperSpice YouTube channel
• CopperSpice subscriptions- If you want to pay for priority support
• CLion with Docker- Phil's recent video and blog
• Meeting C++ survey
• C++ on Sea workshop speakers
• Core C++ Call for Speakers- Open until 15th February!
• CPPP Call for Speakers- Open until 29th February!
• Sean Baxter on CppCast- Talking about Circle
• Phil, Adi and Fred on CppCast- Talking about first time conference organising
• Sean Baxter on cpp.chat- The original :-D

This week we chat with Greg Law about debugging and going back in time!

How do things change when we can wait for something to go wrong, then go back to any point in time and examine the program state, like The Matrix's "Bullet Time"? How is this even possible, and what challenges need to be overcome? We also answer that age old question: what's the first thing people ask for when you say you can give them a time machine?

Links:

• Greg's CppCon 2019 talk- 'Modern Linux C++ debugging tools - under the covers'
• https://undo.io/resources/gdb-watchpoint/
• Undo/ JetBrains joint webinar recording

This week we chat with Vittorio Romeo about the pros and cons of backwards compatibility in C++, and his proposal to get the best of both worlds: Epochs.

As well as language compatibility, we also discuss ABI compatibility - why breaking these things is such a problem, but how not breaking them is increasingly becoming a problem.

We also, finally, get an answer to the age of question of, "how many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?"

Links:

• Vittorio's CppCon talk on epochs
• p1881 - The Epochs Proposal- Epochs: a backward-compatible language evolution mechanism
• p1863 - ABI Break- Titus Winters' paper on the ABI compatibility issue
• SPECS- A Modest Proposal: C++ Resyntaxed