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C++ tutorial for experienced C programmer.
I program in a number of languages frequently and have been using C++ lately. Basically my classes are just wrappers around pure C code. Almost like a struct with associated methods. This gives me the encapsulation and privacy that I want for my data. I have a small hierarchy of classes and am just barely using inheritance.
I am familiar with OO concepts and know what search terms to use when i need to find out about a particular concept in this regard. However, as I have discovered in my foray in the programming world, often the language features that are really helpful are hidden to the newcomer or novice, and the useful bits that I need have already been written and are in a library somewhere that is freely available (most times part of the framework - like in .NET).
What path would you suggest to gain this vital knowledge in C++ and stop myself reinventing the wheel (poorly).
This is the wrong way to use C++. You would be better served grabbing a copy of Accelerated C++ and reading it. Yes, it's a beginner book but unless you want to continue treating C++ as just C with objects then you need to focus on how C++ programmers do things instead of just sticking with what you already know. You need to start from the beginning and build a good foundation in C++.
Learn the STL if you're going to really plan to use C++ in the future. Though opinions will vary widely, particularly among the die-hards, I think there is absolutely no problem using C++ as "C with objects."
Boost is also pretty awesome.
EDIT: Note the downvotes already coming in from the die-hards. C++ acolytes really don't like to hear people advocate using the language as "C with objects." I stand by my statement. You can write quite shippable and commercially viable code without going crazy with an RTTI-enabled, templatized, multiply-inherited set of classes. Remember KISS.
Scott Meyers' books are a great place for C programer to begin with C++.
I recommend Thinking In C++ by Bruce Eckle. Normally it's available for free online, or as a book.
I suggest you read the books:
"C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines and Best Practices" --Sutter & Alexandrescu
"Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied" --Alexandrescu
And probably anything else by Andrei Alexandrescu that you can get your hands on.
Then, there are a number of design patterns and programming idioms that make it very clear why "C with objects" is extremely reductionist. Just to name a few: RAII (Resource Allocation Is Initialization), PImpl (or Cheshire Cat), Factory functions, Smart Pointers, Singleton, Type Traits, Expression Templates, etc. When you know about these, you are no longer programming in C++, but in ++C (because you get a result that actually reflects the increment over C).
As for not reinventing the wheel, like many have said already, make sure to first explore the possibilities in the Standard Template Library (STL) (which is much richer than you might think) and then look at Boost (www.boost.org) which has libraries for a lot of diverse purposes and they are extremely high quality (and some are just works of art, like Spirit, Proto, Lambda and MPL). After that, there is of course a large amount of open-source software in C++ out there, but use it with caution: sometimes it is better to reinvent a wheel that fits perfectly to your application than to use one that might not be appropriate or powerful enough, or worse, full of bugs!
I suggest the book The C++ Programming Language for filling in the gaps in your basic C++ knowledge, and BOOST as the first place to look for existing libraries supporting your programming.
Have you thought about getting the C++ Primer Plus? It's a really good book.
The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference
Read Meyers for specific tips, but also Stroustrup's Design and Evolution. The latter gets into the motivation as to why C++ is what it is, and very much comes from a "how to improve C" viewpoint.
As for "The C++ Programming Language", 3rd edition is very long. If you can find the 2nd edition, its much more digestible, although of course occasionally out of date (but mostly just less complete).
Related
Some background: My job involves maintaining a large multi-threaded multi-process C++ / C# application, and so I'm often tasked with understanding access violations, memory leaks, heap curruption issues and the like.
I quite enjoy this, and I've amassed quite a good understanding of various low level concepts, but the trouble is that I don't program in C++, and aside for the purposes of maintenance I don't really intend to.
What I mean by that is that if I ever need to develop something then at the company I work at the best choice is C# (more developers, other apps also in C# means better interops), so its not that I don't program in C++, it's just that whenever I do program in C++ it will be purely for the purpose of learning C++, and so I want to get the most out of it.
My view is that "Teach yourself C++" books and the like aren't very suitable as they focus too much on getting things done - there are usually many ways of doing things and so they tend to pick one method, so when I'm presented with some code that does things a different way I'm stuffed (e.g. a book teaches MFC, I then get presented with some ATL code and the book hasn't even taught me what ATL and MFC are, let alone how to recognise that what I'm looking at is different!)
I'm really looking for teach yourself C++, with the emphasis on understanding other peoples code.
IMHO C++ in particular is a language that you cannot learn by reading a "teach yourself" book, you really need to have several sources and one of these is actually to look at other people's code.
I would recommend reading Effective C++ and More Effective C++ by Scott Meyers to learn some of the pitfalls when programming in C++, it is a good way to learn especially when you are looking at people's code. Another site than can help is gotw as well, some excellent information is there as well.
Since you'll never be creating C++ programs from scratch, I recommend you narrow your vision and just look at the applications you will be supporting, concentrating on the things you do not fully understand and tackling them one-by-one.
I find http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ to be a good basic resource for C++. When dealing with specific technologies like MFC or ATL, do some research beforehand on which book(s) will suit you best. My favorite method: a strong coffee, a comfy chair and a pile of candidate books at Barnes & Noble to review. Focused on-line searching will suffice as well.
There are no shortcuts to knowledge and mastery, but by limiting your focus you can save yourself some wasted effort. Generally speaking, the more complex the technology--or the more fundamental the design screw up--the more you need to know to fix it. It's the facts of life!
The C++ FAQ is a great source of information.
Despite others' answers, I don't think your problems will lie mainly with the language. Sure, you can look at the standard or Stroustrup, but these will only teach you language constructs.
Most of what you will have trouble learning, I imagine, will be windows-specific and whateverplatformyouareusing-specific.
Do read stroustrup and other language guides, but be prepared to delve into the docs for the libraries and systems you are using.
It sounds like you really need a copy of the C++ standard. (ISO/IEC 14882 - available in draft form for free online. the final version costs a few bucks)
Of course, Stroustrup's book would be a good choice too. But in general, focus on material that describes the language, rather than, as you say, "how to get things done".
If you're having to maintain C++ code that uses MFC and/or ATL to a large degree then the best way to learn how it works so that you are able to properly maintain the code is to write small applications that use MFC and/or ATL so that you get an understanding of hwta is going on when the code is run. Reading a book by Stroustrup will not help you in any way to understand MFC and/or ATL. The other thing you should probably be focusing on is how COM works since ATL is basically a framework of templates, macros, etc that makes using COM easier.
Hope that helps.
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I'm something of a new, reluctant convert to C++ from a Pascal, Ruby, and PHP background. I haven't worked with Pascal since a few months of torture with "Delphi Turbo;" since then I've practically been eating and sleeping Ruby and PHP. I'm already well acquainted with object oriented programming and many various subjects.
My main trouble is that I already know the rudiments of C/C++ programming, less the actual experience of working with C++. I worked with C for long enough to realize that even without macros, etc, I didn't want to work with it. (Some of the disgust was from maintaining a CGI application in C, when accustomed to Pascal's automatic string management.) I know just enough C++ to be dangerous to myself and anyone else unwitting enough to use my "code."
I'd really like to work up to a good enough understanding of C++ to use libraries like Crypto++ and Boost without major problems or in-depth knowledge of the language's intricacies. I just need to figure out how to work with C++ without killing myself (either with C++, or with the long-standing dislike that I'm already battling).
What are effective resources that will teach me C++ without assuming that I must be retaught all basic programming? I'd rather not relearn concepts that I already know, unless the paradigm in C++ is significantly different. I'm also learning on my own time, so don't recommend me a book complex enough to need a guru to explain to me, please! And I have an effective budget of $0 for learning C++, so please keep suggestions to quality online resources or books common enough that I could likely find them at the library.
Read Effective C++ by Scott Meyers - it's a good guide for getting past the basics of C++ and showing how to write and use "correct" C++ code
The C++ FAQ Lite is a great resource.
I highly recommend Stroustrup: The C++ Programming Language (Third Edition). As the author of C++ he is the authority on the language, and the book is useful as a reference as much as it is for learning the language. It's common enough that most good general purpose libraries will have a copy. He goes into quite some depth on all the features of C++, including explanations of why certain design decisions were made in the language. Personally, I think this is the best book around for programmers to learn C++.
Once you have a good grip on core C++, David Abrahams and Aleksey Gurtovoy's book, C++ Template Metaprogramming, goes into further depth and provides many examples of how C++'s template system allows you to perform complex compile-time programming, a highly valuable skill these days. This one is a little less common but you can probably find it at a university library.
I can give you a couple of keywords you might want to research in more detail:
RAII (Is pretty much the technique that ensures you don't have to worry about memory leaks. Very convenient)
Generic Programming (The STL in particular. Experiment with iterators and the standard library algorithms, and see just how powerful these abstractions are. They're a key part of what I like about C++)
Functors (Perhaps too simple on their own, but the way they can be used instead of function pointers with the algorithms mentioned above is interesting)
And just get familiar with templates, and "mild" forms of template metaprogramming. (Traits classes, for example, and (partial) specializations.
And just keep an eye on the C++ questions here on SO. A lot of interesting topics are regularly brought up.
But the best advice is probably to keep it completely separate from C. Forget everything you learned about how to use C. It either doesn't apply in C++, or leads to inferior code that is harder to read and maintain.
It's an interesting language in its own right, and has a number of unique features. Leverage those, and it can actually be fun to work with C++. Treat it as an overengineered Java, PHP or C, and it'll just make you want to throw up.
You need to write code. A lot of code in C++. There is no substitute. You also need to read good code.
I agree with the suggestion for Scott Meyers' books though. Those are pretty good.
Part of your learning will be the leap from procedural programming to OO.
I would highly recommend the book "C++ Common Knowledge" by Stephen C. Dewhurst. Don't know if it's common enough to be found at the library (it's not at mine, but my library sucks for computer books that aren't 5-10 years out of date), but it does an excellent job of taking the complex aspects of C++ and making them easy to understand, without dumbing anything down for beginners. Definitely worth the investment.
To quote from the back of the book:
This book is for you if
You're no "dummy," and you need to get quickly up to speed in intermediate to advanced C++
You've had some experience in C++ programming, but reading intermediate and advanced C++ books is slow-going
You've had an introductory C++ course, but you've found that you still can't follow your colleagues when they're describing their C++ designs and code
You're an experienced C or Java programmer, but you don't yet have the experience to develop nuanced C++ code and designs
You're a C++ expert, and you're looking for an alternative to answering the same questions from your less-experienced colleagues over and over again
C++ Common Knowledge covers essential
but commonly misunderstood topics in
C++ programming and design while
filtering out needless complexity in
the discussion of each topic. What
remains is a clear distillation of the
essentials required for production C++
programming, presented in the author's
trademark incisive, engaging style.
Here is a link to a question with answers that should help you.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1227764/i-need-to-improve-my-c-skills-fast-is-this-realistically-possible/1227805#1227805
For effective stuff you can find online Cplusplus.com has a pretty good reference and information.
If you can find the book "C++ Common Knowledge" (Stephen Dewhurst) at the library or cheaply online, I would add that to the list posted on the StackOverflow link above as well as "The C++ Programming Language" (Stroustrup). Going through the questions under the C++ tag right here on SO should give you some good pointers and code examples to get you on your way.
Here's a list of good C++ books which teach you C++ rather than basics of programming.
Sit down and write some C++ code.
I started programming in C++. It was my first language, but I have not used it in many years.
What are the new developments in the C++ world? What are the BIG things - technologies, books, frameworks, libraries, etc?
Over the last 7-8 years what are the biggest influences on C++ programming?
Perhaps we could do one influence per post, and that way we can vote on them.
Boost:
free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries.
We emphasize libraries that work well with the C++ Standard Library...
We aim to establish "existing practice" and provide reference implementations so that Boost libraries are suitable for eventual standardization. Ten Boost libraries are included in the C++ Standards Committee's Library Technical Report (TR1) and in the new C++11 Standard. C++11 also includes several more Boost libraries in addition to those from TR1. More Boost libraries are proposed for standardization in C++17...
"Modern C++", STL, template metaprogramming and Generic programming.
(And yes, they're one single answer, because they're pretty closely intertwined and together represent a complete paradigm shift in C++ development. While some of them are older than 8-9 years, it's pretty much in the last years that they've really gained traction and really left "C with classes" in the dust.
C++0x
Modern C++ is not only a OOP language. C++0x (the new standard) will include many new additions. It might take some time before it is applied thoroughly in every IDE/compilers but it will add a lot to an already excellent language.
Here is a list of new features of the new standard: C++0x
**Edit: C++0x is the result of the past 8-9 years (thank you jalf).
Qt is also pretty useful, 'pretty', well-documented, portable, and free (now under LGPL).
Developers who actually understand OO rather than C with Classes.
Though the field is still full of C programmers with think they know C++ (but don't they are just C with Classes people).
Although it started in 1998, but it really got going in the last 7-8 years, the boost libraries have added a huge amount of high quality code, which in many ways has helped keep c++ somewhat up to date with the capabilities of more modern languages.
Good books to help prospective C++ programmers learn how to use the language properly. Effective C++ by Scott Meyers was a massive help for me. There are other threads on C++ books.
Scott Meyers wrote about most important C++ people and the most important C++ books. These all had a major influence on how programmers write C++ today.
Commercially available whole-program and profile-guided optimization from various C++ compilers, notably Intel's and Microsoft's. In particular, cross-module inlining makes it easier to write well-factored code that blazes.
It’s usually not the first language
you learn at college or university
anymore. This makes prospective
learners appreciative of C++ and
eases them into it.
The internet, video editing sites,
and forums that help programmers of
all levels to get help and feedback
in a very timely fashion.
To me, besides the already mentioned boost, TMP, MC++D etc., the shift away from teaching C++ as "C plus some extras" towards "C++ is a very different language that's not to be used like C" is very important. That would make Koenig/Moo "Accelerated C++" is a huge influence, even though it's a beginners book and even though it's a beginners book that has (with only 250 pages) much too steep a learning curve.
Stroustrup had been saying things about a better language hidden within C++ and the need to teach it better, but I never really understood what he meant until, after 10 years of C++ programming and experience in TMP, I read the book and was enlighted. :^> It's not that I learned any new technical facts from the book. It just taught me a better way to look at (and teach) C++.
And, yes, I have been programming different since then.
Over the last 7-8 years what are the biggest influences on C++ programming?
Boost was already mentioned and I second that.
The importance of Boost is not just its efficiency and spectrum, but also the promotion of concept-based methods.
Stepanov's famous statement at http://www.stlport.org/resources/StepanovUSA.html
I find OOP philosophically unsound. It claims that everything is an object. Even if it is true it is not very interesting - saying that everything is an object is saying nothing at all.
still holds, the concept of "everything" is still every thing and not "object" - if it was "object", what would "class" then be?
And promoting those concept-based methods is in order, because contrary to common wisdom OOADP is often amazingly concept-less:
OOA is nice for reformulating problems the fancy way but we're not paid for talking fancy but for realizing machine support for workflow concepts users have for their problem domain.
OOD has more value in it if it used as a means to achieve a proper decomposition of large systems and as means to express thinking in patterns (which is quite natural for us), but it is never to be taken as a self purpose. I still recall OO "designs" from ~2000 which were presented with great ado and OO babble and featurism but were not even self-consistent.
The concept behind that method should be finding appropriate and useful abstractions, not finding every possible abstraction. Also in ~2000 I've once seen a (even multi)-inheritance hierarchy of depth 7 from which just one leaf class and its possible descendants would ever be used in the system to be created.
Finally OOP, in the closest sense, naturally tends to create state which is then carefully, and, of course, by more OO, so "More of the Same" (Watzlawick), to be protected against concurrent access. In these situations often the concept needed would be doing something instead ot the OO assembly having something.
C++ coding was 10 years ago, especially due to its "competition" with Java, quite susceptible for the OO odds mentioned, so I think that concept-based methods were a great cure.
Boost libs are role models for successfully applying those methods.
I want to learn c++ as I will be working on image recognition, etc.
I have a few years solid experience in C# and I have made stuff with C# so I'm not lacking experience. What is a good book which will help me make the transition (I will still be doing C# as it is my main skill)?
Also, would you agree that to be good at C++, a lot of experience and being proficient in C# will help? As C++ is harder...
Thanks
Also, would you agree that to be good
at C++, a lot of experience and being
proficient in C# will help? As C++ is
harder...
Yes I agree with that. A lot of experience in development in any language helps in my opinion. With experience comes appreciation of best practices. Those practices may be different, but you will not dismiss them outright because you know (from your experience) that they are usually good for you.
Good book... Get "C++ primer" with "Effective (and more effective) C++" and you will be all set. Then if you need STL get yourself Josuttis and "Effective STL". Good luck
Since you already know c# you already know more syntax than there is in c++. There are very few c++ syntax elements that you'll need that are not also available in C#.
Here are the main areas where I think you see some challenges:
a) Many, many constructs in c# are simply not available in c++. I'm talking about language features not data types. i.e. Generic Collections, etc... while similar results can be obtained with c++ language features it is soooo much more work in c++
b) It's really the libraries/framework you choose that are going to be substantially different.
c) Why not mix the two. They both play well together. Do your image processing work in a c++ library but keep the work there to a minimum and wrap the whole thing in c# for consumption in a UI. Of course the interoperability will be another challenge but it is well documented on the web.
As far as good book goes... there is still none better than Steve McConnell's "Code Complete"
http://cc2e.com/
Good Luck.
I've actually done the conversion the other way around. I wouldn't say C++ is hard. Only as hard as you can make it. There are certain standard to follow with such things as memory allocation, pointers, type casting and etc. But it's nothing you cannot iron out as you get deeper into it.
Actually, (and some may see this as an overkill) if i were you i would try to get a decent assembler book and read the first few chapters on registers, memory addresses, stack, heap and etc. I think it'll paint a better picture for you when you start messing with memory management, which is probably the hardest thing to grasp in C/C++.
I don't have any links on the subject, but I can offer some general advice.
Remember that you no longer have memory management. You have to delete your pointers after you're done with them.
In C++, there is no physical difference between a struct and a class. Both live on the heap or on the stack based on how you use them. In C#, a struct is a ValueType and lives on the stack, while a class is a ReferenceType and lives in the heap. In C++, a struct has public member visibility by default, while a class has private member visibility by default; that's it. In C++ a type (class or struct) lives on the stack by default, and only lives on the heap if you declare it as a pointer (and new it up).
Learn the Standard Template Library (STL). It's easily the best thing C++ has going for it.
Learn to hate the Microsoft Foundation CLass library (MFC), but learn to use it. If you're doing windows development in C++, you pretty much have to do it.
Also, would you agree that to be good at C++, a lot of experience and being proficient in C# will help? As C++ is harder.
Yeah I agree with you on the fact that C++ is harder. In fact it is considered to be one of the most complicated programming languages. Its syntax(at some places) is a bit ugly as compared to C# and Java but yeah it is one of the most widely used language in the industry, so best of luck with it.
As far as good books are concerned I'll go with
1) C++ Primer by Stan Lippman (strongly recommended)
2) Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel
and style books like Effective and More Effective C++ by Scott Mayers.
Apart from that the 'Bible' for C++ is "The C++ Programming Language by Stroustrup".
Enjoy!
I learned C++ in college and found the Dietel book extremely thorough.
Being proficient in C# helps but C++ is closer to C.
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Closed 10 years ago.
When I first learned C++ 6-7 years ago, what I learned was basically "C with Classes". std::vector was definitely an advanced topic, something you could learn about if you really wanted to. And there was certainly no one telling me that destructors could be harnessed to help manage memory.
Today, everywhere I look I see RAII and SFINAE and STL and Boost and, well, Modern C++. Even people who are just getting started with the language seem to be taught these concepts almost from day 1.
My question is, is this simply because I'm only seeing the "best", that is, the questions here on SO, and on other programming sites that tend to attract beginners (gamedev.net), or is this actually representative of the C++ community as a whole?
Is modern C++ really becoming the default? Rather than being some fancy thing the experts write about, is it becoming "the way C++ just is"?
Or am I just unable to see the thousands of people who still learn "C with classes" and write their own dynamic arrays instead of using std::vector, and do memory management by manually calling new/delete from their top-level code?
As much as I want to believe it, it seems incredible if the C++ community as a whole has evolved so much in basically a few years.
What are your experiences and impressions?
(disclaimer: Someone not familiar with C++ might misinterpret the title as asking whether C++ is gaining popularity versus other languages. That's not my question. "Modern C++" is a common name for a dialect or programming style within C++, named after the book "Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied", and I'm solely interested in this versus "old C++". So no need to tell me that C++'s time is past, and we should all use Python ;))
Here's how I think things have evolved.
The first generation of C++ programmers were C programmers, who were in fact using C++ as C with classes. Plus, the STL wasn't in place yet, so that's what C++ essentially was.
When the STL came out, that advanced things, but most of the people writing books, putting together curricula, and teaching classes had learned C first, then that extra C++ stuff, so the second generation learned from that perspective. As another answer noted, if you're comfortable writing regular for loops, changing to use std::for_each doesn't buy you much except the warm fuzzy feeling that you're doing things the "modern" way.
Now, we have instructors and book writers who have been using the whole of C++, and getting their instructions from that perspective, such as Koenig & Moo's Accelerated C++ and Stroustrup's new textbook. So we don't learn char* then std::strings.
It's an interesting lesson in how long it takes for "legacy" methods to be replaced, especially when they have a track record of effectiveness.
Absolutely yes. To me if you're not programming C++ in this "Modern C++" style as you term, then there's no point using C++! You might as well just use C. "Modern C++" should be the only way C++ is ever programmed in my opinion, and I would expect that everyone who uses C++ and has programmed in this "Modern" fashion would agree with me. In fact, I am always completely shocked when I hear of a C++ programmer who is unaware of things such as an auto_ptr or a ptr_vector. As far as I'm concerned, those ideas are basic and fundamental to C++, and so I couldn't imagine it any other way.
In the days of Windows 3.1, C was the standard. When C++ hit the developer market and later became ANSI standard, it was the new hotness. It popularized the OOP acronym and some of the basic design patterns using polymorphism.
Now, with the greater acceptance of low-barrier-to-entry managed platforms, like C#/.NET, there's less of a reason to use C++. So much of the developer base will have a choice and let's be honest: C++ is a bear to learn for a novice. With C#, you can just run with it.
That leaves really only the platforms that NEED C++ and the die-hard C++ evangelists to continue practicing the art. This is the community that needs and wants all the layers of abstraction that is considered "Modern C++".
So yes, I believe "Modern C++", as you state it, is becoming more prevalent. Albeit, it's prevalent with a different audience than has used it in the past.
I am one of these guys who learned how to work with the STL and heard a lot about RAII and good C++ programming practices from day 1. Looks like some of the most recommended books for learning C++ today (like Accelerated C++ and the Effective C++ series) focus on using STL tools instead of rolling up your own stuff, and also give lots of "rules" for effective (or "modern") programming.
But talking with friends I also noted some companies still work with "C with Classes", not "Modern C++". Maybe the culture proposed by the authors and users of the "Modern C++" will prevail someday :)
I think you just had a bad experience starting off.
You need to get yourself Scott Meyers Effective C++ books. I started on C++ in anger in 1999, my team lead made me sit and read Effective C++ and More Effective C++ before I was allowed to check in ANY code.
Most of his advice is on the lines of "Don't use this feature, but if you must, keep this in mind"
If you follow his advice you'll write good or "Modern" C++.
He has a book on STL now too, but that I haven't read.
In my C++ jobs, I've found the modern features to be increasingly used, and more people asked me about them in phone screenings and interviews. As far as I can tell, they're catching on.
I learned C++ originally as something like C with Classes; although the language had advanced far beyond that, the books I read and people I worked with were firmly stuck on "old C++". RAII something people would think about, rather than automatically do, and I remember reading some of the early articles on the problems of exception safety.
As pointed out, there's new books out now. Many of the old ones are still relevant, but they increasingly seem to be full of explaining why obviously bad ideas are bad. (Similarly, it's hard for modern readers to understand how revolutionary Freud's ideas of an unconscious mind were, since it's now conventional wisdom.)
Stroustrup just came out with a textbook, Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++. I bought it because I haven't yet failed to learn good stuff from a book of Stroustrup's, but haven't gotten past the first few chapters. So far, all I can say is that I approve of the way he's starting out, and it's at least a good introduction to how C++ should be used.
While working on the project I am presently involved with, there's a lot of C++ code which has evolved over a significant period of time (over 10 years now). The evolution you speak of is clearly visible there: the older code is often "C with classes" - raw pointers, char* strings and use of associated C functions, arrays etc; newer code uses ATL smart pointers and such to manage resources, but still sticks to hand-coded loops most of the time, and iterator is a rare sight; and the newest one is chock-full of STL containers, algorithms, shared_ptr (including custom deleters to manage handles etc), heavily genericized function and class templates, and so on. Most traditional "C with classes" coding techniques, such as raw unencapsulated pointers with manual lifetime management, are very much frowned upon in code reviews these days. Judging by this, it seems that your observation is accurate.
The most recent development seems to be a fad for C++0x lambdas - which has a positive side in that it also tilts the balance in favor of using standard algorithms over hand-coded loops, since now you can have all your code inline with algorithms as well.
I wouldn't say that std::vector qualifies as "modern" these days. It is really basic.
Generally my impression is that people have gained some experience with modern C++ style and sobered up a little. Just to take a simple example, STL for_each was interesting but in practice it does not add a terrible lot of value over a plain C loop. It is harder to debug and sometimes does not provide the best performance. Also the constructs for functional programming in current STL are generally very cumbersome, especially if you got experience from a real functional language like ML.
In my experience (Spanish University), unfortunately, the norm is to not to consider languages in itself. They use the easiest languages to teach programming (i.e. Java), because it is supposed to be easy for teachers and students, and then they use C for the OS classes and such.
C++ is introduced very slightly (at any rate at any course), just to provide a C with classes. They don't get into boost or even STL. I think keeping up with all the characteristics and way of thinking of C++ is costly for both teachers and students. How many of C++ programmers here know enough of all the Boost libraries to use them to give a better solution or to design it? One has to have an interest in keeping up with all the new libraries and idioms.
However, as I said, it seems that programming in general (and programming languages in particular) are not taken too seriously, as it seems to be a temporal assignment when they start a job, then forget how to program as they go up in the enterprise tree. Many enterprises here, and the University itself, have the feel that programming can be done by anybody.
If you follow this philosophy, then for most people I know, C++ will always be "C with classes".
Regards,
In my experience it vastly depends on the age of the software product/project. Most new projects that I am aware of do use modern C++ (RAII, STL, Boost). However, there are many C++ projects that are more than 10 years old, and you don't see modern C++ there.
Also, keep in mind that some of the most popular STL implementations were pretty much broken until maybe 5 years ago (MSVC < 7.0 and GNU < 3.00)
I think the biggest barrier I've encountered is toolchain support, especially on cross-platform projects. Until a few years ago, it was common to see build notes saying "x platform needs STLport to work because their compiler is borked". Even now, I see issues with people trying to use multiple third-party dependencies tied to different versions of BOOST. This makes linking impossible, meaning you have to go back and rebuild your deps from scratch.
Now that just about everyone has stopped using MSVC++ 6, the STLport mess is behind us. But as soon as TR1 is out the door, we're back to "which versions of which environments support it and get it right" and once again this will slow adoption.
I work on a project begun in C (not C++) in 1992. Deploying modern practices across the legacy codebase would be impossible. Likewise I work on another project that is much closer to the cutting edge of C++ language.
Many teams I've been on and heard about consider the big "are we using exceptions?" question. This is code for "are we using modern C++?"
Once you aren't using exceptions, you are precluded from using the full power of the language and its libraries.
But many older codebases are exception-less, and it is perceived to be difficult to shoehorn exceptions into a codebase that doesn't expect them, or into a team that doesn't know how to use them, so the answer in such cases is often 'no.'
In my experience, modern C++ needs someone who is passionate about it on the team, who can't stand the sight of anything less, to push for it. It also needs to overcome the objections of those who want it to be more like the legacy code.
While I don't think that old-C++ codebases are going away very quickly, I do believe there are more of these passionate people in the world than there were five years ago. They face the same uphill battle they faced five years ago, but they are more likely to find kindred spirits.
Before answering such a question, you'd have to agree on what "Modern" is. This not likely to happen, since "Modern" is a poorly defined word, and means different things to different people. The title of Alexandrescu's book (Modern C++ Design) doesn't really help either, since it is largely a book on Template Metaprogramming, which is a specific area of C++ but by no means the only one.
For me, "Modern C++" != "Template Metaprogramming". I would say C++'s features on top of C would fall into these categories:
Classes (Constructors, Destructors, RAII, Dynamic Casting and RTTI)
Exceptions
References
Data Structures and Algorithms in the standard library (STL)
iostreams
Simple class and function templates
Template metaprogramming
None of these are particularly modern, since they've all been around nearly 10 years or more. Most of these features are useful and will allow you to be more productive than straight C for many use cases. A good programmer should and will use all of them in a decent sized project, but one of these things is not like the other:
Template Metaprogramming.
The short answer to template metaprogramming is just say no. Unfortunately to some people it's synonymous to "Modern C++ programming", due to the book, but in the end it creates more problems than it solves. Unless C++ develops better generic programming mechanisms like reflection, it will be ill suited for generic programming, and higher level languages like Python will be a better fit for those use cases. For that and many other reasons, see the C++ FQA
The best book for learning C++. "Accelerated C++" by Koenig & Moo, teaches what you describe as modern C++, so I guess most people these days are using it. For those of us that have been using C++ for quite a while (since the mid 80s in my case), modern C++ is a great relief from the tedious tasks of writing our own arrays, strings, hash tables (repeat ad nauseam).
I have looked at C++ Jobs on indeed and "modern" libraries are more and more used in job descriptions, MFC which is quite an "old-style" c++ library is less used.
The standardization of the language in the late 1990s was the first step, it allowed the compiler makers to focus on the "standard" set of features, also allowed the language to fix some of the rough edges, which appeared trough the standardization process.
This in turn allowed development of frameworks based on standard features of the language, and not on features provided by a particular compiler implementation. The Boost library is notably in this regard. Also this permitted that new development is based on previous work, thus making possible solutions to more complex problems.
A notable change here is how previously frameworks were based on the notion of base classes and derivated classes (a run time feature). But now most advanced features often are heavily based on "recursive" templates (a compile time feature).
The STL has its pros and cons but it survived the test of time, if you want something that works and is simple STL surely has something to help you start. There's no point in reinventing the wheel (unless for didactic reasons).
Computer hardware has also made great leaps from the 1990s, then the memory and CPU are no longer a constraint for the compiler. So most of the theoretical optimizations from books are now possible.
The next steps of the language is the support of multi-core programming, which is part of 0x standard effort.
Yes and no. Certainly for new projects it is increasingly popular. However, there are still barriers to adoption that are practical, not political, that others haven't mentioned. There are a lot of commercial C++ libraries that use ABIs from ancient compilers that don't properly support the features seen in Modern C++, and a lot of companies rely on these libraries. Sun Studio on Solaris for example can't work with Boost without the use of STLport, but any 3rd party commercial library you want to use will require Sun's version of the STL. Same story with GCC 2.95 and Redhat Enterprise Linux.
It's amaizing how little effort goes into making c++ more stable. The warning system is in place, but it's not evolving much. It's even easier to shoot yourself in a foot than it was 10 years ago. Dont know why, but c++ is still my favorite language. :)