Beautiful C++: 30 Core Guidelines for Writing Clean, Safe, and Fast Code

The C++ Core Guidelines can help any C++ developer design and write C++ programs that are exceptionally reliable, robust, and well-performing. But the Guidelines are so jam-packed with excellent advice that it's hard to know where to start. So: start here, with Beautiful C++. Leading C++ programmers Guy Davidson and Kate Gregory identify 30 core guidelines you'll find especially valuable, and offer detailed practical knowledge for making the most of them. Davidson and Gregory identify five major areas to gain benefit from the Core Guidelines:

• Avoiding bikeshedding (wasting valuable time on trivia instead of what's really important)
• Not hurting yourself by writing code that's more likely to cause you problems later
• Knowing which features to avoid and which to use instead
• Using C++'s newer capabilities properly, to get their benefits without creating new problems
• Writing code well by default--e.g., to remain statically type safe, prevent leaks, and enable optimization

Throughout, Davidson and Gregory offer powerfully useful conceptual insights--for instance, why you should think in terms of tasks, not threads. They illuminate proven ways to use key C++ features more successfully: from constructors to functions, pointers and error handling to namespaces. You'll learn how to make the most of new or evolving features such as enum and templates, and write code that's more robust and optimizable by default.

Beautiful C++ can help you quickly improve every C++ program you write or design--and it'll be the perfect complement to Rainer Grimm's comprehensive reference, C++ Core Guidelines.