

CppCast
Phil Nash & Timur Doumler
Every two weeks, or so, we sit down with guests from the C++ community to discuss the latest news and what they have been up to. Find us at cppcast.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 31, 2024 • 1h 9min
Safe, Borrow-Checked, C++
Sean Baxter, known for implementing a borrow checker in C++, discusses addressing safety issues similar to Rust using his Circle compiler. The podcast covers topics like the noisy class, updates on the final keyword, and upcoming conference news. They explore memory safety, unique pointers, move semantics, and transitioning to safe primitives for enhanced safety in C++. The conversation delves into challenges and benefits of incorporating memory safety features through borrow checking and comparing C++ to Rust.

May 18, 2024 • 1h
Rust <=> C++
Mara Bos joins Phil and Timur. Mara talks to us about her work on the Rust evolution team and how she uses embedded Rust for drone flight controllers. We chat about some of the differences and similarities between C++ and Rust, and what the two languages can, and should, learn from each other.
News
GCC 14 released
Changes
Reddit discussion
"An informal comparison of the three major implementations of std::string" (updated) - Raymond Chen
BugInsight – New memory leak and deadlock finder for C and C++ on Windows
Reddit discussion
Links
"Rust Atomics and Locks" - Mara's book
"driveway moment" (Wiktionary)

May 3, 2024 • 1h 8min
JSON for Modern C++
Niels Lohmann joins Timur and Phil. Niels talks to us about his popular JSON library, JSON for Modern C++ (often just known as nlohmann/json, after its github repo). We chat about the history and purpose of the library, with an interesting aside into starting and maintaining a popular OSS library, as well as what Niels is up to today.
News
"The Performance Impact of C++'s final Keyword" - Benjamin Summerton
Reddit discussion
Kris Jusiak: Meta-meta programming! (Reddit)
Links
"Tips on Surveying the C++ Community" - Anastasia Kazakova's talk
JSON for Modern C++

Apr 23, 2024 • 1h
Pure Virtual C++
Developer Advocate at Microsoft, Sy Brand, talks about the upcoming Pure Virtual C++ conference. The podcast covers topics like C++ Foundation's developer survey, relocatable types, and C++20 modules. They also chat about Boost, Boston C++ meetup, and Sy's short films.

Apr 5, 2024 • 1h 1min
Heterogeneous Computing and C++ Language Evolution
Erich Keane joins Timur and Phil. Erich chats about the recent WG21 meeting in Tokyo, his roles as chair and co-chair of the Language Evolution and Language Evolution Incubator working groups, respectively, as well as heterogeneous computing and his work at NVidia.
News
CppCon - Call for Speakers
ACCU 2024 Online
Bjarne Stroustrup responds to White House warning against C++
David Sankel's post on Boost split
Links
New C++ meetup in Vienna, Austria
Tokyo ISO C++ Committee Trip Reports:
In-depth status report
Herb Sutter's report
Think-Cell's trip report (Jonathan Müller)
Papers discussed:
P2900R6 - "Contracts for C++"
P2996R2 - "Reflection for C++26"
P2688R1 - "Pattern Matching: match Expression"
P2830R1 - "Standardized Type Ordering"

Mar 11, 2024 • 1h 8min
Psychology and Starting Out as a Developer
Gail Ollis joins Phil and Matt Godbolt. Gail talks to us about why, after two decades of software development, she took a degree in psychology followed by a PhD that researched the psychology of software development - and how she now uses this to help others get started and, hopefully, avoid many of the human issues that can plague our software projects.
News
"Contracts MVP is Feature Complete" - Reddit
"Contracts for C++" Timur's C++ London talk
Gemini refuses to talk about C++ 20 Concepts to someone under the age of 18!
Hacker News thread
Twitch streamer's reaction (ThePrimeTime)
“White House urges developers to dump C and C++” - InfoWorld
Conferences:
C++ on Sea Early Bird tickets and option, CfP closes soon (3rd-5th July)
using std::cpp, Madrid (24th-26th April)
C++ Now (29th April - 3rd May)
ACCU full schedule and volunteers programme (17th-20th April)
Links
"Early Careers Day: A mini-conference for junior developers" - Gail's ACCU 2024 workshop
"The kids are alright" - Gail's ACCU 2024 session showcasing her students
Paper's Gail has co-authored on blending cyber security and software development:
Putting the Sec in DevSecOps: Using Social Practice Theory to Improve Secure Software Development
Dancing, not Wrestling: Moving from Compliance to Concordance for Secure Software Development
"Helping developers to help each other: a technique to facilitate understanding among professional software developers" - Gail's PhD thesis

Feb 23, 2024 • 1h 1min
Compiler Explorer Revisited
Patrick Quist joins Phil and Timur. Patrick chats with us about their work on the Compiler Explorer team and how they got into it. We explore some useful features that may not be as widely known, and take a peek under the hood at how it all runs.
News
"C++ Package Managers: The Ultimate Roundup" - blog post by Christopher McArthur
"Demystifying Lakos Rule via Visualization and How It Could Relate to Constexpr" blog post by Miro Palmu
"A Year of C++ Improvements in Visual Studio, VS Code, and vcpkg" - blog post by Sy Brand
NVidia interview question - Reddit thread
Links
History of Delphi
Compiler Explorer
Also Compiler Explorer
Compiler Explorer Public Dashboard (live stats)

4 snips
Feb 9, 2024 • 53min
Teaching and Training Modern C++
Rainer Grimm, a seasoned C++ trainer, shares insights from his extensive teaching experience. He discusses the accessibility of training through online platforms and his thoughts on modern C++. Rainer highlights innovative teaching methods, exploring the balance between traditional and interactive learning. He emphasizes the importance of continuous education, especially regarding advanced features like coroutines and modules, while sharing anecdotes about the ongoing evolution of C++ and its relevance in today's tech landscape.

Jan 26, 2024 • 1h 13min
Reflection for C++26
Daveed Vandevoorde, a contributor to getting Reflection into C++26, joins hosts Phil and Timur. They discuss the implementation of reflection in C++26, the competitiveness of proposal in C++, and the potential of reflection to eliminate separate scripts.

Jan 12, 2024 • 1h 8min
Modern C++ with Qt
Ville Voutilainen from The Qt Company and C++ standard committee discusses integrating modern C++ features with Qt. Topics include Modules, Sender/Receiver, Qt framework, and C++ 20/23 support. Also, updates on C++ 23 standard release delay, Boston C++ meetup, and C++ Now conference.


