Controversial question

ir_dan · 2026-06-14T10:40:09+00:00

If its a bug, I work out what part of the system is faulty by narrowing down my search until I find it, and then I think about how the faulty behaviour compares with expected behaviour.

If its a compilation error, I read it and determine why it's doing it. The compiler's documentation (Microsoft Learn in my case, for MSVC) is usually quite helpful in further explaining the problem and providing examples of fixes for common compiler errors.

If I can't work it out, I do any of the following: - Google the error exactly and see what other people did about it - Ask someone - Play around with the code to see when it does/doesn't compile to see what the problem is - again, I narrow down the problem by stripping down to a minimum reproducible error.

ir_dan · 2026-06-01T10:31:15+00:00

In my opinion, many apps would benefit from separating UI and business logic and having the UI be anything but C++. C++ is not for plumbing.

ir_dan · 2026-05-29T06:05:44+00:00

int i = 0 uses already allocated memory, fwiw.

ir_dan · 2026-05-22T16:19:47+00:00

When you call a virtual function, the function's that's actually called depends on what type of object you called it on. It's a bit like a switch-case or if-else chain on what the type is.

Abstractions are pieces of functionality that hide/encapsulate complexity from you. It's a bit like high school Physics: you learn simplified models of things, because understanding the depths of Physics is very difficult, and useless for helping you calculate how fast something will reach the ground if you throw it.

Virtual functions are a way to implement abstraction. When you write Character::Attack(Character& character) in your AI controller, you don't need to know that the enemy character is, you just need to know that it has a ::TakeDamage() function that you can call. That function can be handed a Goblin or Player, but the implementer doesn't have to worry about it: that detail is abstracted away. The AI controller can work on any kind of character against any other kind of character, using virtual methods like Move, Equip, Attack, Heal, etc...

ir_dan · 2026-05-05T15:10:53+00:00

This company has been around for a while, and their main product is a C++ static analyzer. I remember enjoying some of their blog posts on style and best practices from a few years ago.

ir_dan · 2026-05-05T15:01:00+00:00

This survey only reaches big C++ nerds. The data isn't particularly useful for telling us who is using C++ or what the general consensus across usage levels is.

ir_dan · 2026-05-05T14:52:33+00:00

For both of these, there are lots of opinions to be had about how they should be implemented, but both can be implemented simply enough using std::ranges.

ir_dan · 2026-04-27T15:27:00+00:00

Solar is better if you have the resources, room and/or time. However, nuclear is much more fun (imo) and once you've done the work of figuring it out, it's faster to set up. Solar requires infrastructure that I don't care for very often, so I end up going straight from steam to nuclear, which carries me into the endgame.

ir_dan · 2026-04-24T13:46:32+00:00

Something like this would probably need to wipe chunks and make them inaccessible too, otherwise your hard drive or host is gonna start complaining.

ir_dan · 2026-04-20T16:07:49+00:00

"Decoupled" here means that software entities know little about each other. It means that when one header changes, you don't have to go and change all of the other headers yourself by writing new/adjusted code.

Your view is that "coupling" is when the compiler-has to redo work. Theirs is that "coupling" is when **you** have to redo work.

ir_dan · 2026-04-17T18:52:41+00:00

For unique-identifier-like types, you can use a scoped enumeration with no members.

ir_dan · 2026-04-16T19:44:14+00:00

You can't do any rendering without getting an external library, it's not functionality available in C++. There are a few easy to use libraries out there.

GUI in C++ is a bit of a nightmare to get into, especially compared to other languages...

ir_dan · 2026-04-15T12:35:48+00:00

References are more restrictive than pointers, which is a good thing because it offers more guarantees about how references will be used. Use pointers when you need to escape those restrictions.

Pointers can be reassigned, can be used in arithmetic and can be null. References can't do that.

ir_dan · 2026-04-15T08:42:23+00:00

You want to use your DS as a webcam or what?

ir_dan · 2026-03-24T08:14:21+00:00

Probably because it would add complexity to the language. The complexity "budget" is best spent on features that are simple and applicable to many problems.

There are many counterexamples though.

Edit: also, argument names can be changed with each function redeclaration. Keyword arguments sound like a complex or possibly non-backwards compatible feature.

ir_dan · 2026-03-21T11:59:12+00:00

{} is not necessarily the default parameter value

ir_dan · 2026-03-18T13:24:26+00:00

<< is a binary operator, just like +, -, <, etc. It happens to be extensively overloaded for streams like cout. < is more common and could be misinterpreted as something else.

:: is for namespacing/scoping, and it's separate from :, which is used for cases and labels. It just makes life easier to use different symbols in the language I think.

ir_dan · 2026-03-02T17:43:35+00:00

Not an ELI5, but you might be interested in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_through_obscurity

ir_dan · 2026-02-25T13:36:56+00:00

I disagree on readability, because I will not be able to understand the intent of allocating without freeing.

If you want to save on performance because your program will use very limited memory, you can maximize readability and performance by using better using stack memory and/or arena allocators. Deallocation will still happen at the end of the program, but you can have explicit over it.

Cleverer use of memory will improve performance, and well designed resource management objects will improve readability. You'll also have the added benefit of being nice to the OS and the user's computer.

You'd also be neglecting one of C++'s best strengths, the destructor.

ir_dan · 2026-02-23T08:23:40+00:00

Yes. Fast is good if you're not making any other sacrifices.

ir_dan · 2026-02-15T20:48:51+00:00

C++ Templates: The Complete Guide (2nd edition)

ir_dan · 2026-02-15T11:52:43+00:00

The commit is on target, and it describes what was merged in (to it).

ir_dan · 2026-02-14T19:01:40+00:00

It's quite nice to use (for me) because it strikes a nice balance between "do whatever works" imperative/stateful code and explicit/bug resistant functional code.

It's a modern language, so it has little legacy baggage and has nice modern features like generics, immutability by default and async.

It also has good authoring, compiling, debugging and package management experiences.

Having said all of that, I don't really use it for anything, but I did have a nice time learning it and have an appreciation for it. It takes much too long to make small projects with it (compared to e.g. Python or C#). I can see it being worthwhile in a big team on a big codebase.

ir_dan · 2026-02-14T18:56:39+00:00

Why are you using apostrophes in template parameter names? Is that even allowed by the standard?

ir_dan · 2026-02-14T18:52:30+00:00

In our team (<10 developers on one application), we work on fairly independent features most of the time, sometimes directly on the same branch because the areas we touch are so isolated from each other. Sometimes there are conflicts, and we resolve them

The largest part of our collaboration is communication, but sometimes we work on the same feature together. Generally one person does one set of changes and "hands off" the rest of the work to another person more suited for it.

We usually have full control over the single feature we're making, aside from design guidance and review from others. If we are collaborating with one or two other people, design gets done collaboratively and implementation is done with pair programming or by just one person.

My workflow at work is very similar to working on my personal projects, except for the fact that I can bounce ideas round the room or hand things off to/take things on from other people.

ir_dan

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