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Ask HN: Catching Up on C++?

12 points by netule ↗ HN
Hi folks, up until 2013, I worked as a C++ developer but moved on to web technologies. In the last decade or so, the language and its features have moved on significantly; when I left, C++11 had barely made its way into compilers, so you could say I'm quite behind on the times.

This is probably a stretch, but since I want to get my feet wet in C++ again, is there some resource that could help me catch up on new features and things worth learning? I would love to avoid reading through reams of standards, but if that's it, that's it.

Many thanks in advance.

8 comments

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LorenDB
Read through https://www.learncpp.com. You'll get a complete refresher on the language, but it will be using modern C++ stuff (modern in this case means C++17).

For C++20 and newer, honestly, the only big feature that I ever use is concepts, although I do also use the new struct initialization syntax[0].

[0]: https://www.cppstories.com/2021/designated-init-cpp20/

netule
Fantastic, thanks for the pointers!
badpun
I personally think modules are fantastic. Finally, with modules, C++ catches up to the rest of programming world, and allows you to completely ditch the outdated header/implementation split.
_ua_
I was quite excited about modules, but apart from MSVC no other compiler seems to think it's important :/.
pjmlp
clang 17 with CMake 3.28 is also quite alright.
_ua_
I think C++20 coroutines are awesome! They need a bit of getting used to but helps to write very readable code, specially when having to mix C++ with C callbacks.