Questions tagged [c++]
Questions about C++, a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language.
2,595
questions
28
votes
7answers
3k views
C++ skills higher than C skills? [closed]
I feel that the often seen C/C++ doesn't really describe my skills in my CV. So I'm planning to separate it into advanced C++ knowledge and mediocre C skills.
Do you think this is confusing for the ...
5
votes
7answers
3k views
What keywords are important to speedup the code in C++?
I'm porting to C++ and adding a lot of functionality to a numerical application written in Fortran 77. While I hate F77, I have to admit that the thing goes very fast. Now, I'm implementing ...
7
votes
8answers
2k views
Why has the rate of programming language popularization slowed down in recent decades? [closed]
If I understand correctly, there was a huge birth of programming languages during the early decades of computing, but then things have stabilized.
Basically, why are many universities and industries ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Delegation and MetaClass in C++
We have an OOP course at our university, while discussing the concepts I came across MetaClass and Delegation. As far as I know, these don't exist in C++.
Could someone give an example by which I can ...
2
votes
2answers
9k views
Fastest C++ XML parsing library
I have thousands of .xml files from size 1MB-45MB (no DTDs). I need to parse and further manipulate these XML files before generating separate .xml files with the results of my regex.
What the ...
17
votes
13answers
5k views
Is it an appropriate use of #define to make typing repeated code easier?
Is there any view on whether using the #define to define full lines of code for simplifying coding is good or bad programming practice? For example, if I needed to print a bunch of words together, I'd ...
23
votes
7answers
2k views
Does adding unit tests make sense for well-known legacy code?
I'm talking about unit tests in the TDD sense. (Not automated "integration", or what you like to call it tests.)
Legacy code as in: (C++) code without tests. (see: Michael Feathers' Working ...
3
votes
2answers
6k views
How to apply good Object Oriented Design principles in Embedded Systems [closed]
I am a firmware engineer moved from Electrical background to Embedded Systems. I was till now programming in C and never bothered to apply OO principles in my design. Recently I was forced to ...
1
vote
1answer
574 views
Designing Subclasses for an abstract base class in C++
I'm doing a small assignment in C++ where I have to use concepts like virtual functions and inheritance in a domain of my choice. I'm implementing the prototype for a package manager in Linux.
I have ...
3
votes
3answers
398 views
How to keep settings for C++ Unit Test modules in sync with the production code modules?
Note: I'm coming from a Windows / Visual-C++ background.
Note: I have already read Michael Feathers' Working Effectively with Legacy Code.
Note: Broad question, asking for narrow answers, i.e. while I ...
3
votes
5answers
6k views
What is the best method to start understanding BIG project source code? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do you dive into large code bases?
Sometimes before developing new products we need to understand some existing products or existing source code.
Sometimes to write ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
C++ XML Parsing: Suggestions on Approach for Parsing and Storing data
I am looking into developing a C++ application to parse xml (using the rapidxml framework), and I would like some advice on how to approach this.
The file I want to parse is a XML game file that ...
53
votes
3answers
22k views
Why are exception specifications bad?
Back in school some 10+ years ago, they were teaching you to use exception specifiers. Since my background is as one of them Torvaldish C programmers who stubbornly avoids C++ unless forced to, I only ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Thread class design?
I have a method like this in my UI code:
void MyDialog::OnCommandSaveData()
{
std::list<MyClass*> objects;
service_->GetAll(objects);
dataService_->SaveObjects(objects);
...
25
votes
13answers
10k views
Is Systems Hungarian notation still a useful practice? [closed]
I searched the forum, but I couldn't find the answers why it should be avoided, only why it's not a silver bullet. So I don't think this question is a duplicate.
Is there a VALID reason why I should ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
How can we verify that software meets specifications meets requirements?
So we're pretty good at eliciting requirements from our end customers, business division and sales/marketing. We plan projects to add/enhance features to meet those requests and prioritize tasks to ...
13
votes
7answers
38k views
Is there a common capitalization convention in C++? [closed]
I do a lot of work in Python and Java, and both those languages have fairly common (though not universal) conventions on how capitalization should be used in identifiers: both use PascalCase for class ...
40
votes
11answers
29k views
Are there any real-world cases for C++ without exceptions? [closed]
In When to use C over C++, and C++ over C? there is a statement wrt. to code size / C++ exceptions:
Jerry answers (among other points):
(...) it tends to be more difficult to produce truly tiny ...
164
votes
12answers
497k views
When to use C over C++, and C++ over C?
I've been introduced to Computer Science for a little over a year now, and from my experience it seems that C and C++ are both considered to be "ultrafast" languages, whereas others such as Python and ...
1
vote
3answers
2k views
Finding all nearby points in a point cloud
What's the best way to store 3D point cloud data, optimising for time it takes to find all the points in a sphere of 3D space, and also for time it takes to insert new data points into the data set?
...
2
votes
2answers
482 views
How would you design a generic layer for OpenGL windowing that does not care how the program underneath actually looks like?
The kind of OpenGL windowing that I refer to is like GLFW, GLUT, SDL, etc.
Imagine three C++ programs: (ignore syntax)
Game A:
class Game
resize()
keyEvent()
Game B:
resize()
keyEvent()
...
17
votes
3answers
7k views
Where to start learning to use the Boost libraries? [closed]
Boost has recently become available on the project on which I'm working, and I don't have much experience with it. The library has so many parts and features that it's hard to know where to get ...
6
votes
3answers
11k views
Can anyone recommend a good robot kit for learning C++ robotics programming? [closed]
Preferably something that is a combination of affordable and close to real world robotics programming and will allow me to program it with C++.
2
votes
1answer
266 views
Can anyone recommend a toolchain-agnostic way of declaring and documenting inter-package build dependencies?
I currently have a project at my hand that I'll leave soon (PhD work) and should be left in an understandable form since it is likely to be taken up, though it is not known yet by whom and when.
...
13
votes
7answers
2k views
Does C# experience translate well to C++? [closed]
My programming classes in school were C++, but I ended up working a job doing C# for the last few years. If there was a position that required say 1 or 2 years experience in C++, would my experience ...
39
votes
8answers
5k views
In C++, how much programmer time is spent doing memory management
People who are used to garbage collected languages are often scared of C++'s memory management. There are tools, like auto_ptr and shared_ptr which will handle many of the memory management tasks for ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
How should I bring my C++ back up to date with modern developments? [closed]
How should I bring some very rusty C++ up to date, as I'm sure the language and best practices have evolved? I realise this might be close to being off-topic so let my clarify some details. About 10 ...
5
votes
3answers
3k views
Handling false positives and legacy code warnings in static-analysis of C++ code? [closed]
We have a large "legacy" C++ code base on which no static analysis is run at the moment.
Every now and then, we are thinking about at least using cppcheck, maybe via Visual Lint. (I've also briefly ...
21
votes
6answers
4k views
C++ Renaissance - marketing slogan? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does the latest “C++ Renaissance” mean?
Lately, I hear a lot about C++ Renaissance. What is that?
C++ is currently undergoing a renaissance. This means ...
16
votes
12answers
14k views
Why is Java considered more portable than other languages like C++?
What differs between "writing a specific JRE for each platform" for Java developers and "writing a C++ compiler for each platform" for C++ ones?
1
vote
4answers
544 views
What programs emit C++ code and pass it to mainstream compilers?
I suspect there're programs that instead of emitting machine code instead emit C++ code and then start a mainstream C++ compiler to compile it to machine code.
I can't find any notable examples ...
83
votes
13answers
36k views
Why would it ever be possible for Java to be faster than C++?
Sometimes Java outperforms C++ in benchmarks. Of course, sometimes C++ outperforms.
See the following links:
http://keithlea.com/javabench/
http://blog.dhananjaynene.com/2008/07/performance-...
14
votes
4answers
36k views
Is there a general rule for when you should use 'make clean' instead of just 'make'?
I am writing a multiple-filed program right now, and apparently running only 'make' (as one would intuitively think needs to be done in most situations) for some reason causes my program to fail. I ...
10
votes
4answers
16k views
Fast algorithm to search a sorted array of floats to find the pair of floats bracketing an input value
I have an array of floats, sorted from smallest to largest, and need to be able to pick out the nearest float greater than or less than a passed input value. This input value is not necessarily ...
26
votes
13answers
6k views
Tutoring students who are struggling with the basics in C++ [closed]
I am tutoring a few students who are having significant trouble learning the basics of their first programming language: C++. I have known many excellent and bright students who have failed or dropped ...
1
vote
4answers
2k views
Why python library APIs are more intutive than C++ STL library APIs? [closed]
I am not sure whether it is a personal perspective or just a common feeling. I think in most cases, python's API is much more intuitive than C++ STL library APIs.
If it is not a subjective judgement,...
19
votes
5answers
2k views
Why C++ cannot adopt D's approach for its concept implementation?
As many of you guys know, concepts, C++'s approach for constraining possible types for a template argument has failed to be included in C++11.
I learned that the D programming language 2.0 has a ...
35
votes
17answers
13k views
Teaching C++ to first time high school students: Where to draw the line?
I will be mentoring a team of high school students for the FIRST Robotics Competition, most teams here develop[ their robot software using C++. For many of the students on the team this will be their ...
59
votes
17answers
10k views
What programming problems are best solved by using pointers? [closed]
Well, I basically understand how to use pointers, but not how best to use them in order to do better programming.
What are good projects or problems to resolve involving the use of pointers so I can ...
3
votes
3answers
602 views
Reasons for C++ Prototyping
I'm a beginning programmer, trying to get a grasp on everything, so pardon the probably mundane theoretical question:
I see in a C++ tutorial that prototyping is needed to let the compiler know that ...
4
votes
7answers
3k views
Pass in single settings object vs multiple setter methods?
Working with C++. Suppose I have a class BoxFilter. The class is used to filter boxes which have properties such as height, width, depth, weight, etc. The filter might have something like MaxWidth ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there a term for the error-handling anti-pattern of discarding all available info and just returning failure?
From time to time (unfortunately way too often) I have to fix code such as this:
// C++ code
bool anyOldFunction(Param p) {
try {
...
if(some_condition_here) {
handleErrorX();
return ...
7
votes
4answers
4k views
Do I need to understand pointers to use C++?
Well, I love C++, I have been using it for a while: I like all the libraries (Allegro, SDL, QT, Ogre, etc.), but I have a problem: I don't understand pointers.
Do I really need them ? I just program ...
26
votes
8answers
16k views
C++ to friend or not to friend
I have an object oriented programming with c++ course this semester at college and we were learning about friend functions.
I instinctively dislike them for their ability to bypass the security that ...
10
votes
8answers
4k views
What should I expect from a technical evaluation for C++? [closed]
I have been asked to go for a technical test/evaluation for a job as a junior developer, mainly using C++. This is my first test/evaluation, and it is 2 hours long.
My C++ is a bit rusty as I have ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
Why were concepts (generic programming) conceived when we already had classes and interfaces?
Also on stackoverflow.com:
I understand that STL concepts had to exist, and that it would be silly to call them "classes" or "interfaces" when in fact they're only documented (human) concepts and ...
48
votes
4answers
32k views
How could the first C++ compiler be written in C++?
Stroustrup claims that Cfront, the first C++ compiler, was written in C++ (Stroustrup FAQ).
However, how is it even possible that the first C++ compiler be written in C++?
The code that makes up the ...
51
votes
2answers
11k views
How should C++ Unit Test code be organized for maximum Unit Test efficiency?
This question is not about Unit Testing Frameworks.
This question is not about writing Unit Tests.
This question is about where to put the UT code written and how/when/where to compile and run it.
...
11
votes
6answers
9k views
Choosing the type of Index Variables
We use Integer type represent index variables most of the time. But in some situations, we're forced to choose
std::vector<int> vec;
....
for(int i = 0; i < vec.size(); ++i)
....
This ...
4
votes
3answers
4k views
What is a good workflow for a C++ beginner?
I desire to become a more serious scientific C++ programmer. To do so, I need a consistent style of workflow (e.g., coding, test-driven development, etc.). My question is simply what sort of ...
