nothing, and in fact the idea behind auto is sound if you take it out of the context of C++. in the context of adding to such a powerful and already overloaded

nothing, and in fact the idea behind auto is sound if you take it out of the context of C++. in the context of adding to such a powerful and already overloaded with features language it creates subtle gotchas... i've hit them and seen them being hit, so i don't use it. the usual examples of it shortening iterators are not a problem i have day to day... i also find arguments about typing less and avoiding typing mistakes seem to miss what programming is really about in the wild. i spend 20% of my time at absolute most actually converting my ideas into code and typing them into some document...