I think the most important change to C++ is the addition of a memory model and standard primitives for threading. In its current state, writing a truly thread-

I think the most important change to C++ is the addition of a memory model and standard primitives for threading. In its current state, writing a truly thread-safe, portable program in C++ is nearly impossible. Edit: For some detail on the subject, see Boehm's paper, "Threads cannot be implemented as a library." http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2004/HPL-2004-209.pdf http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2004/HPL-2004-209.pdf [PDF]