There's no widely accepted definition for "restrained" C++. Not only does it vary by author, but also by project. For example, template-heavy code might be re

There's no widely accepted definition for "restrained" C++. Not only does it vary by author, but also by project. For example, template-heavy code might be restrained on an embedded project (due to code size concerns), but not on a desktop app. If you'd like to see another concrete example of a "restrained" C++, check out the Joint Strike Fighter Air Vehicle C++ Coding Standards. It contains extremely specific details on what parts of C++ to use. For example, it disallows the use of unions and exceptions, and restricts heap allocation to initialization-time only: http://www2.research.att.com/~bs/JSF-AV-rules.pdf http://www2.research.att.com/~bs/JSF-AV-rules.pdf