4 ms·

Modern C++ Programming: Busato

102 points by KnuthIsGod 5mo ago

captaincrowbar 5mo ago
"This open-access course is directed at those who are already familiar with C and object-oriented programming" ... but not C++ That's a very, very small target you're aiming at there.
- grg0 5mo ago
  Regardless, it is a very comprehensive review for C++ programmers, and even intermediate ones will probably see new material there.
- actionfromafar 5mo ago
  "This open-access course is directed at those who are already familiar with very old C++ and object-oriented programming" ... but not modern C++ Written this way, the target is bit larger.
bvrmn 5mo ago
Another book tactically missing memory and ownership design for modern c++ apps. I think there is no more important topic for teaching. There are some slides in advanced sections but it's quite ironic one needs to know about it from the start!! Who owns memory? How to pass it? Move? Borrow? How to communicate it for readers? It's like a tribal knowledge. Every time I touch enterprise C++ codebase it's a freakshow heavily struggling with memory management. As reference the material could be good, as study it's very questionable.
- shorsher 5mo ago
  Do you have any recommendations for books/materials that do include these topics? I've never used c++ professionally, but have been starting to learn it and would appreciate a modern reference on these items.
- on_the_train 5mo ago
  Nothing did more damage to c++ code bases than people not understanding this. People hear "smart pointers are good" and use them for everything. Not understanding that it's just the lesser evil and still extremely rarely needed (vs just stack memory or variants)
neko_ranger 5mo ago
there are so many job listings for c++ in big tech, but it feels like it's hard to gain proper c++ experience without already being on those projects. it's sweet that those c++ systems are probably critical and actually do cool things, but if I wanted to be a c++ guy there, it's hard to get the experience without already being there I feel. c++ actually doesn't look too bad with RAII? but maybe it's a dying breed anyway, so I should just learn rust/go/zig/etc
- nicoburns 5mo ago
  Learning Rust is probably onone of the more accessible ways to get this kind of experience. It won't teach you everything you'd need to know to write C++ professionally, but it teaches a lot of the it, including a lot of best practices that it's otherwise hard to learn outside of a professional environment.
  - boris 5mo ago
    I don't know, someone who solves their borrow checker errors by adding more dynamic allocations (which seems to be common/recommended), will be taught how to program in Java, not C++.
    - nicoburns 5mo ago
      That's only recommended for beginners while they get tuo to speed (to try and help them avoid ahve to learn too much at once). It's absolutely not recommended in general. The whole point of the borrow checker is to enable memory safety without heap allocating and garbage collecting everything.
- portender 5mo ago
  To me, using a programming language that lets me manage memory on a problem where it was important to me (because constraints or performance or whatever) has always been eye opening. go feels like a different thing there, but I suppose cgo can get you into the realm.
koala-news 5mo ago
Ha, why another programming language? I thought we wouldn't need to learn these in the AI era.
- MathMonkeyMan 5mo ago
  C++ is a rather old programming language.
IshKebab 5mo ago
I think you have to be more specific than "modern". "Modern C++" used to mean smart pointers etc. I assume this isn't that.
spacechild1 5mo ago
I just read through a few chapters. This is actually a very nice and solid resource!
KnuthIsGod 5mo ago
About the Author: "Accelerating Sparse Linear Algebra at NVIDIA Senior Software Engineer, IC5 I’m a Software Engineer at NVIDIA in Santa Clara, US (headquarter). I work in the CUDA HPC Math Library team and have been leading the Sparse Linear Algebra group for the past 6 years. My interests outside sparse linear algebra include parallel computing, software optimization, and graph algorithms. I am also passionate about programming and software engineering, primarily in C++. ..... I taught C++ professionally for 5 years in undergraduate and graduate courses. I maintain an open-access C++ course. " https://federico-busato.github.io/ https://federico-busato.github.io/

102 points by KnuthIsGod 5mo ago

"This open-access course is directed at those who are already familiar with C and object-oriented programming" ... but not C++ That's a very, very small target you're aiming at there.

grg0 5mo ago
Regardless, it is a very comprehensive review for C++ programmers, and even intermediate ones will probably see new material there.
actionfromafar 5mo ago
"This open-access course is directed at those who are already familiar with very old C++ and object-oriented programming" ... but not modern C++ Written this way, the target is bit larger.

bvrmn 5mo ago

Another book tactically missing memory and ownership design for modern c++ apps. I think there is no more important topic for teaching. There are some slides in advanced sections but it's quite ironic one needs to know about it from the start!! Who owns memory? How to pass it? Move? Borrow? How to communicate it for readers? It's like a tribal knowledge. Every time I touch enterprise C++ codebase it's a freakshow heavily struggling with memory management. As reference the material could be good, as study it's very questionable.

shorsher 5mo ago
Do you have any recommendations for books/materials that do include these topics? I've never used c++ professionally, but have been starting to learn it and would appreciate a modern reference on these items.
on_the_train 5mo ago
Nothing did more damage to c++ code bases than people not understanding this. People hear "smart pointers are good" and use them for everything. Not understanding that it's just the lesser evil and still extremely rarely needed (vs just stack memory or variants)

neko_ranger 5mo ago

there are so many job listings for c++ in big tech, but it feels like it's hard to gain proper c++ experience without already being on those projects. it's sweet that those c++ systems are probably critical and actually do cool things, but if I wanted to be a c++ guy there, it's hard to get the experience without already being there I feel. c++ actually doesn't look too bad with RAII? but maybe it's a dying breed anyway, so I should just learn rust/go/zig/etc

nicoburns 5mo ago
Learning Rust is probably onone of the more accessible ways to get this kind of experience. It won't teach you everything you'd need to know to write C++ professionally, but it teaches a lot of the it, including a lot of best practices that it's otherwise hard to learn outside of a professional environment.
- boris 5mo ago
  I don't know, someone who solves their borrow checker errors by adding more dynamic allocations (which seems to be common/recommended), will be taught how to program in Java, not C++.
  - nicoburns 5mo ago
    That's only recommended for beginners while they get tuo to speed (to try and help them avoid ahve to learn too much at once). It's absolutely not recommended in general. The whole point of the borrow checker is to enable memory safety without heap allocating and garbage collecting everything.
portender 5mo ago
To me, using a programming language that lets me manage memory on a problem where it was important to me (because constraints or performance or whatever) has always been eye opening. go feels like a different thing there, but I suppose cgo can get you into the realm.

koala-news 5mo ago

Ha, why another programming language? I thought we wouldn't need to learn these in the AI era.

MathMonkeyMan 5mo ago
C++ is a rather old programming language.

IshKebab 5mo ago

I think you have to be more specific than "modern". "Modern C++" used to mean smart pointers etc. I assume this isn't that.

spacechild1 5mo ago

I just read through a few chapters. This is actually a very nice and solid resource!

KnuthIsGod 5mo ago

About the Author: "Accelerating Sparse Linear Algebra at NVIDIA Senior Software Engineer, IC5 I’m a Software Engineer at NVIDIA in Santa Clara, US (headquarter). I work in the CUDA HPC Math Library team and have been leading the Sparse Linear Algebra group for the past 6 years. My interests outside sparse linear algebra include parallel computing, software optimization, and graph algorithms. I am also passionate about programming and software engineering, primarily in C++. ..... I taught C++ professionally for 5 years in undergraduate and graduate courses. I maintain an open-access C++ course. " https://federico-busato.github.io/ https://federico-busato.github.io/