Modern C++ Programming

C++11 / C++14 / C++17 / C++20 / (C++23)

This open-access course is directed at those who are already familiar with C and object-oriented programming towards a proficiency level of C++ programming. The course covers the basics of C++ programming and moves on to advanced C++ semantics and concepts.

Key features:

Free and frequently updated
Include the last language standard concepts and features
Practical teaching: small structured descriptions associated with code
Minimal code examples for showing just a specific feature or issue without digressing
Complementary language aspects: tools, coding conventions, project organization, and code optimization
Experience-based: many aspects, examples, and problems come from real-world cases faced during my work as software engineer

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CHAPTERS

	TITLE	MAIN FOCUS
1	Introduction	History of C/C++, Areas of Applications, Course introduction
2	Basic Concepts I - Fundamental Types	Types overview, operators, and conversion
3	Basic Concepts II - Integral and Floating-point Types	Integral and floating-point types and their arithmetic
4	Basic Concepts III - Entities and Control Flow	Enumerators, structures, control flow statements
5	Basic Concepts IV - Memory Management	Heap, Stack, pointers, references, const properties, conversion operators
6	Basic Concepts V - Functions and Preprocessing	Functions, lambda expressions, preprocessing directives
7	Object Oriented Programming I - Class Concepts	Class hierarchy, constructor, destructor, class keywords
8	Object Oriented Programming II - Polymorphism and Operator Overloading	Polymorphism, operators overloading
9	Templates and Meta-programming I - Function Templates and Compile-Time Utilities	Function template, type traits
10	Templates and Meta-programming II - Class Templates and SFINAE	Class template, SFINAE
11	Translation Units I	Linkage and One Definition Rule
12	Translation Units II	Dealing with multiple translation units and files, `#include`, and modules
13	Code Conventions	Project organization and main code conventions
14	Ecosystem I	Debugging, and testing
15	Ecosystem II	Cmake, documenting, and other Tools
16	Utilities	Main `std` libraries
17	Containers, Iterators, and Algorithms	Containers, iterators, algorithms, ranges
18	Advanced Topics I	Move semantics, universal reference, type deduction
19	Advanced Topics II	Error handling, C++ idioms, smart pointers
20	Optimization I - Basic Concepts	Ahmdal Law, performance bounds, architecture concepts (ILP, SIMD, etc.), memory hierarchy
21	Optimization II - Code Optimization	Arithmetic optimizations, memory optimizations, etc.
22	Optimization III - Non-Coding Optimizations and Benchmarking	Compiler optimizations, profiling and benchmarking tools

TOPICS IN DETAILS

1. Introduction

A Little History of C/C++ Programming Languages
Areas of Application and Popularity
C++ Philosophy
C++ Weakness
Books and References
The Course

2. Basic Concepts I - Fundamental Types

Preparation: What compiler should I use?, What editor/IDE compiler should I use?, How to compile?
Hello World: I/O Stream
C++ Fundamental Types Overview: Arithmetic types, Non-standard arithmetic types, void type, Pointer type and nullptr
Conversion Rules
auto declaration
C++ Operators: Operators precedence, Prefix/Postfix increment/decrement, Assignment, Compound , and Comma operators, Spaceship operator <=> , Safe Comparison Operators

3. Basic Concepts II - Integral and Floating-point Types

Integral Data Types: Fixed width integers, size_t andptrdiff_t, When use signed/unsigned integer? Promotion, Truncation, Undefined behavior
Floating-point Types and Arithmetic: IEEE Floating-point Standard and Other Representations, Normal/Denormal values, Infinity, Not a Number (NaN), Machine Epsilon, Units at the Last Place (ULP), Cheatsheet, Summary, Arithmetic Properties, Detect Floating-point Errors
Floating-point Issues: Catastrophic cancellation, Floating-point comparison

4. Basic Concepts III - Entities and Control Flow

Enumerators
struct, Bitfield, union
Control Flow: if Statement, for Loop, Range-base for loop, switch, goto

5. Basic Concepts IV - Memory Management

Heap and Stack: Stack Memory, new, delete, Non-allocating placement allocation, Non-throwing allocation, Memory leak
Initialization: Variable initialization, Uniform initialization, Fixed-size array initialization, Structure initialization, Dynamic memory initialization
Pointers and References: Pointer Operations, Address-of operator &, Reference
Constant and Literals, const, constexpr, consteval, constinit, if constexpr, std::is constant evaluated(), if consteval
volatile keyword
Explicit Type Conversion: static_cast, const_cast, reinterpret_cast, Type punning
sizeof Operator

6. Basic Concepts V - Functions and Preprocessing

Declaration and Definition
Functions: Pass by-value, Pass by-pointer, Pass by-reference, Function signature and Overloading, Overloading and =delete, Default parameters, Attributes
Function Pointer and Function Objects
Lambda Expressions: Capture list, Other features, Capture list and classes
Preprocessing: Preprocessors, Common errors, Useful macro, Stringizing operator (#), #error and warning, #pragma, Token-Pasting Operator (##), Variadic Macro

7. Object-Oriented Programming I - Class Concepts

C++ Classes: RAII Idiom
Class Hierarchy: Access specifiers, Inheritance access specifiers
Class Constructor: Default constructor, Class initialization, Uniform initialization, Delegate constructor, explicit keyword, [[nodiscard]] and classes
Copy Constructor
Class Destructor
Defaulted Constructors, Destructor, and Operators (= default)
Class Keywords: this, static, const, mutable, using, friend, delete

8. Object-Oriented Programming II - Polymorphism and Operator Overloading

Polymorphism: virtual methods, Virtual table, override keyword, final keyword, Common errors, Pure virtual method, Abstract class and interface
Inheritance Casting and Run-time Type Identification
Operator Overloading: Overview, Comparison operator <, Spaceship operator <=>, Subscript operator [], Multidimensional Subscript operator [], Function call operator (), static operator [] and operator (), Conversion operator T(), Return type overloading resolution, Increment and decrement operators ++/--, Assignment operator =, Stream operator <<, Operator Notes
C++ Special Objects: Aggregate, Trivial class, Standard-layout class, Plain old data (POD), Hierarchy

9. Templates and Meta-programming I - Function Templates and Compile-Time Utilities

Function Template: Overview, Template parameters, Template parameter - default value, Specialization, Overloading
Template Variable
Template Parameter Types: Generic Type Notes, auto Placeholder, Class template parameter type, Array and pointer types, Function type
Compile-Time Utilities: static_assert, decltype Keyword, using Keyword
Type Traits: Overview, Type traits library, Type manipulation

10. Templates and Meta-programming II - - Class Templates and SFINAE

Class Template: Class specialization, Template class constructor
Class Template - Advanced Concepts: Class + Function - Specialization, Dependent Names - typename and template Keywords, Class template hierarchy and using, friend Keyword, Template Template Arguments
Template Meta-Programming
SFINAE: Substitution Failure Is Not An Error: Function SFINAE, Class SFINAE, Class + Function SFINAE
Variadic Template: Folding Expression, Variadic class template
C++20 Concepts: Overview, concept Keyword, requires Clause, requires Expression, requires Expression + Clause, requires Clause + Expression, requires and constexpr, Nested requires

11. Translation Units I

Basic Concepts: Translation unit, Local and global scope, Linkage
Storage Class and Duration: Storage duration, Storage class, static and extern keywords, Internal/External linkage examples
Linkage of const and constexpr: Static Initialization Order Fiasco
Linkage Summary
Dealing with Multiple Translation Units: Class in multiple translation units
One Definition Rule (ODR): Global variable issues, ODR - Point 3, inline functions/variables, constexpr and inline
ODR - Function Template: Cases, extern keyword
ODR - Class Template: Cases, extern keyword
ODR Undefined Behavior and Summary

12. Translation Units II

#include Issues: Forward declaration, Include guard, Circular dependencies, Common linking errors
C++20 Modules: Overview, Terminology, Visibility and Reachability, Module unit types, Keywords, Global module fragment, Private module fragment, Header module unit, Module partitions
Namespace: Namespace functions vs. static methods, Namespace alias, Anonymous namespace, inline namespace, Attributes and namespace
Compiling Multiple Translation Units: Fundamental compiler flags, Compile Methods, Deal with libraries, Build static/dynamic libraries, Find dynamic library dependencies, Analyze object/executable symbols

13. Code Conventions

C++ Project Organization: Project directories, Project files, “Common” Project Organization Notes, Alternative - “Canonical” project organization
Coding Styles and Conventions
#include
Macro and Preprocessing
Namespace
Variables
Functions
Structs and Classes
Control Flow
Modern C++ Features
Maintainability
Naming
Readability and Formatting
Code Documentation

14. Ecosystem I

Debugging
Assertion
Execution debugging
Memory Debugging: valgrind, Stack protection
Sanitizers: Address sanitizer, Leak sanitizer, Memory sanitizers, Undefined behavior sanitizer
Debugging Summary
Compiler Warnings
Static Analysis
Code Testing: Unit test, Code coverage, Fuzz testing
Code Quality: clang-tidy

15. Ecosystem II

CMake: cmake and ctest
Code Documentation: doxygen
Code Statistics: Count lines of code, Cyclomatic complexity analyzer
Other Tools: Code formatting - clang-format, Compiler Explorer, Code transformation - CppInsights, Code autocompletion - GitHub Co-Pilot/TabNine/Kite, Local code search - ripgrep, Code search engine - searchcode/grep.app, Code benchmarking - Quick-Bench, Font for Coding

16. Utilities

I/O Stream: Manipulator, ofstream/ifstream
Math Libraries
Strings: std::string, Conversion from/to numeric values, std::string_view, std::format, std::print
Random Number: Basic Concepts, C++ <random>, Seed, PRNG period and quality, Distribution, Quasi-random
Time Measuring: Wall-Clock time, User time, System time
Std Template Classes: std::byte std::pair, std::tuple, std::variant, std::optional, std::any
Filesystem Library: Query methods, Modify methods

17. Containers, Iterators, and Algorithms

Containers and Iterators
Sequence Containers: std::array, std::vector, std::list, std::deque, std::forward_list
Associative Containers: std::set, std::map, std::multiset
Container Adaptors: std::stack, std::queue, std::priority_queue
View: std::span
Implement a Custom Iterator: Semantic, Implement a simple Iterator
Iterator Utility Methods: std::advance, std::next, std::prev, std::distance, Container access methods, Iterator traits
Algorithms Library: std::find_if, std::sort, std::accumulate, std::generate, std::remove_if
C++20 Ranges: Key concepts, Range view, Range adaptor, Range factory, Range algorithms, Range actions

18. Advanced Topics I

Move Semantic: lvalues and rvalues references, Move semantic, Compiler implicitly declared, std::move
Universal Reference and Perfect Forwarding: Universal reference, Reference collapsing rules, Perfect forwarding
Value Categories
&, && Ref-qualifiers and volatile Overloading
Copy Elision and RVO
Type Deduction: Pass by-reference, Pass by-pointer, Pass by-value, auto deduction
const Correctness

19. Advanced Topics II

Undefined Behavior
Error Handling: C++ Exceptions, Defining custom exceptions, noexcept keyword, Memory allocation issues, Alternative error handling approaches
C++ Idioms: Rule of zero/three/five, Singleton, PIMPL, CRTP, Template Virtual Functions
Smart pointers: std::unique_ptr, std::shared_ptr, std::weak_ptr
Concurrency: Thread Methods, Mutex, Atomic, Task-based parallelism

20. Optimization I - Basic Concepts

Introduction: Moore’s Law, Moore’s Law limitations, Reasons for Optimizing
Basic Concepts: Asymptotic complexity, Time-Memory Trade-off, Developing Cycle, Ahmdal's law, Throughput, Bandwidth, Latency, Performance bounds, Arithmetic intensity
Basic Architecture Concepts: Instruction-level parallelism (ILP), Little’s law, Data-level parallelism (SIMD), Thread-level parallelism (TLP), Single Instruction Multiple Threads (SIMT), RISC, CISC Instruction sets
Memory Hierarchy: Memory hierarchy concepts, Memory locality

21. Optimization II - Code Optimization

I/O Operations: printf, Memory mapped I/O, Speed up raw data loading
Memory Optimizations: Heap memory, Stack memory, Cache utilization, data alignment, Memory Prefetch
Arithmetic: Data types, Operations, Conversion, Floating-point, Compiler intrinsic functions, Value in a range, Lookup table
Control Flow: Loop hoisting, Loop unrolling, Branch hints, Compiler hints, Recursion
Functions: Function call cost, Argument passing, Function optimizations, Function inlining, Pointers aliasing
C++ Objects: Object RAII optimizations
Std Library and Other Language Aspects

22. Optimization III - Non-Coding Optimizations and Benchmarking

Compiler Optimizations: About the compiler, Compiler optimization flags, Linker optimization flags, Architecture flags, Help the Compiler to produce better code, Profile guided optimization (PGO), Post-Processing Binary Optimizer
Compiler Transformation Techniques
Libraries and Data Structures: External libraries, Std library
Performance Benchmarking: What to test?, Workload/Dataset quality, Cache behavior, Stable CPU performance, Program, Multi-threads considerations, Program memory layout, Measurement overhead, Compiler optimizations, Metric evaluation
Profiling: gprof, uftrace, callgrind, cachegrind, perf Linux profiler
Parallel Computing: Concurrency vs. Parallelism, Performance scaling, Gustafson’s Law, Parallel programming languages

Roadmap

Software Design Chapter
Build Aspects Chapter (e.g. reducing build time)

Essential Tool

Online compiler and execution: CompilerExplorer

for code execution: [Add new..] -> [execution only]

Reporting bugs and contributing

If you find any typo, conceptual error, or section to improve, please report them by writing directly to me or by using the issue panel

Author

Federico Busato

Twitter: twitter.com/fedebusato
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/federico-busato/

DooHyeonKo/Modern-CPP-Programming