Question

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How are you using C++0x today?

I’m working with a team on a fairly new system. We’re talking about migrating to MSVC 2010 and we’ve already migrated to GCC 4.5. These are the only compilers we’re using and we have no plans to port our code to different compilers any time soon.

I suggested that after we do it, we start taking advantage of some of the C++0x features already provided like auto. My co-worker suggested against this, proposing to wait “until C++0x actually becomes standard.” I have to disagree, but I can see the appeal in the way he worded it. Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that this counter-argument comes more out of fear and trepidation of learning C++0x than a genuine concern for standardization.

Given the new state of the system, I want for us to take advantage of the new technology available. Just auto, for instance, would make our daily lives easier (just writing iterator-based for loops until range-based loops come along, e.g.).

Am I wrong to think this? It is not as though I’m proposing we radically change our budding codebase, but just start making use of C++0x features where convenient. We know what compilers we’re using and have no immediate plans to port (if we ever port the code base, by then surely compilers will be available with C++0x features as well for the target platform). Otherwise it seems to me like avoiding the use of iostreams in 1997 just because the ISO C++ standard was not published yet in spite of the fact that all compilers already provided them in a portable fashion.

If you all agree, could you provide me arguments I could use to strengthen my position? If not, could I get a bit more details on this “until the C++0x is standard” idea? BTW, anyone know when that’s going to be?

Answer 1

I’d make the decision on a per-feature basis.

Remember that the standard is really close to completion. All that is left is voting, bugfixing and more voting.

So a simple feature like auto is not going to go away, or have its semantics changed. So why not use it.

Lambdas are complex enough that they might have their wording changed and the semantics in a few corner cases fixed up a bit, but on the whole, they’re going to behave the way they do today (although VS2010 has a few bugs about the scope of captured variables, MS has stated that they are bugs, and as such may be fixed outside of a major product release).

If you want to play it safe, stay away from lambdas. Otherwise, use them where they’re convenient, but avoid the super tricky cases, or just be ready to inspect your lambda usage when the standard is finalized.

Most features can be categorized like this, they’re either so simple and stable that their implementation in GCC/MSVC are exactly how they’re going to work in the final standard, or they’re tricky enough that they might get a few bugfixes applied, and so they can be used today, but you run the risk of running into a few rough edges in certain border cases.

It does sound silly to avoid C++0x feature solely because they’re not formalized yet. Avoid the features that you don’t trust to be complete, bug-free and stable, but use the rest.