{"id":2868,"date":"2022-07-11T10:02:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T04:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/?p=2868"},"modified":"2022-07-11T10:02:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T04:32:25","slug":"book-review-beautiful-c-30-core-guidelines-for-writing-clean-safe-and-fast-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/11\/book-review-beautiful-c-30-core-guidelines-for-writing-clean-safe-and-fast-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review – Beautiful C++: 30 Core Guidelines for Writing Clean, Safe, and Fast Code"},"content":{"rendered":"

Title:<\/span> <\/strong><\/em>Beautiful C++: 30 Core Guidelines for Writing Clean, Safe, and Fast Code<\/p>\n

Authors:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> J.Guy Davidson, Kate Gregory<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Pearson Education<\/p>\n

Year:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> 2022<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My earliest introduction to C++ guidelines was through Scott Meyers\u2019<\/strong><\/em> excellent book Effective C++<\/strong><\/em> that first appeared in 1992. After programming in C++ for around 3 years at that point, the book made a lot of sense to me. Of course, C++ continued to evolve and Scott Meyers<\/strong><\/em> published updated versions of the book. Another book along similar lines is C++ Coding Standards<\/strong><\/em>, by Herb Sutter<\/strong><\/em> and Andrei Alexandrescu<\/strong><\/em>. A few other books that teach the essentials of C++ devote a couple of chapters to good programming tips (please see the last section of this article). Overall, there is no dearth of books on C++ guidelines and coding standards.<\/p>\n

C++ Core Guidelines<\/strong><\/em> was initially announced as an open source project on GitHub<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Bjarne Stroustrup<\/strong><\/em> and Herb Sutter<\/strong><\/em> in 2015. There have been several contributions from others as well and the project is quite alive and active. The present book,\u00a0Beautiful C++,<\/strong><\/em> discusses in detail 30 of these core guidelines.<\/p>\n

This book is not meant for beginner C++ programmers. Read the book only if you have a fairly good understanding of a majority of the C++ language features and have done some serious programming. Otherwise, some of the ideas won\u2019t sink in.<\/p>\n

The book presents 30 guidelines in 5 sections, each section containing 6 chapters. Each chapter is devoted to a single guideline. The sections do not directly correspond to the section labelling used in the core guidelines, but when a guideline is taken up for discussion, the book mentions the associated core guideline section label for easy reference. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that the authors of this book have rich experience in C++, the detailed explanation of each guideline along with numerous examples helps us understand how the guideline contributes to code quality. Although I felt that in some cases the explanation was a bit verbose, I am sure it will appeal to a wider audience.<\/p>\n

I guess it is OK to disagree with some of the core guidelines as long as you understand their true purpose. As an example, I might not take the guideline \u201cES.10: Declare one name (only) per declaration\u201d<\/strong><\/em> seriously. I believe it is a matter of style and taste. However, the authors explain clearly why this guideline makes sense and I very much appreciate that.<\/p>\n

The guideline in Chapter 2.6, \u201cT.120: Use template meta programming only when you really need to\u201d<\/strong><\/em> might surprise some C++ programmers because TMP<\/strong><\/em> is generally considered fashionable<\/strong><\/em> and is supposed to be a special feature of Templates<\/strong><\/em>. However, the authors’ explanation along with relevant examples is quite convincing. One of the valid arguments put forth by the authors is that because TMP<\/strong><\/em> is a compile-time feature, debugging the program can be difficult.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I definitely enjoyed going through all the guidelines, but the one I loved most is Chapter 5.5\u00a0\u201cPer.7: Design to enable optimization\u201d<\/strong><\/em>. Using the simple and well-known example of qsort<\/strong><\/em> function, the authors gradually refine its interface, each time explaining why it makes sense. It is difficult to forget the guideline after reading this chapter!<\/p>\n

The book includes topics from almost all the important sections in the core guidelines. I would have loved to see a few more from the Concurrency and Parallelism<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0section, but then that is just my preference. Overall, the authors have done a great job of covering important guidelines.<\/p>\n

Another commendable effort by the authors is that the complete sample code included in the book is available for experimentation with the popular Compiler Explorer<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adopting guidelines such as the ones included in this book will definitely go a long way in improving the quality of C++ code that we write. I strongly believe that companies and teams should establish proper code review procedures (automated and\/or manual) as part of the QA process to ensure the guidelines are followed. The good news is that Visual Studio 2020<\/strong><\/em>, for example, includes a static code analyzer<\/strong><\/em> that can be configured to check for violations of the core guidelines in a project. Eventually, compiler support will become widely available and that would immensely benefit developers.<\/p>\n

If you program in C++ for a living, then this book is a must-read<\/strong><\/em> and more importantly, must-follow<\/strong><\/em>! I hope the authors will come out with a sequel explaining the remaining core guidelines.<\/p>\n

\n

Recommended Additional Reading<\/h3>\n

1) Clean C++ 20: Sustainable Software Development Patterns and Best Practices (2nd Edition), Stephen Roth, Apress, 2021.<\/p>\n

2) Embracing Modern C++ Safely, John Lakos, Vittorio Romeo, Rostislav Khlebnikov, and Alisdair Meredith, Pearson Education, 2022.<\/p>\n

3) Effective Modern C++: 42 Specific Ways to Improve Your Use of C++11 and C+14, Scott Meyers, O\u2019Reilly, 2014.<\/p>\n

4) C++Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices, Herb Sutter and Andrei Alexandrescu, Addison-Wesley, 2005.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have a wonderful week ahead!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Beautiful C++: 30 Core Guidelines for Writing Clean, Safe, and Fast Code Authors: J.Guy Davidson, Kate Gregory Publisher:\u00a0 Pearson Education Year: 2022 My earliest introduction to C++ guidelines was through Scott Meyers\u2019 excellent book Effective C++ that first appeared in 1992. After programming in C++ for around 3 years at that point, the book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,49],"tags":[326],"class_list":["post-2868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-c","tag-c-core-guidelines"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9OLnF-Kg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2915,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/18\/book-review-embracing-modern-c-safely\/","url_meta":{"origin":2868,"position":0},"title":"Book Review: Embracing Modern C++ Safely","author":"admin","date":"September 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Title: Embracing Modern C++ Safely Authors: John Laos, Vittorio Romeo, Rostislav Khlebnikov, and Alisdair Meredith Publisher: Pearson Education, Inc. 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