My Final C++ and Beyond 2011 Sessions

I just posted two more sessions I’ll be giving next month at C++ and Beyond. (Aside: If you’re interested in coming, register soon; there are now only 11 seats left.)

• “C++ Renaissance.” I’ve been asked to give the opening “Welcome, Everyone!” keynote talk at C&B 2011, and it’s time to cover an increasingly open secret: After a decade-long affair with managed languages where it became unfashionable to be interested in C++, C++’s power and efficiency are now getting very fashionable again. At the same time, C++ has been getting easier to use; key productivity features from the C++0x standard (aka C++11), like auto and lambdas, are increasingly widely available in commercial compilers and making using C++ easier than ever before without sacrificing its cornerstone — efficiency.This opening 40-minute talk covers the reasons why C++ is now enjoying a major renaissance, and why that will continue to grow over the next few years because of industry trends from processor design to mobile computing to cloud and datacenter environments.We already know that C++ is “the” language of choice for demanding applications. Here, we’ll cover why “demanding applications” increasingly means “most applications” and will be the bread and butter of our industry for the foreseeable future. We’ll see why and where other languages are still appropriate, but why C++’s applicability and demand is now again on an upswing more so than it has been for over a decade.
• “How to Teach Today’s C++.”  With the C++ Renaissance gathering steam, I’ve personally noticed a growing need to train developers who are now turning or returning to C++. These developers don’t need to be taught how to program, but they aren’t familiar with how clean it is to write code using today’s C++. The key is: What is the best and clearest way to teach the essentials of today’s C++ — both what to teach, and what not to teach?This session shows that it is possible to show a very clean path through today’s C++ that is available to production developers right now, including use of key C++0x features already supported in many compilers, that shows how clean C++ code can be and how it compares favorably to code written in managed languages while still retaining its longstanding efficiency advantage.Many attendees coming to C++ and Beyond are experienced developers, often in senior or leadership positions. Your company may look to you to define or personally provide training in the best development techniques, whether through team brownbags or formal training sessions. As developers continue to come back to C++, you will find yourself increasingly called upon to help them quickly learn what “modern C++” really means today, and how clear and compelling it can be. This “train the trainers” session is intended to provide the foundation for that training, and give you the tools you need to train others, as we welcome them (and welcome them back) to our good friend C++.

I’ve already posted these other sessions, which round out my solo talk slots (not counting panels where Scott and Andrei and I will also all participate):

• “C++ and the GPU… and Beyond.” I’ll cover the state of the art for using C++ (not just C) for general-purpose computation on graphics processing units (GPGPU). The first half of the talk discusses the most important issues and techniques to consider when using GPUs for high-performance computation, especially where we have to change our traditional advice for doing the same computation on the CPU. The second half focuses on upcoming C++ language and library extensions that bring key abstractions for GPGPU — and in time considerably more — directly into C++.
•  “Exceptional C++0x (aka C++11)” that shows how the new features in C++0x change the way we solve problems, our C++ coding style, and even the way we think about our code. I’ll demonstrate that with code that works today on existing compilers, using selected familiar examples from my Exceptional C++ books. This is not rehashed material, as I’ll assume you’re already familiar with the pre-C++0x solutions (I’ll provide links to read as refreshers before the course), and then we’ll analyze and solve them entirely the 21st-century C++ way and see why C++0x feels like a whole new fresh language that leads to different approaches, new and changed guidelines, and even better solutions. As Bjarne put it: “Surprisingly, C++0x feels like a new language: The pieces just fit together better than they used to and I find a higher-level style of programming more natural than before and as efficient as ever.” This talk will show why — deeply, madly, and truly.