C++0x implementation guesstimates?

Question

The C++0x standard is on its way to being complete. Until now, I've dabbled in C++, but avoided learning it thoroughly because it seems like it's missing a lot of modern features that I've been spoiled by in other languages. However, I'd be very interested in C++0x, which addresses a lot of my complaints. Any guesstimates, after the standard is ratified, as to how long it will take for major compiler vendors to provide reasonably complete, production-quality implementations? Will it happen soon enough to reverse the decline in C++'s popularity, or is it too little, too late? Do you believe that C++0x will become "the C++" within a few years, or do you believe that most people will stick to the earlier standard in practice and C++0x will be somewhat of a bastard stepchild, kind of like C99?

Answer 1

I see no reason why C++0x shouldn't be adopted. The C++ community is much more forward-looking than C. C was always meant to be a "portable assembler language", so people who use that aren't really super interested in fancy new features. C++ spans much wider, and I've yet to hear of a C++ programmer who wasn't looking forward to 0x. (It's also my impression that the C++ community is much "stricter", and really don't want to move outside the standard into undefined behavior, which implies you choose either C++03 or C++0X rather than a half-implemented hybrid. C programmers tend to be much more relaxed about that, and seem happy to use C89 with just a couple of C99 features and headers mixed in)

However, it'll take a few years before Microsoft catches up, at least. Visual Studio 2010 will support a small handful of C++0x features (lambdas, decltype and a couple of others), but the vast majority will not be supported. We'll have to wait for VS2012 or whatever the next version ends up being, to have somewhat complete support.

With GCC/G++, the situation is a lot better, since most of the standard has been implemented there already (the standard committee doesn't like adopting features that haven't been implemented and tested in a real compiler, and a GCC fork is often used for that)

But it'll probably still take some time to get that stable and production-ready.

About C++'s "decline in popularity", I don't really see it. I don't think C++ has declined significantly in popularity for the last years. RAD developers have already jumped ship, of course, to .NET, Python or other languages or platforms. But where C++ is used today, there aren't many viable alternatives, and no reason why it should decline in popularity.

Answer 2

I don't know about other vendors, but from what I've seen, Microsoft plans to include four C++0x language features in Visual C++ 2010:

1. rvalue references
2. auto
3. lambdas
4. static assert

Although this is a small set of C++0x features, they are important ones. Some will enable programmers to write much more compact (auto, lambdas) and error free code. Some (like rvalue references) enable libraries to be more efficient. Microsoft likes lambdas as an enabler for parallel computing.

IMHO: auto alone will make it so much easier to use templates that more programmers will do so. And hopefully this will increase demand for more C++0x features from Microsoft and all vendors.

Microsoft will also be updating their C++ Standard Library implementation but I don't know the details. I believe they are modifying some container classes to take advantage of rvalue reference move semantics. And I believe they including more of TR1 .

Answer 3

Some implementations are already on their way to C++0x: (gcc). My intuition says that C++0x support will be available in major compilers fairly quickly; however a large body of legacy code still exists that must be maintained.

Answer 4

Newer versions of gcc already support many of the C++0x features: http://gcc.gnu.org/projects/cxx0x.html