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Scott Meyers Retires From Involvement With C++ (blogspot.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the so-long,-and-thanks-for-all-the-best-practices dept.

An anonymous reader writes: If you've studied C++ any time in the past 25 years, you've probably read something by Scott Meyers. He wrote Effective C++, regarded by many as one of the top two books for learning to work with the language. He also wrote similar books about changes in C++11 and C++14, as well as making good use of the Standard Template Library. He's been a seemingly endless source of instructional videos, articles, and helpful answers on Usenet and StackOverflow. Unfortunately for us, Meyers has now decided to move on. "25 years after publication of my first academic papers involving C++, I'm retiring from active involvement with the language. It's a good time for it. My job is explaining C++ and how to use it, but the C++ explanation biz is bustling. ... My voice is dropping out, but a great chorus will continue." Thanks for all the help, Scott.

4 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Thank you. by c · · Score: 3, Informative

    Twenty years ago, Effective C++ was the book which convinced me that C++ was so full of land mines and other hidden traps that I needed to walk away from it and never, ever touch that pile of crap again.

    Okay, I lied. It didn't take the entire book; I got the hint after the first five chapters.

    --
    Log in or piss off.
    1. Re:Thank you. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Informative

      C++ was so full of land mines and other hidden traps

      I wouldn't say that "C++ was is full of land mines and other hidden traps". However, C++ enables you to bury your own land mines, and build your own hidden traps. Effective C++ taught me what stuff I need to avoid.

      In fact, a project manager tasked me with creating some programming standards for our C++ project . . . a job that nobody wanted to do. This was because all the programmers were very good, but used to programming alone, and doing things their own way. There was guaranteed to be blood, devastation, death, war and horror in this discussion. So I created a presentation based on Effective C++. When we went through all the items, there was dissension indeed, but when I fell back, and we went through the wisdom of Meyers' text, we found grudgingly agreement.

      To summarize, C++ is a very powerful language you can unwittingly write your own H-bomb with it. So it is great to have someone like Meyers to help you from nuking yourself.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Thank you. by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 4, Informative

      Right. Like C and Perl don't have more landmines.

  2. Re:Free by dcollins117 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Posting the link to Parent's talk so the truly interested don't have to search for it (like I did). Hopefully this is the one you were talking about.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH6sSOr-yk8