Improving C++ with the Help of Epochs

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C++ has been evolving for several decades, and with each new standard the language gets improvements that make the code more reliable, productive and convenient. Let’s take a look at how C++ code can be improved using the features of different eras of the language.

The pre-C++98 era: The basics of the language

In the early stages, C++ was basically an add-on to C, with classes and basic OOP mechanisms. Code improvements in this era included:

  • Replacing malloc/free with new/delete for better integration with C++.
  • Using classes and encapsulation instead of global data structures.
  • Operator overloading to improve readability.

C++98/03: The First Standards

These versions of C++ solidified the language but still required explicit memory management. Improvements included:

  • Use of STL containers (std::vector, std::map) instead of arrays and self-describing structures.
  • Automatic resource management (RAII) via wrapper classes.
  • Use of const and references to prevent unnecessary copying.

C++11: The Era of Smart Pointers and Multithreading

This standard brought many innovations:

  • std::unique_ptr and std::shared_ptr for safe memory management.
  • Lambda expressions for concise code.
  • auto and decltype to simplify typing.
  • Multithreaded primitives (std::thread, std::mutex) instead of platform-dependent solutions.

C++14/17: Simplification and optimization

These standards made code even more convenient:

  • std::optional, std::variant for safe data representation.
  • constexpr for compile-time calculations.
  • Structural binding (auto [a, b] = pair;) for convenient data access.

C++20 and the future

C++20 offers even more improvements:

  • Concepts (concepts) to restrict template parameters.
  • Coroutines (co_await, co_yield) for convenient asynchronous programming.
  • Ranges for convenient work with collections.

Output

To improve your C++ code, you should use the features of new standards:

  • Use smart pointers instead of new/delete.
  • Use auto, constexpr, concepts for convenience and safety.
  • Use std::thread, coroutines and std::async for multithreading.

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