Abbreviations

ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21

C++ standardization committee

ISO

International Standardization Organization

NB

National Body

INCITS

InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards

ANSI

American National Standards Institute

SNV

Schweizerische Normanvereinigung

IEC

International Electrotechnical Commission

JTC1

Joint Technical Committee of ISO and IEC

TK149

Technisches Komitee der SNV zu JTC1

SC

Sub-Committee

SC22

SC for programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces

WG

Working Group

WG21

WG for C++

CWG

Core Working Group

LWG

Library Working Group

EWG

Evolution Working Group

IS

International Standard

TC

Technical Corrigendum

TR

Technical Report

CD

Committee Draft

DR

Defect Report

ECMA

European Computer Manufacturer Association

Fast-Track

ISO procedure for other standardization organizations to get a standard ISO approved within six months

History of C++ Standardization

1982:

C with Classes: "Classes: An Abstract Data Type Facility for the C Language", ACM SIGPLAN Notices Vol 17, no1

1986:

"The C++ Programming Language"

1989:

"The Annotated C++ Reference Manual (ARM)"

1991:

First meeting of WG21

1994:

CD1

1996:

"Embedded C++" (Current Common C++ Subset)

1996:

CD2

1997:

FDIS

1998:

C++ Standard (C++98)

2003:

TC1 (C++03)

2004:

Performance TR

2005(?):

Library TR 1

2005/6(?):

Decimal TR

2007/8(?):

Library TR 2

200x:

Next C++ Standard (C++0x)

Technical Corrigendum (TC1)

 class X
 {
   int x;
   class Y
   {
     void f() { x = 1; }  // ok
   }
 public:
   void g();
 };

Performance TR

• Overhead of languages features
  • namespaces
  • inheritance
  • casts (RTTI)
  • exception handling
  • templates
• Programmer Directed Optimizations
• Efficient Libraries
  • iostreams
  • optimizing

C++ for embedded and real-time environments

• "Embedded C++"
  • bad excuse for vendors
  • missing important safety-critical features
    • namespaces
    • exceptions
    • strong typing through templates
    • RTTI
    • specific casts
  • missing important performance features
    • templates
    • exceptions
• ROMability
• Hard Real-Time Considerations
• <hardware>

Library TR 1

• std::tr1
• Utilities
  • shared_ptr
  • regular expressions
  • random numbers
• Meta-Template-Programming
  • reference_wrapper
  • lambda binders and adaptors
  • type_traits
  • tuples
• Containers
  • arrays
  • hash containers

C++0x Directions

• Keep C++ alive, but keep traditional objectives
  • compatible with C++98
  • zero-overhead principle
  • mainly library based
  • C compatibility
• Language of choice for systems programming and library building
  • improve support for generic programming
  • improve support for low-level embedded programming
  • decltype(typeof)
• Make C++ easier to teach and learn
  • allow vector<list<int>>
  • itoa
  • garbage collection
• Language extensions
  • reflection
  • auto
• Library extensions
  • TR1
  • file system
  • threads
  • RPC

C++/CLI

• ECMA/TC39-TG5
• CLI == OS API for MS Windows Longhorn (WinFX)
  • Mono
  • DotGNU
• C++ Binding
  • pure extensions wherever possible
    • contextual keywords
  • making C++ a first class language for CLI
    • no library-only binding
    • xyz class X;
      • ref
      • value
      • interface
      • enum
    • properties
    • delegates (managed pointers)
    • events
  • GC
    • destructors + finalizers
  • Templates + generics
    • namespace stdcli

C++/CLI Timeline

• Oct 1, 2003: Ecma TC39 plenary. Kicked off TG5
• Nov 21, 2003: Submitted base document to Ecma
• Dec 2003 - Sep 2004: TG5 meetings (7)
• Dec 2004: Vote on whether to adopt as Ecma standard
• Q1 2005: If successful, submit for ISO fast-track process
• Q1 2006: If ready, vote on whether to adopt ISO standard

Choosing a Language for .NET

• C++ is the recommended path to .NET and Longhorn.
• If you have an existing C++ code base:
  • Keep using C++.
• If you want to make frequent use of native code/libs:
  • Use C++. It's far simpler (seamless) and faster.
• If you want to write brand-new pure-.NET apps that rarely or never interop with native code:
  • Use whatever language you're already comfortable with, and pick based on language features. The .NET features and Frameworks library are available equally through all languages.

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