Symantec C++: Calling all lightning talks!

At August's meetup, instead of having one speaker, we had three: we heard 5-to-15-minute lightning talks from Jeff Trull, Jacob Potter, and Arthur O'Dwyer. For December, we're going to try that format again... and we need your help!

If you can give a short talk on a C++ topic, please post in the comments here and/or message the organizers and we'll find you a spot on the program.

Last time, our lightning talks skewed toward the template-metaprogramming end of the spectrum. We heard how to parse GPS data using Boost Spirit (http://theboostcpplibraries.com/boost.spirit); how the typesystem can help catch null-pointer bugs (https://github.com/Microsoft/GSL/blob/master/include/gsl.h#L124); and how to use operator overloading to turn your source code into a bunch of line drawings (https://github.com/Quuxplusone/analog-literals/blob/master/readme-punct.cpp#L84).

This time, I hope we'll go less arcane (but still interesting!). A good lightning talk could be:

• A tutorial or explanation of a C++ language or library feature;
• A discussion of an interesting problem you've faced (or heard of), with the solution;
• A discussion of an interesting problem, without a solution;
• An example of how C++ can be made to do something that you might not even think was possible;
• An example of something that really isn't possible in C++, with comparisons to other programming languages.

If you have something that fits this bill — or if you think you could write up a few slides if you were given a gentle nudge and/or a topic suggestion — please post in the comments here or message Arthur!

So far our agenda for December 14 includes:

• Dustin Chase on operator overloading

• Ragi Burhum on cross-platform C++ development

• Jared Grubb on the Itanium name-mangling scheme