Phil Nash: "Not Your Grandparent's C++"

2025 is the year that ACCU Cambridge starts again. So what better way to start 2025 with our first full meet-up experience event.

We'll kick off with a talk from Phil Nash covering the past, present and future of C++. Whether you're an experienced C++ developer or you've never seen a line of C++ code, this talk will take you on a journey at the end of which you'll have a better idea of what language is like now, as well as how and why it got there.

We're pleased to be hosted by The Bradfield Center, on the Science Park (not far from where the meet-ups frequently ran before).

So join us this month to help get this community kick-restarted!

Agenda:

19:00 "Intro and news" - Phil Nash

19:15 "Not your Grandfather's C++" - Phil Nash

C++ has been around, by that name, since the early 80s - but started in the 70s (as “C with Classes). Reaching its heyday in the mid-late 90s, many people’s impressions of it were formed in that time frame, or during the 13 year C++98/03 period! But C++ has evolved considerably since then and, despite what you might have heard, mostly in ways that make it safer and simpler to use. This talk takes us on a tour of the evolution of C++ - from it’s genesis, following the PhD thesis of Bjarne Stroustrup - up to “modern” C++20 and C++23 - and a look ahead at what C++26 and beyond may bring. The question is: is it too late to prevent C++’s decline into being “the next Cobol”?

20:45 Conclusion

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About the speaker:

Phil is the original author of the C++ test framework, Catch2 and is an independent consultant and trainer, specialising in TDD and Modern C++. Developer Advocate at Undo he has had a career that spans finance, mobile and software security. He's also a member of the ISO C++ standards committee, organiser of C++ on Sea, ACCU, C++ Online, Swift Craft and C++ London (and now ACCU Cambridge) as well as co-host and producer of CppCast.