Iteration Revisited

This month we welcome Tristan Brindle to the stage for to tells us how we can solve all our iterator issues - including some we may not have known we had! We also have a shorter talk from Ben Hanson on building your own static analysers.

A big thanks to J.P. Morgan, who are hosting us this month. They will also be providing drinks and pizza. Note that the capacity is limited, again - so register early to avoid disappointment. Also note that, as is becoming common, we'll need your full name for the door list and you should bring matching ID. We'll ask for the name when you register. This data will only be used for the door list and not published anywhere.

If you'd like to speak at a future event please get in touch at cppldn.uk/speak.

Here's the full schedule (subject to change):

19:00 "Intro and News" - Phil Nash

19:05 "A word from our hosts" - J.P.Morgan

19:10 "Home Grown Static Analysis For Fun and Profit" - Ben Hanson

Due to a recent security incident at work, our bespoke SA efforts have moved from a fun side project to an urgent necessity.

19:40 Pizza break

20:10 "Iteration Revisited - Tristan Brindle

“Safety” is the word on everyone’s lips at the moment. Unfortunately for C++ programmers, one of our fundamental abstractions — iterators — are fraught with danger . Prone to out-of-bounds memory accesses, sudden invalidation and dangling, iterators are a UB minefield in which even experts can find themselves in trouble.

Fortunately there is something we can do about it.

In this talk we’ll look at an alternative abstraction for iterating over sequences and introduce Flux, a new C++20 library implementing these ideas. We’ll see how Flux retains all of the power and flexibility of the existing STL, but vastly reduces the potential for UB through careful design and implementation choices — all while offering compatibility with existing code.

21:00+ conclusion

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About the speakers:

Tristan is a C++ consultant and trainer based in London. With over 15 years C++ experience, he started his career working in high-performance computing in the oil industry in Australia before returning home to his native UK in 2018. He is an active member of the ISO C++ Standards Committee (WG21) and the BSI C++ Panel. He is a regular speaker at C++ conferences around the world, and is a director of C++ London Uni, a non-profit organisation offering free introductory programming classes in London and online.

Ben has been a developer since 1983, Commercial developer since 1994