The Shape of Code

C++11 is now so yesterday; ISO have just ratified C++14 as the new C++ standard. However, don’t let the sudden halt to the exponential growth in page count with each revision (1334 pages in C++11 to 1366 in C++14) lull you into thinking that the size of C++ has stabilized. These days the page growth market is Technical Reports (e.g., ISO/IEC TR 18015 – C++ Performance and TR 19768 – C++ Library Extensions).

What next, are the C++ committee taking a well earned rest from their twice yearly (only recently reduced from four times a year) jetset around the world to attend week long meetings with 100+ other like-minded folk?

Of course not, they are having too much fun the world needs C++17 (yes, work has already started). And lets not forget the economy, which is still limping along. Can we risk the economic consequences of lots of highly paid consultants being unemployed, of compiler writers running out of new features to implement, of hotels having no more “Latest features in C++” seminars/workshops/conferences to host?

In there really enough work for everybody to do revising C++14? Better be safe and request permission from ISO to start work on new Technical Reports covering: C++ Extensions for Transactional Memory, C++ Extensions for Library Fundamentals and C++ Extensions for Parallelism (there is ongoing work/talk of others, such as C++ — File System Technical Specification, C++ Extensions for Concurrency and C++ Extensions for Concepts).

If the number of new things to add does start to run low, there are always the known bugs in the existing documents could always do with some attention: Core Language Active Issues and the Standard Library Issues List.