CppNorth2022

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, as we all searched for ways to stay connected to the C++ community, I innocently started posting short, 25-line or less C++ snippets of counterintuitive C++ code that I called my "Cute C++ trick of the day." The amount of attention these tricks got was surprising, and as I've posted more of them, I've realized that these counterintuitive snippets of C++ code offer pithy and memorable ways to teach people some intermediate or advanced aspects of C++ (that often come up in real code!).

I gave part 1 (of N) of this talk at CppCon 2021, and this is part 2 (of N). In this presentation, I will dissect a few more of my most popular "Cute C++ tricks" to a level of detail not possible on social media platforms like Twitter. I'll talk about how and why these tricks work the way they do, talk about the dark corners of C++ they touch upon, and talk about what you should actually do if you need to produce the same effect in production code. While not targeted at beginners, these tricks span the gauntlet from features that most intermediate programmers are aware of (but never thought to use in a particular way) to dark corners of the language that many of my C++ committee colleagues were surprised to learn about. Throughout it all runs a common thread: learning how to exploit your own curiosity to expand your toolbox, gain a better grasp of the fundamentals of C++, and ultimately, become a better programmer.