C++ Best Practices

C++ Best Practices for Developers

New Features

C++11:

• Lambdas
• Auto type deduction
• List initialization
• Smart Pointers
• Move semantics

C++14:

• Type deduction
• Binary Literals
• Generic Lambda expressions

C++17:

• Structured binding
• Nested namespaces
• Inline Variables
• Constexpr lambda

Compiler warnings

its good to take a look at the compiler's website to know more about the warnings, here are some recommended ones:

Static Analyzers also helps, here are some, but there are dozens more available.

Cppcheck

http://cppcheck.sourceforge.net

It runs from the command line.

sudo apt-get install cppcheck

Open the folder with the code on the command line and execute:

cppcheck --enable=all ./*.cpp

Watch for the raw loop:

Compiling the code

We can from the command line execute:

clang++ -std=c++17 -Wall main.cpp

Using auto

auto tells the compiler to deduce the type of a variable

auto forces initialization of variables

if you need a specific type use auto with type initialization

Don't use auto to hide information

Example:

The right way will be using auto and defining the specific type, in this case a vector of int.

auto delta = std::vector<int>{1, 2, 3};

auto without initialization is always an error.

Range based "for" loops

C++ can iterate over a range of values automatically, no need for indexing. Like STL containers, strings and arrays.

You can add support of range-based for loops to your own types by supporting the iterator interface.

Prefer range based for loops over traditional for loops

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <map>

int main() {
    std::vector<int> v{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
    for (auto i : v) {
        std::cout << i << ' ';
    }
    std::cout << std::endl;
}