Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs

Effective C++ 3/e is a complete update of Effective C++ and Effective C++ 2/e .
Like its predecessors, 3/e has 55 guidelines which contain better, more
effective ways to write code, backed by specific examples. The second edition
published in 1997, and was basically a face-lift of the first edition, keeping most
of the same elements, and seven years later is still selling well.
Now, Meyers has dramatically rejuvenated the material, including more than
30% brand-new material. Meyers began this edition by asking himself, " What
are the 55 most important pieces of advice for practicing C++ programmers in
2005? " He also asked thousands of past users of his books this same question.
This resulted in a completely new book. New material includes use of UML
notation, thread safety, exception safety, design patterns, and templates. Any
older material has been revitalized to reflect new ideas and strides in C++
development.

Every C++ professional needs a copy of Effective C++. It is an absolute must-read for anyone thinking of doing serious C++ development. If you ve never read Effective C++ and you think you know everything about C++, think again.
Steve Schirripa, Software Engineer, Google C++ and the C++ community have grown up in the last fifteen years, and the third edition of Effective C++ reflects this. The clear and precise style of the book is evidence of Scott s deep insight and distinctive ability to impart knowledge.
Gerhard Kreuzer, Research and Development Engineer, Siemens AG

The first two editions of Effective C++ were embraced by hundreds of thousands of programmers worldwide. The reason is clear: Scott Meyers practical approach to C++ describes the rules of thumb used by the experts the things they almost always do or almost always avoid doing to produce clear, correct, efficient code.

The book is organized around 55 specific guidelines, each of which describes a way to write better C++. Each is backed by concrete examples. For this third edition, more than half the content is new, including added chapters on managing resources and using templates. Topics from the second edition have been extensively revised to reflect modern design considerations, including exceptions, design patterns, and multithreading.

Important features of Effective C++ include:

• Expert guidance on the design of effective classes, functions, templates, and inheritance hierarchies.
• Applications of new TR1 standard library functionality, along with comparisons to existing standard library components.
• Insights into differences between C++ and other languages (e. g. , Java, C#, C) that help developers from those languages assimilate the C++ way of doing things.

Item 1: View C++ as a federation of languages. 11

Item 2: Prefer consts, enums, and inlines to #defines. 13

Item 3: Use const whenever possible. 17

Item 4: Make sure that objects are initialized before they re used. 26

Item 5: Know what functions C++ silently writes and calls. 34

Item 6: Explicitly disallow the use of compiler-generated functions you do not want. 37

Item 7: Declare destructors virtual in polymorphic base classes. 40

Item 8: Prevent exceptions from leaving destructors. 44

Item 9: Never call virtual functions during construction or destruction. 48

Item 10: Have assignment operators return a reference to *this. 52

Item 11: Handle assignment to self in operator=. 53

Item 12: Copy all parts of an object. 57

Item 13: Use objects to manage resources. 61

Item 14: Think carefully about copying behavior in resource-managing classes. 66

Item 15: Provide access to raw resources in resource-managing classes. 69

Item 16: Use the same form in corresponding uses of new and delete. 73

Item 17: Store newed objects in smart pointers in standalone statements. 75

Item 18: Make interfaces easy to use correctly and hard to use incorrectly. 78

Item 19: Treat class design as type design. 84

Item 20: Prefer pass-by-reference-to-const to pass-by-value. 86

Item 21: Don t try to return a reference when you must return an object. 90

Item 22: Declare data members private. 94

Item 23: Prefer non-member non-friend functions to member functions. 98

Item 24: Declare non-member functions when type conversions should apply to all parameters. 102

Item 25: Consider support for a non-throwing swap. 106

Item 26: Postpone variable definitions as long as possible. 113

Item 27: Minimize casting. 116

Item 28: Avoid returning handles to object internals. 123

Item 29: Strive for exception-safe code. 127

Item 30: Understand the ins and outs of inlining. 134

Item 31: Minimize compilation dependencies between files. 140

Item 32: Make sure public inheritance models is-a. 150

Item 33: Avoid hiding inherited names. 156

Item 34: Differentiate between inheritance of interface and inheritance of implementation. 161

Item 35: Consider alternatives to virtual functions. 169

Item 36: Never redefine an inherited non-virtual function. 178

Item 37: Never redefine a function s inherited default parameter value. 180

Item 38: Model has-a or is-implemented-in-terms-of through composition. 184

Item 39: Use private inheritance judiciously. 187

Item 40: Use multiple inheritance judiciously. 192

Item 41: Understand implicit interfaces and compile-time polymorphism. 199

Item 42: Understand the two meanings of typename. 203

Item 43: Know how to access names in templatized base classes. 207

Item 44: Factor parameter-independent code out of templates. 212

Item 45: Use member function templates to accept all compatible types. 218

Item 46: Define non-member functions inside templates when type conversions are desired. 222

Item 47: Use traits classes for information about types. 226

Item 48: Be aware of template metaprogramming. 233

Item 49: Understand the behavior of the new-handler. 240

Item 50: Understand when it makes sense to replace new and delete. 247

Item 51: Adhere to convention when writing new and delete. 252

Item 52: Write placement delete if you write placement new. 256

Item 53: Pay attention to compiler warnings. 262

Item 54: Familiarize yourself with the standard library, including TR1. 263

Item 55: Familiarize yourself with Boost. 269