Pure Virtual C++ 2023

In every ISO C++ survey so far, compiler errors have been one of the top answers for "what is one thing you would change about C++ if you had a magic wand?" We may not have a magic wand, but maybe we can still improve on the state of diagnostics.

In this talk Sy will discuss the characteristics of diagnostics which make them better—based on industry tools and academic research—and show what our team has been working on to improve our errors in MSVC and the Visual Studio IDE.

C++ memory safety errors continue to be a top concern. In this talk we describe continue_on_error which is new technology implemented in the Address Sanitizer runtime. The compiler and new runtime allow a developer to find a well-defined set of (possibly hidden) memory safety errors, has zero false positives, and is easily added to existing test assets. This creates a new checked-build for C and C++.

This new functionality allows an application to continue running while reporting memory safety errors to a log file or the command line. The existing Address Sanitizer runtime will report the first memory error encountered and then kill your application. When enabled, the new continue_on_error feature, will automatically return control back to the application after reporting each memory safety error. With continue_on_error you can compile and deploy an existing application in limited production to find memory safety issues or leaks while running for days.

If you compile with one extra flag (-fsanitize=address) and set one environment variable (set ASAN_OPTIONS=continue_on_error=1), you get a turnkey solution for immediately improving correctness and security. You can still pass all your existing tests but also uncover hidden memory safety errors in your passing tests. This should be used to introduce a new “shipping gate. It can be entirely based on your existing test assets. The developer gets a simple (pass/fail) gate for shipping any C or C++ on Windows. Internally we have found that using this technology will significantly reduce memory safety errors. If all your existing tests pass but this new feature reports a memory safety error or a leak, you should not ship your new code or integrate it into a parent branch.

We describe the technology, use demos to dive into important examples and discuss the 2021 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses which helps to underscores the importance of using this new technology: A well defined shipping gate for C and C++.

OOP - Object-Oriented Programming - has been a stalwart technique of programming for decades, but lately there has been lots of talk about VOP - Value Oriented Programming. What is it? Why is it? As Inigo Montoya said, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

The goal here is, in a short time, to get a feel for Values vs Objects, and when and why you might choose one technique over the other.

Visual Studio has a variety of rich integrations to support all different types of development. In this talk, we will show how to utilize these tools to maximize your productivity when targeting all different sorts of applications. See how you can use those tools to work on a game and discover all the important Unreal Engine Integrations in the latest version of Visual Studio. Sinem and David will focus on cross-platform tooling as well as productivity enhancements in the IDE.

As a C++ programmer, have you been wondering when you could finally get reflection functionalities in your hands to boost your productivity and to expand your innovative ideas? Come find out what you can accomplish, today, at build time with Modules and contemporary C++.