Category: Programming

“The Lambda Trick”

I just got back from C++Now, an excellent conference where C++ template metaprogramming experts abound. A phrase I overheard often was “the lambda trick”. It’s a trick for speeding up compiles when templates get deep. Every C++ programmer knows that deep templates can slow down compilation. Most assume that this is because of excessive code… Continue reading “The Lambda Trick”

“In-place” might be less in-place than you think

The intuitive view of algorithms that work in-place is that (it sounds obvious) they don’t use any extra space. Canonically in C/C++ we think of something like reversing an array, or that interview staple, removing spaces from an ASCII string, which we might write as: int remove_spaces(char *s) { char *readptr = s; char *writeptr… Continue reading “In-place” might be less in-place than you think

Recursive lambdas

One can assign a lambda to auto or to std::function. Normally one would assign a lambda to auto to avoid possible unwanted allocation from std::function. But if you want recursion, you need to be able to refer to the lambda variable inside the lambda, and you can’t do that if it’s assigned to auto. So… Continue reading Recursive lambdas

Rules for using <random>

These days, it’s easy to do the right thing. Don’t do this: Don’t use std::rand(). Ever. Don’t use std::random_shuffle() to permute containers. (Too easy to misuse; can use std::rand() under the hood.) Don’t use any kind of clock for a seed. Don’t use mod (%) to get a random value into a range. It introduces… Continue reading Rules for using <random>

C++ Tuples: the missing functionality

C++ provides a strange mix of compile-time and runtime functionality for dealing with tuples. There are some interesting parts, like std::tie to destructure a tuple, and std::tuple_cat to join together several tuples into one. So there is evidence that the standard has been influenced by some functional programming ideas, but I don’t think the full… Continue reading C++ Tuples: the missing functionality

Another myth, about C++ lambdas

Myth: Lambda expressions can cause heap allocations. I see this myth coming up a lot. People think that lambdas can cause a heap allocation – on Reddit, on StackOverflow, on Channel9 comments, in personal conversations. I don’t blame people for thinking this – C++ is complex. But it always seems to be some vague notion… Continue reading Another myth, about C++ lambdas

A persistent myth about STL’s remove (and friends)

There seems to be a persistent myth about STL’s remove, remove_if, etc. Ask even a relatively experienced C++ programmer to explain this code. vector v = { 1,2,3,4,5 }; v.erase(remove_if(v.begin(), v.end(), [] (int i) { return (i & 1) == 0; }), v.end()); They’ll recognize the erase-remove idiom and correctly say that it’s removing even… Continue reading A persistent myth about STL’s remove (and friends)

VS2010 woes: tuples as map keys

Another day, another compiler/library bug. If you’re unfortunate enough to still be using Visual Studio 2010, don’t use tuples as map keys. #include #include #include using namespace std; typedef tuple FooT; typedef map MapT; int main(int, char*[]) { MapT m; // put a value in the map { FooT f(nullptr, 0); m[f] = 1337; }… Continue reading VS2010 woes: tuples as map keys

A problem with C++ lambdas?

C++ lambdas are wonderful for all sorts of reasons (especially with their C++14-and-beyond power). But I’ve run into a problem that I can’t think of a good way around yet. If you’re up to date with C++, of course you know that rvalue references and move semantics are a major thing. At this point, there… Continue reading A problem with C++ lambdas?