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

✍ Scribed by Scott Meyers

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 321
• Series: Effective C++
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Barnes & Noble Review
Since early in the 90s, working C++ programmers have relied on Scott Meyers s Effective C++ to dramatically improve their skills. But the state-of-the-art has moved forward dramatically since Meyers last updated this book in 1997. (For instance, there s now STL. Design patterns. Even new functionality being added through TR1 and Boost.) So Meyers has done a top-to-bottom rewrite, identifying the 55 most valuable techniques you need now to be exceptionally effective with C++.

Over half of this edition s content is new. Templates broadly impact C++ development, and you ll find them everywhere. There s extensive coverage of multithreaded systems. There s an entirely new chapter on resource management. You ll find substantial new coverage of exceptions. Much is gained, but nothing s lost: You ll find the same depth of practical insight that first made Effective C++ a classic all those years ago. Bill Camarda, from the July 2005 href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/newslet... Only

✦ Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Praise for Effective C++, Third Edition
Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Accustoming Yourself to C++
Item 1: View C++ as a federation of languages.
Item 2: Prefer consts, enums, and inlines to #defines.
Item 3: Use const whenever possible.
Item 4: Make sure that objects are initialized before they’re used.
Chapter 2: Constructors, Destructors, and Assignment Operators
Item 5: Know what functions C++ silently writes and calls.
Item 6: Explicitly disallow the use of compiler-generated functions you do not want.
Item 7: Declare destructors virtual in polymorphic base classes.
Item 8: Prevent exceptions from leaving destructors.
Item 9: Never call virtual functions during construction or destruction.
Item 10: Have assignment operators return a reference to *this.
Item 11: Handle assignment to self in operator=.
Item 12: Copy all parts of an object.
Chapter 3: Resource Management
Item 13: Use objects to manage resources.
Item 14: Think carefully about copying behavior in resource-managing classes.
Item 15: Provide access to raw resources in resource-managing classes.
Item 16: Use the same form in corresponding uses of new and delete.
Item 17: Store newed objects in smart pointers in standalone statements.
Chapter 4: Designs and Declarations
Item 18: Make interfaces easy to use correctly and hard to use incorrectly.
Item 19: Treat class design as type design.
Item 20: Prefer pass-by-reference-to-const to pass-by-value.
Item 21: Don’t try to return a reference when you must return an object.
Item 22: Declare data members private.
Item 23: Prefer non-member non-friend functions to member functions.
Item 24: Declare non-member functions when type conversions should apply to all parameters.
Item 25: Consider support for a non-throwing swap.
Chapter 5: Implementations
Item 26: Postpone variable definitions as long as possible.
Item 27: Minimize casting.
Item 28: Avoid returning “handles” to object internals.
Item 29: Strive for exception-safe code.
Item 30: Understand the ins and outs of inlining.
Item 31: Minimize compilation dependencies between files.
Chapter 6: Inheritance and Object-Oriented Design
Item 32: Make sure public inheritance models “is-a.”
Item 33: Avoid hiding inherited names.
Item 34: Differentiate between inheritance of interface and inheritance of implementation.
Item 35: Consider alternatives to virtual functions.
Item 36: Never redefine an inherited non-virtual function.
Item 37: Never redefine a function’s inherited default parameter value.
Item 38: Model “has-a” or “is-implemented-in-terms- of” through composition.
Item 39: Use private inheritance judiciously.
Item 40: Use multiple inheritance judiciously.
Chapter 7: Templates and Generic Programming
Item 41: Understand implicit interfaces and compile-time polymorphism.
Item 42: Understand the two meanings of typename.
Item 43: Know how to access names in templatized base classes.
Item 44: Factor parameter-independent code out of templates.
Item 45: Use member function templates to accept “all compatible types.”
Item 46: Define non-member functions inside templates when type conversions are desired.
Item 47: Use traits classes for information about types.
Item 48: Be aware of template metaprogramming.
Chapter 8: Customizing new and delete
Item 49: Understand the behavior of the new-handler.
Item 50: Understand when it makes sense to replace new and delete.
Item 51: Adhere to convention when writing new and delete.
Item 52: Write placement delete if you write placement new.
Chapter 9: Miscellany
Item 53: Pay attention to compiler warnings.
Item 54: Familiarize yourself with the standard library, including TR1.
Item 55: Familiarize yourself with Boost.
Appendix A: Beyond Effective C++
Appendix B: Item Mappings Between Second and Third Editions
Index
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