C++ Videos from BUILD 2011

I been watch a lot of the video from the the talks at BUILD. Here is a list of some of the C++ related video from BUILD 2011 that I found interesting

• Using the Windows Runtime from C++
• Writing modern C++ code : How C++ has evolved over the years
• Bringing existing C++ code into Metro style apps
• Under the covers with C++ for Metro style apps
• Tips and tricks for developing Metro style apps using C++
• Taming GPU compute with C++ AMP
• Going Native 2: C++ at BUILD, WIndows Runtime Library (WRL)

Multi Commander v1.2.0

Multi Commander v1.2.0 is released. This release contains mostly bug fixes. Over 160+ changes has gone into this release.

It might take some time until the next version is ready. Because the next version will be a major update with larger new features and new extensions.

There might be a version 1.2.1 before the then, But that will be a release that only fixes bugs and minor problems. No new additions.

C++11 Feature support in VC11

Today it was released what C++11 feature that VC11 will support.

The expection was that a lot more would be support. Only 3 new feature sinces VC10.
A lot of people displayd the disapointnemt in the commentsand rightfully so. I think that more could be expected from a company as big as Microsoft.

The the 3 new feature is not everything that is new. If we look at the bright side of things we get more from STL, We get the new AMP that is very intressting, and we get the <filesystem> header from TR2 , that will give us the Boost.Filesystem V2, and that is good.
The new threading support via the <thread> header will be there and that is something I look forward to use.

So even if the new feature for VC11 is not what we expected it is not all bad.

And with the BUILD conference starting today. I expect that we will get lot more news about developing with Windows 8 soon.

Smart Pointer - unique_ptr

With C++11, There is no reason anymore to use 'delete', and you should try to avoid it.
C++11 gives us a couple of smart pointers, use them and your code will be better and safer.

unique_ptr is the basic replacement for the standard pointer.
It holds a unique pointer and will delete it when it goes out of scope.

If you need to hold multiple instances of the same pointer the you should use shared_ptr instead. But often unique_ptr is enough.

std::unique_ptr<MyClass> pObj(new MyClass);

delete for this will be called when pObj is destroyed.

You then use the pointer as you normal would.

pObj->Method1();
pObj->Method2();

If you need the raw pointer.

MyClass* pRawPtr = pObj.get();

But do not call delete on pRawPtr your self.

If you want to remove a pointer from the smart pointer, you need to release the ownership of it.

pObj.release();

The std::unique_ptr will now not delete the pointer. And pObj is now also invalid for usage.

If you want to move the ownership from own uniqe_ptr to another you need to use the STL helper function std::move.

std::unique_ptr<MyClass> pObj2;
pObj2 = std::move(pObj);

// or you could do
std::unique_ptr<MyClass> pObj2(pObj.release());

Now pObj2 owns it. and pObj does not point to anything anymore.

You should NOT do this. If you do, you will shot yourself in the foot.

std::unique_ptr<MyClass> pObj2(pObj.get());

pObj and pObj2 both owns the same pointer. And it will be deleted twice.

What about arrays?
Arrays must be delete using delete[], and unique_ptr will do that, As long as you defined it with the type.

std::unique_ptr<char[]> pArray(new char[2000]);

delete[] will now be called when pArray gets deleted.

Example

std::unique_ptr<BYTE[]> FileReader::ReadDataFromFile(int nByteToRead)
{
  std::unique_ptr<BYTE[]> pBytes(new BYTE[nByteToRead]);
  ZeroMemory(pBytes.get(), nByteToRead);

  DWORD nBytesRead = 0;
  ReadFile(m_hFile, pBytes.get(), nBytesToRead, &nBytesRead, NULL);
  return pBytes;
}

std::unique_ptr<FileReader> pReader(new FileReader("filename.txt"));

std::unique_ptr<BYTE[]> pData = pReader->ReadDataFromFile(64000);

pReader and pData will be automatically be deleted.