C++ Best Practices

Modern C++20/23 with zero-overhead abstractions and safety.

Core Principles

• RAII: Resource Acquisition Is Initialization — always
• Zero-cost: Don't pay for what you don't use
• Safety: Memory safety without garbage collection
• Modern: Use C++20/23 features

Memory Management

// Smart pointers — always
auto ptr = std::make_unique<Resource>();
auto shared = std::make_shared<Cache>();

// No raw new/delete
// std::vector for dynamic arrays
// std::string for strings

Modern C++ Features

// Concepts (C++20)
template<typename T>
concept Hashable = requires(T a) {
    { std::hash<T>{}(a) } -> std::convertible_to<std::size_t>;
};

// Ranges (C++20)
auto results = range | std::views::filter(pred)
                   | std::views::transform(func)
                   | std::views::take(10);

// std::expected (C++23)
std::expected<int, Error> divide(int a, int b) {
    if (b == 0) return std::unexpected{DivisionByZero{}};
    return a / b;
}

Concurrency

// std::jthread for cancellation
std::jthread worker([](stop_token) {
    while (!stop_token.stop_requested()) {
        // work
    }
});

Error Handling

// Exceptions for exceptional cases
// noexcept for functions that shouldn't throw
// std::expected for fallible operations

Build Commands

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fsanitize=address,undefined"
ctest --output-on-failure

Quality Gates

• clang-tidy passes
• Cppcheck passes
• Zero warnings with -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic
• AddressSanitizer clean
• UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer clean
• Coverage ≥ 80%