CppCon Selects Remo

CppCon is announcing the platform that it has selected for the CppCon 2020 online conference and why it matters.

The question has been asked Why would anyone pay to attend an online conference when the session videos will be made freely available on YouTube?

The answer to this is the same as the answer to the question Why would anyone pay to attend an onsite conference when the session videos will be made freely available on YouTube?

Between the session proposal submitters and the Program Committee reviewers there are literally hundreds of people that work to bring you the best possible program of C++ content every year at CppCon. We think it is the best program available on C++. But we know that it is not the most important aspect of the CppCon experience. We know that the reason that people take the time and money to attend the conference is because it is an unparalleled opportunity to be part of the best gathering of C++ minds of the year.

The best aspect of CppCon is the, so called, hallway track. The conversations that attendees have with presenters and other attendees is what people remember and the reason they return.

While evaluating options for the CppCon 2020 online conference platform, the top-most concern of the organizers was, What platform best supports attendee engagement with other attendees?

With that thought in mind, the organizers selected Remo.

We feel that the Remo platform best serves our goal of delivering the best possible C++ program while also optimizing for attendee engagement.

Of course we aren’t just relying on the platform, the organizers have developed new events that exploit the benefits of an online conference and have found ways to develop and enhance the sense of community that comes from attendee engagement. Attendees will have many opportunities to engage with presenters and other attendees in casual, unrecorded,  ask-me-anything sessions.

This year’s event offers an unprecedented opportunity to be a part of this community. Without the time and cost of travel and lodging and with an easy-to-expense registration fee, this is certainly the least expensive and most convenient CppCon ever. Engage with the best minds in C++ from the comfort of your own home.

Don’t miss your chance to join us for what promises to be an online adventure with the C++ community.

Instructor Interview: Klaus Iglberger / Modern C++ Design Patterns

In this week’s instructor interview, Kevin Carpenter welcomes Klaus Iglberger for a discussion of his CppCon Academy class, Modern C++ Design Patterns. Kevin took this class with Klaus last year and they discuss how Klaus has adapted it for online instruction. Klaus also outlines the additions and improvement to last year’s presentation. Kevin shares how his codebase has incorporated the Design Patterns that are covered in the class.

Klaus also discussions the three Main Program sessions that he’ll be giving this year. One is a Back to Basics talk on exceptions, one is on the basics of calling functions, and the other is on the SOLID principles.

Watch this space for more interviews with Kevin and CppCon presenters.

Call for Volunteers

If you would like to a part of making CppCon an event, please join us as a volunteer.

Being entirely online this year, means the volunteer duties will be very different than previous years, but the mission to produce an event that runs smoothly for all attendees is that same.

Delivering all of our content online this year will require more training of volunteers to understand the content delivery technologies that we’ll be using.

If you want more information about volunteering, contact us at volunteers@cppcon.org.

The main volunteer detail will be between 0800 to 1500 Aurora, Colorado (Mountain) time. If you can volunteer all week, this would be excellent, yet if you only have limited time, we welcome you as well.

If you want to join a great team and be a part of history making in the C++ community, please complete the CppCon 2020 Volunteer Application Form. There will be other steps after completion, yet will contact you to assist you with setup for the conference.

Thank you

Brett Searles
Matthew Butler

Please note that registration to be a volunteer will be ending the August 31st so that there will be enough time to adequately train all volunteers.

CppCon 2020 Keynote: Empirically Measuring, and Reducing, C++’s Accidental Complexity by Herb Sutter

Tomorrow (August 5th) is the last day of Early Bird Online registration.

Keynote Speaker: Herb Sutter

Herb Sutter plenaryHerb Sutter is author of several popular C++ books and the chair of the ISO C++ committee. He is a Software Architect for Microsoft.

This talk will be the seventh in Herb’s series on Simplifying C++ and it explores the possibility of acquiring more quantifiable data that we could analyze to measure sources of C++ language complexity.

From his talk’s description:

This talk reports work to systematically catalog and measure C++’s unneeded complexity, how some current evolution proposals may address its major sources, and presents specific suggestions on what we might be able to do about it in the context of a future-evolution proposal to simplify parameter passing and provide meaningful initialization guarantees in C++.

CppCon Academy 2020

CppCon Academy, the classes that we host before and after the main conference days, has successfully recruited from among the top C++ instructors in the world.

Because these are the best instructors, because this year’s classes are online, and because attendees can enroll in classes without attending the conference, CppCon Academy 2020 is an unparalleled learning opportunity for C++ programmers all over the world.

We’re pleased to announce the CppCon Academy 2020 schedule. As always, we’re offering a wide variety of classes, with topics ranging from concurrency, to language features, to design, and to software quality.

In-person classes that traditionally would require one day onsite will be conducted over two shorter days online; likewise, two-day onsite classes will now take place over three days online.

Registration is open now, so check it out. We look forward to seeing you in class!

CppCon 2020 Keynote: The Beauty and Power of “Primitive” C++ by Bjarne Stroustrup

Don’t miss out on Early Bird Online registration. Only a week remains before the deadline.

Keynote Speaker: Bjarne Stroustrup

Bjarne Stroustrup is the designer and original implementer of C++ and the author of several classic books on C++. Dr. Stroustrup is a Technical Fellow and a Managing Director in the technology division of Morgan Stanley in New York City and a Visiting Professor in Computer Science at Columbia University.

Conference speakers tend to focus on novel, clever, and advanced features of C++. In contrast, in his keynote, The Beauty and Power of “Primitive” C++, Bjarne will look at addressing relatively simple problems in relatively simple ways under severe constraints of performance, ease of use, and reliability

From his talk’s description:

This is an exploration of a design space close to the hardware and of the use of C++ in that space, rather than a standards proposal or the presentation of a mature tool chain. And, no, by “primitive”, I don’t mean “old-fashioned, C-like” code; some of the general techniques are old, but some of the code requires C++17 and much could be done better given features we are unlikely to get even in C++23.

Going Online

CppCon 2020 will be following the lead of other C++ events, such as C++ on Sea, and will be held entirely online.

Bjarne Stroustrup

The organizers feel that a “online” conference in 2020 is the best way for us to provide the community with content consistent with the quality standard that we’ve set for the past six years.

Many details are still being determined, but we do know that the conference will be a multi-track conference filled with sessions from C++ experts like those from previous years. In addition to the dedicated Back to Basics Track, we are introducing a dedicated Embedded Track.

We’ll be using online conferencing software that helps us capture the “hallway-track” experience that has made attending CppCon one of the most anticipated C++ events of the year. Attendees will be able to meet and chat with other attendees, speakers, and exhibitors.

The sessions will be during the scheduled days of the conference (September 14 – 18) from 09:00 to 15:00 Aurora time (08:00 – 14:00 West Coast | 11:00 – 17:00 East Coast | 16:00 – 22:00 CET). Sessions will feature live Q&A from attendees.

Conference registration is available now with an early bird rate of $200 until August 5th.

Dates and times of the pre-/post-conference classes are still being coordinated with class instructors and we’ll update the website with this information as soon as we can.

We’ll update the website with details as they are determined, but if you have specific questions, they can be addressed to info@cppcon.org.

CppCon 2020 Call for Submissions

CppCon is the annual, week-long face-to-face gathering for the entire C++ community. The conference is organized by the C++ community for the community and so we invite you to present. The conference regular program consists of five days of sixty minute sessions.

Given the current situation regarding COVID-19, we feel it is best to be totally transparent with our planning process. We are closely monitoring the news regarding restrictions on travel and large gatherings. It takes about 9-12 months of planning for each conference and given that we do not know the situation in September, we are moving forward with the hope that it will be safe to see you all in Aurora.

Have you learned something interesting about C++, maybe a new technique possible in C++14/17/20? Or perhaps you have implemented something cool related to C++, maybe a new C++ library? If so, consider sharing it with other C++ enthusiasts by giving a regular program talk at CppCon 2020.

The submissions deadline is June 5th with decisions sent by July 27th.

We’ve made a format change to better serve the needs of our community. In addition to the dedicated track that we introduced last year (the Back to Basics Track), we’ve created another dedicated track (the Embedded Track).

For topic ideas, possible formats, submission instructions and valuable advice on how to make the best possible submission, see the Submissions page.

Note: Calls for Lightning Talks and Open Content sessions will be made this summer. The deadline for these is the conference itself.

Call for Author Participation

Book SIgningCppCon represents an unparalleled opportunity for C++ authors to engage with potential reviewers and readers.

For authors that are able to attend in person, the conference will schedule signing opportunities and panels with other authors. Authors can submit session proposals for the Main Program and/or Open Content sessions.

Book SigningEven for authors that cannot attend in person, the conference is an opportunity for exposure by working with authors to have their hard copy books available for sale at the conference and/or having special attendee discounts for ebook editions.

To register your interest in learning more about author opportunities at CppCon, please fill out the CppCon 2020 Call for Authors form.

Call for Open Content Sessions

As we do every year, we offer Open Content session in the early morning, over lunch, and in the evening.

Audience8

Open Content is just that, open! Attendees and regular program speakers alike can propose sessions on anything (related to C++) that interests them. These might feature a single facilitator leading a room through an exercise, activity or demo, a panel of 3-5 people taking questions from the room, a “hackathon” on a specific project, or an open conversation among the whole room. The projector is available for slides or public note taking.

Open Content is designed for flexibility so that a “Birds of a Feather” talk may be proposed even after the conference has begun. A speaker who gets a lot of post-talk questions may agree to host a Q&A session in the Open Content time. An attendee inspired by a session may host a session to explore a topic further or start on a group implementation of something.

Anyone can submit an open content session, you don’t need to be a conference speaker (or even a registered attendee). To submit, visit our Open Content Submissions page.

These sessions will be open in another way too – Open Content does not require conference registration. That’s right, everyone who is in the area is welcome to come and join us for all the early morning/lunch/evening sessions, including proposing or leading a session. This is part of our goal to be an inclusive conference for the entire C++ community.

Free Friday

All CppCon 2019 events on Friday, September 20th, do not require conference registration. That’s right, just like all our evening sessions (except ones involving food–the dinners and reception), all Friday sessions are open to the public without a conference registration. This includes talks by some of our popular speakers.