3 HN users recommended this talk3 months2018–2022score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Recommended whenever the STL mindset or avoiding raw loops in C++ comes up, as an enlightening talk on expressive algorithms.
Sean Parent's GoingNative 2013 talk surveys new and overlooked C++ features and shows how to use them for simple, correct, clear code. It stresses using standard algorithms rather than raw loops.
“This one in particular is very enlightening” (HN, 2018)
Yes! Alexander Stepanov is fantastic. He's the designer of the Standard Template Library (STL) for C++, which is C++'s core library of generic algorithms. It's part of the standard libary. If you can understand how to use the STL properly, you're well on your way to becoming a profiicent C++ programmer. His books are fantastic too. Elements of Programming: [link] and From Mathematics to Generic Programming: [link] If you prefer video lectures, his second book is based off his lecture series Four (three) Algorithmic Journeys: [link] [link] [link] [link] It's a combination of history and math/algorithms and programming (using C++). If you're just looking for a straight intro to C++ course this isn't it. But it's a ton of fun and the generic programming/STL mindset is very powerful. Programming Conversations is another great lecture series by Alexander Stepanov: [link] I would also recommend searching YouTube for videos by Sean Parent. This one in particular is very enlightening: [this video] Sean Parent is very good at getting you in the STL mindset and showing off the expressive power of using the standard STL algorithms in your code. Except in the simplest cases, you should try to use them instead of writing your own loops. Here are some random tips if you're coming from C or Java: "new" is not the way to create objects in C++. new and delete should almost never be used by serious programmers in C++. Never use new and delete (or malloc and free). If you want a dynamically-allocate
Sean Parent talk on the STL mindset and expressive algorithms.
Sean Parent has a good talk about no loops in C++. His primary argument is that typically a loop is an algorithm you’re applying (map, filter, reduce…) and the raw loop masks the algorithm. [this video]
Argues raw loops mask the algorithm being applied.
It was a cute gimmick for the title, nm. But you should try to avoid raw loops in favor of established iteration patterns / standard library algorithms. I found this talk on the subject by Sean Parent to be educational: [this video]
Talk on avoiding raw loops in favor of standard algorithms.
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