It's Going To Be C++11
Herb Sutter: The biggest news is that this afternoon we voted in the final remaining feature changes to C++0x, and to much applause then unanimously approved the text for international ballot as a Final Committee Draft (FCD). FCD means that, assuming no surprises, we intend to do only bug fixes and editorial corrections for the next year or so, and then ballot a final standard. If we can do that, assuming all goes well, C++0x could officially be published as soon as next year as ISO C++ 2011, and we can stop with the “x-is-hex” jokes and just start calling it C++11.
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The committee agreed, and today voted to remove export entirely from C++0x. The “export” keyword is still reserved for future use, but has no defined meaning in the C++0x standard.
Friday Java Quiz: Know Your IDEs Capabilities
It has been my experience that most Java developers nowadays use an IDE (or IDEs) for their daily work. Knowing the capabilities of these IDEs may make you more productive. However, most developers also has a tendency to learn just enough of their IDEs to "get the job done" and then stop at that point.
Pair programming is a wonderful avenue for transmitting IDE know-hows between programmers on a team. "Just hit Ctrl-F12," Brian told me in a recent pair programming session. I liked what I saw and have been hitting Ctrl-F12 all the time ever since.
Q: What does Ctrl-F12 do?
Strict rules apply: no Bing-ing; and you have to write down your final answer before hitting Ctrl-F12. The question is biased towards JetBrain's IntelliJ IDEA. I don't know what Ctrl-F12 does in other IDEs.
Bonus Q: How can your IDEs help you when you receive a stack trace in an email form your testers or customers?
"I didn't know you can do that!" was the reaction from Mike the last time I used the feature in a pairing session.
Tianjin Trip Pictures
I've been back from the Tianjin trip for 12 days. Aside from visiting family, I also played tourist in my home town. Here's some pictures and impressions.
The Tianjin Radio and Television Tower (天塔) from the back window
The tower was the tallest tower in Asia and the third tallest in the World, behind the CN Tower in Toronto and the Ostankino Tower in Moscow, when it was completed in 1991. You can see how prominent it is in the Tianjin skyline in the Wikipedia picture that I used in the last blog entry.
Tianjin Ancient Culture Street (古文化街)
The "Ancient Culture Street" is a pedestrian street of about half a mile long, lined with shops and restaurants in traditional Chinese style buildings. The street has been in existence for more than 800 years. The buildings, however, are "rebuilt to restore the ancient scene" in the 1990's.
Tianjin Book Tower (图书大厦)
One of the many high rise buildings that has sprout up in the last twenty years. The first seven floors constitutes a giant book store. Educational books/DVDs are popular here due to Chinese traditional values that puts education in (very) high esteem. One of the many television screens shows a classroom lecture of high school geometry.
Wang Hai Lou Church (望海楼)
A Catholic church built in the 1860's by the French after part of Tianjin was conceded to the West in the Second Opium War of 1856-1858.
Statute of Liang Qichao (梁启超) in front of his old residence (now a museum)
Liang Qichao (梁启超, 1873-1929) was a scholar/politician in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic period. He was instrumental in the failed 1898 100-day reform movement and went to exile until the 1911 revolution that established the Republic. He lived in Tianjin in his later life, after his political career.
Tianjin traffic
And I would be remiss if I don't show you a scene of Tianjin traffic. There were many times when I thought "I should take a picture" when I was in the crazy traffic. In this picture, a taxi driver (the red dot on the dashboard says "empty taxi") decided that he has waited at a red light long enough and the the gap between our car and the car in front of us is wide enough for him the turn around and go the other way.