20 — Grounding and References

This guide is intentionally compact, so it omits many edge cases. Use these references when you want the precise language-lawyer version.

Primary References

• C++ Core Guidelines — best-practice guidance from the C++ community.
• cppreference: C++ language — detailed language reference.
• cppreference: C++ standard library — detailed standard library reference.
• ISO C++ — official C++ community site and standards information.

Core Topics

• RAII
• Object lifetime
• Rule of three/five/zero
• Move constructor
• Move assignment
• Value categories
• Undefined behavior

Ownership and Memory

• std::unique_ptr
• std::shared_ptr
• std::weak_ptr
• std::make_unique
• std::make_shared

Containers, Algorithms, and Views

• std::vector
• std::array
• std::map
• std::unordered_map
• Algorithms library
• std::optional
• std::variant
• std::string_view
• std::span
• std::filesystem
• std::chrono
• std::expected

Concurrency

• std::thread
• std::jthread
• std::mutex
• std::lock_guard
• std::condition_variable
• std::atomic
• Memory model

Tooling

• CMake Tutorial
• GDB Documentation
• LLDB Documentation
• Clang AddressSanitizer
• Clang UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer
• Clang ThreadSanitizer
• clang-format
• clang-tidy
• GoogleTest
• Catch2

Compiler Verification

The examples were checked with a small verification harness in the repository:

tools/verify-cpp-guide/

Positive examples compile and run under GCC 15.2.1 with C++20. The std::expected example compiles and runs under C++23. The intentionally unsafe examples in the undefined-behavior section were checked separately with Clang 21.1.8 and AddressSanitizer/UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer.

Run it locally with:

cd tools/verify-cpp-guide
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build -j
./build/verify_cpp_guide
./build/expected_cpp23

Accuracy Notes

• C++ has multiple valid styles depending on domain. Embedded, finance, game engines, safety-critical software, and application backends often make different choices around exceptions, allocation, RTTI, templates, and standard library usage.
• The guide defaults to mainstream modern C++17/20 style: RAII, standard containers, value semantics, explicit ownership, CMake, tests, and sanitizers.
• Some C++23 features, especially std::expected, may require a recent compiler and standard library.
• Modules and coroutines are important but intentionally not emphasized in the recovery path because adoption and usefulness vary by codebase.