List of Selected C++ Core Guidelines xiii
Foreword xv
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
About the Authors xxiii

Section 1: Bikeshedding is bad 1
Chapter 1.1: P.2: Write in ISO Standard C++ 3
Chapter 1.2: F.51: Where there is a choice, prefer default arguments over overloading 13
Chapter 1.3: C.45: Don't define a default constructor that only initializes data members; use in-class member initializers instead 23
Chapter 1.4: C.131: Avoid trivial getters and setters 31
Chapter 1.5: ES.10: Declare one name (only) per declaration 41
Chapter 1.6: NR.2: Don't insist to have only a single return-statement in a function 49

Section 2: Don't hurt yourself 59
Chapter 2.1: P.11: Encapsulate messy constructs, rather than spreading through the code 61
Chapter 2.2: I.23: Keep the number of function arguments low 71
Chapter 2.3: I.26: If you want a cross-compiler ABI, use a C-style subset 79
Chapter 2.4: C.47: Define and initialize member variables in the order of member declaration 87
Chapter 2.5: CP.3: Minimize explicit sharing of writable data 97
Chapter 2.6: T.120: Use template metaprogramming only when you really need to 107

Section 3: Stop using that 119
Chapter 3.1: I.11: Never transfer ownership by a raw pointer (T*) or reference (T&) 121
Chapter 3.2: I.3: Avoid singletons 129
Chapter 3.3: C.90: Rely on constructors and assignment operators, not memset and memcpy 139
Chapter 3.4: ES.50: Don't cast away const 149
Chapter 3.5: E.28: Avoid error handling based on global state (e.g. errno)159
Chapter 3.6: SF.7: Don't write using namespace at global scope in a header file 169

Section 4: Use this new thing properly 179
Chapter 4.1: F.21: To return multiple "out" values, prefer returning a struct or tuple 181
Chapter 4.2: Enum.3: Prefer class enums over "plain" enums 193
Chapter 4.3: ES.5: Keep scopes small 201
Chapter 4.4: Con.5: Use constexpr for values that can be computed at compile time 213
Chapter 4.5: T.1: Use templates to raise the level of abstraction of code 225
Chapter 4.6: T.10: Specify concepts for all template arguments 235

Section 5: Write code well by default 45
Chapter 5.1: P.4: Ideally, a program should be statically type safe 247
Chapter 5.2: P.10: Prefer immutable data to mutable data 259
Chapter 5.3: I.30: Encapsulate rule violations 267
Chapter 5.4: ES.22: Don't declare a variable until you have a value to initialize it with 275
Chapter 5.5: Per.7: Design to enable optimization 285
Chapter 5.6: E.6: Use RAII to prevent leaks 293

Envoi 305
Afterword 307

Index 309

Beautiful C++: 30 Core Guidelines for Writing Clean, Safe, and Fast Code