Effective Modern C++ by Scott Meyers

If you’ve been on the C++ bandwagon for a while you probably heard about Scott Meyers and his “Effective...” book series. While I haven’t read every single one of them, the ones I did check out always came packed with highly compressed information on how to become a more productive C++ programmer. “Effective Modern C++” is, thankfully, no exception.

Each of the 42 tips embedded in the book comes with a practical example and concise explanation of the techniques used in the code. The title does mention C++14 but most of the content is focused primarily on C++11 (with respective and often simplified C++14 examples if applicable). A positive notion while reading the book is that you don’t necessarily have to be (too) familiarized with language constructs introduced by C++11/14, since every chapter gives an extensive explanation on how each one of them works in detail (and why it’s a better/worse solution in particular cases). That being said, it’s difficult not to notice the author’s love for templates – almost all code samples use them. Personally, I have nothing against that but depending on which industry branch you’re working in you might find the tips more/less useful (in case of game development many senior devs will tell you how much they loathe templates!). Nevertheless, going through all 300 pages of “Effective Modern C++” was an educating experience, so if you’re serious about moving to C++11 I highly recommend getting it!