How to make the switch to C++11?
- by Overv
I've been programming in C++ for a while now, but mostly thinks centered around the low-level features of C++. By that I mean mostly working with pointers and raw arrays. I think this behavior is known as using C++ as C with classes despite me only having tried C recently for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised how languages like C# and Java hide these details away in convenient standard library classes like Dictionaries and Lists.
I'm aware that the C++ standard library has many convenience containers like vectors, maps and strings as well and C++11 only adds to this by having std:: array and ranged loops.
How do I best learn to make use of these modern language features and which are suitable for which moments? Is it correct that software engineering in C++ nowadays I'd mostly free of manual memory management?
Lastly, which compiler should I use to make the most of the new standard? Visual Studio has excellent debugging tools, but even VS2012 seems to have terrible C++11 support.
