Beautiful C++: Updating Legacy Code

By Kate Gregory
If you maintain an old large codebase, there's a good chance you don't understand parts of it. This course will show you how to update code to a more readable, understandable, and maintainable state by taking full advantage of modern C++ techniques.
Play course overview
Course info
Level
Intermediate
Updated
Nov 19, 2018
Duration
5h 2m
Table of contents
Course Overview
Course Overview 2m
What Target Are You Trying to Reach?
Legacy Code 4m Summary 1m Begin with the End in Mind 2m Course Approach 3m You Wish This Code Was Maintainable 2m Why Would You Change Working Code? 3m You Wish This Code Was Modern 5m Introduction 0m
The Big Picture
Introduction 1m Tidy as You Go 1m Summary 2m Specific Changes to Make 3m Leaving a Breadcrumb 3m What Parts Need Attention? 2m What Not to Do First 3m Let Tools Help You 3m Do You Need to Freeze? 2m Being Less Worried About Changes 3m Know the Risks 4m Do You Need to Change Your Ways? 2m I Don't Have Time to Clean This Up! 6m
The Compiler Is Your Friend
Introduction 1m Loop Scope 2m Compiling Really Old Code 2m Names for Numbers 1m You Might Find Bugs 3m Is This Macro Really a Function? 3m Summary 1m Wrap Code in Housekeeping 3m The Preprocessor 2m Turn up the Warning Level 3m New Keywords 2m Demo: String Warnings 2m Demo: Timing with Lambdas 4m Demo: Warning Level 7m Demo: Macros 14m
Use C++ as C++
Introduction 1m Proper Casts 1m Don't Typedef Structs 2m Spotting Classes 3m What Makes C++ C++? 4m Summary 2m Cleanup and Housekeeping Code 4m Make It Noncopyable 4m Similar Functions or Checks 3m Const Correctness 4m Demo: RAII 8m Demo: Creating Classes 9m RAII Benefits 2m While You're Looking at That Function 2m
Language Changes in C++ 11, 14, and 17
Introduction 1m Lambdas 1m Standards 1m Enum 2m Null 3m For Loops 2m Summary 2m Auto 3m Demo: Null 2m Constructors 6m Demo: Lambda 4m Demo: Auto 4m Demo: For Loops 5m
The Standard Library Will Save You Time and Trouble
Introduction 1m Standard Smart Pointers 1m Arrays 2m Do You Need a Pointer? 1m Kinds of Pointers 3m Vector 2m Action Plan 3m String 4m Summary 1m Write Output 3m Algorithms 3m RAII Pointers 5m Demo: String 6m Demo: Smart Pointers 7m Demo: Vector 8m
Reorganizing for Transparency
Introduction 1m Ripping Things Apart 2m Arrow Code 6m When You Declare Where You Use 5m Wall of Declarations 4m Summary 2m Add More Const 6m Refactor into Smaller Functions 4m Tidy Up 4m Function Parameters 4m Error Codes 8m
When Are You Done?
Introduction 0m Legacy Code 1m Other Places for Wrappers 3m When Do You Rebuild It All? 1m Think About Wrappers and Facades 3m So, What's Next? 3m Summary 3m Did You Find a Bug? 3m Evaluate Your Changes 2m
Description
Course info
Level
Intermediate
Updated
Nov 19, 2018
Duration
5h 2m
Description

C++ has been a popular programming language for decades, which means there’s some really old code out there. Some of it is very hard to read and maintain. Capabilities have been added to the language and standard library that could simplify this code, and possibly make it faster or eliminate nagging intermittent bugs. In this course, Beautiful C++: Updating Legacy Code, you’ll learn how to approach a large and unfamiliar codebase and make changes to modernize code. First, you'll learn some strategies for deciding exactly what to change. Then, you'll be introduced to language features and library capabilities that may not have existed when your code was first written, and can make it better now. Finally, you'll discover how to evaluate your progress and spread your gains through the rest of the code. By the end of this course, you'll be prepared for your code to last another generation or two and take full advantage of what modern C++ has to offer.

About the author
Kate Gregory
About the author

Kate Gregory is in her fourth decade of being paid to program. Her firm, Gregory Consulting Limited, is based in rural Ontario and helps clients adopt new technologies and adjust to the changing business environment. Current work makes heavy use of .NET and Visual C++ for both web and client development, especially for Windows 7 and 8. Managing, mentoring, technical writing, and technical speaking occupy much of her time, but she still writes code every week.

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Section Introduction Transcripts
Section Introduction Transcripts

Course Overview
Hi everyone! My name is Kate Gregory. Welcome to my course, Beautiful C++: Updating Legacy Code. I'm a consultant and mentor at Gregory Consulting. I've been using C++ for over 30 years. And these days, I spend a lot of time updating old code. This course will give you the tools and strategies you need to update legacy code of your own so it can be beautiful too, readable, understandable, expressive, reassuring, and probably a little bit faster and with a few less bugs. Some of the major topics in this course include choosing what parts to update, C++ features you should be using but probably aren't, how the standard library can help you, and how to know when to stop updating. By the end of this course, you'll know what makes modern C++ better than what we used to write and how to change the code you have into something more understandable and maintainable. Before beginning this course, you should be familiar with C++ in general. I'm not going to repeat a lot of syntax or concepts from my other courses like C++ Fundamentals Including C++ 17 or Beautiful C++: Algorithms. I also expect you to know how to add tests to your code base, and I won't be covering that. I hope you'll join me on this journey to learn how to make your old code beautiful and maintainable with the Beautiful C++: Updating Legacy Code course, at Pluralsight.

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