What is C++20?
In February of 2020, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) approved a new version of C++, called C++20. C++20 contains the most changes to the language since C++11.
New improvements in C++20
For your interest, here’s a list of the major changes that C++20 adds. Note that this list is not comprehensive, but rather intended to highlight some of the key changes of interest.
- Abbreviated function templates via auto parameters (11.8 -- Function templates with multiple template types)
- Chrono extensions for calendar and time zone support (no tutorial yet)
- Concepts, which allow you to put constraints on template parameters (no tutorial yet)
- Constexpr virtual functions, unions, try, catch, dynamic_cast, and typeid (no tutorial yet)
- Constinit keyword, to assert that a variable has static initialization (no tutorial yet)
- Coroutines (no tutorial yet)
- Designated initializers (13.8 -- Struct aggregate initialization)
- Immediate functions using the consteval keyword (F.1 -- Constexpr functions)
- Modules, a replacement for #include (no tutorial yet)
- Ranges (no tutorial yet)
- std::erase (no tutorial yet)
- std::make_shared for arrays (no tutorial yet)
- std::map::contains() (no tutorial yet)
- std::span (no tutorial yet)
- String formatting library (no tutorial yet, see https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/format)
- String literals as template parameters (no tutorial yet)
- Three-way comparison using the spaceship operator <=> (no tutorial yet)
- Using scoped enums (13.6 -- Scoped enumerations (enum classes))
- Views (no tutorial yet)