Type Safety

Enums, unions, and raw pointers from the C era left behind far too many type-safety hazards — implicit conversions, undefined behavior, null pointer dereferences... Modern C++ ships a whole toolbox for plugging these holes. In this chapter we look at how enum class ends the nightmare of implicit enum conversions, how strong typedefs prevent parameter mix-ups, how variant safely replaces union, how optional elegantly expresses "a value may be absent", and how any delivers type erasure when you need it.

Chapter Contents

STARTFINISHenum class and Scoped Enums→STARTFINISHStrong Typedefs: Type Safety That Prevents Mix-Ups→STARTFINISHstd::variant: A Type-Safe Union→STARTFINISHstd::optional: Elegantly Expressing 'A Value May Be Absent'→STARTFINISHstd::any and Type Erasure→