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Immutables in C++: Language Foundation for Functional Programming

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Central European Functional Programming School (CEFP 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 10094))

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Abstract

The C++ programming language is a multiparadigm language, with a rich set of procedural, object-oriented, generative and, since C++11, functional language elements. The language is also well-known for its capability to map certain semantic features into the language syntax; therefore, the compiler can reason about them at compile time. Supporting functional programming with immutables is one of such aspects: the programmer can mark immutable components and the compiler checks potential violation scenarios and also optimizes the code according to the constant expectations.

The paper targets the non-C++ programmer audience less familiar with the technical details of C++ immutables and functional elements, as well as those C++ programmers who are interested in the development of the newest standard. We will survey the functional programming features of modern C++. The various types of constants and immutable memory storage will be discussed as well as the rules of const correctness to enable the static type system to catch const violations. Const and static const members of classes represent support for immutables in object-oriented programming. Specific programming tools, like mutable and const_cast enable the programmer changing constness for exceptional cases. Constexpr and relaxed constexpr (since C++14) objects and functions as well as lambda expressions have recently been added to C++ to extend the language support for functional programming. We also discuss the fundamentals of C++ template metaprogramming, a pure functional paradigm operating at compile time working with immutable objects.

Understanding the immutable elements and the rich set of functional language features with their interactions can help programmers to implement safe, efficient and expressive C++ programs in functional style.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Informatics, Department of Programming Languages and Compilers, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, 1117, Hungary

    Zoltán Porkoláb

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  1. Zoltán Porkoláb
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Correspondence to Zoltán Porkoláb .

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  1. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Viktória Zsók

  2. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Zoltán Porkoláb

  3. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Zoltán Horváth

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Porkoláb, Z. (2019). Immutables in C++: Language Foundation for Functional Programming. In: Zsók, V., Porkoláb, Z., Horváth, Z. (eds) Central European Functional Programming School. CEFP 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10094. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28346-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28346-9_3

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