In 2020, as in 2019, CppCon will have a Back to Basics Track. This track’s mission is to cover all the essentials of modern C++. Each session in the track is about a single concrete topic, often expressible in just one or two words: Templates. Exception-safety. Move semantics. Our goal is to fit these sessions together like jigsaw pieces to produce a track that covers “everything you need to know” to be a working programmer in today’s C++ community.
Each session aims to present time-tested guidelines that are aligned with mainstream C++ and broadly useful across many industries. This accounts for the lack of any Back to Basics sessions on Concepts, Coroutines, or Modules — all big topics in the zeitgeist this year, but also topics where best practices are still hazy and implementations are still immature. Attendees seeking information on cutting-edge features of C++20 will find plenty of what they seek in CppCon 2020’s main conference program.
Each session in the track is presented by an expert instructor. We aim to get presenters who are not only experts on the technical material, but also experts at presentation and instruction. I think we’ve succeeded — and I hope that after looking at the names below, you’ll agree!
The Back to Basics track is part of the main conference program. You don’t need any special ticket to attend any of the track’s talks. You can freely mix B2B talks with non-B2B talks in your schedule. Finally, the B2B track will be recorded and captioned and put up on YouTube with the rest of the main program.
Here’s a sneak peek at this year’s Back to Basics lineup. The precise order of these sessions hasn’t been determined as of this post; we may shuffle them up a bit. We’ve also reserved space on Friday for a “closing track keynote” which has yet to be announced.
Monday, 2020-09-14
Bob Steagall: “The Abstract Machine.”
Bob Steagall: “The Structure of a Program.”
Steve Dewhurst: “Class Layout.”
Tuesday, 2020-09-15
Ben Saks: “Pointers and Memory.”
Andreas Fertig: “Templates, Part 1.”
Andreas Fertig: “Templates, Part 2.”
Wednesday, 2020-09-16
Barbara Geller and Ansel Sermersheim: “Lambda Expressions.”
Ben Saks: “Unit Tests.”
Arthur O’Dwyer: “Algebraic Data Types.”
Thursday, 2020-09-17
Rainer Grimm: “Smart Pointers.”
Mike Shah: “Design Patterns.”
David Olsen: “Move Semantics.”
Friday, 2020-09-18
Klaus Iglberger: “Exception-Safety.”
Arthur O’Dwyer: “Concurrency and Thread-Safety.”
For last year’s Back to Basics lineup, with links to all the videos, see “Back to Basics at CppCon 2019.”
We hope to see you at this year’s Back to Basics Track! Register here.
Arthur O’Dwyer
Chair, Back to Basics Track
Herb Sutter is author of several popular C++ books and the chair of the ISO C++ committee. He is a Software Architect for Microsoft.
CppCon Academy, the classes that we host before and after the main conference days, has successfully recruited from among the top C++ instructors in the world.
In-person classes that traditionally would require one day onsite will be conducted over two shorter days online; likewise, two-day onsite classes will now take place over three days online.
Most of us value the experience of having casual conversations with smart, knowledgeable C++ programmers, particularly when a new version of Standard C++ is out. In a year in which these opportunities have been severely reduced by a combination of working at home and the cancellation of in-person events such as conferences and user group meetings, we appreciate the in-person experience all the more. CppCon, one of the best C++ in-person experiences of the year, is needed this year more than ever and we are excited to be bringing it to you.
Of course, we can only do this if it is safe to do so. We are monitoring the situation closely and will hold the event only if it is safe to do so and only in a manner that is safe. We are working very closely with our venue, the Gaylord Rockies, in planning the event. They have selected Vanderbilt University Medical Center as their 
Because we must cap our attendance (we don’t yet have an exact number, we are still working that out), we are looking at the possibility, for the first time with CppCon, of selling out the conference. If you’d like to attend, register as soon as possible. You may be concerned about registering and then discovering that you can’t attend. This is understandable, so we are offering a no-questions-asked, complete refund until thirty days before the conference, August 14th. (At that point, we need to make certain financial commitments to our vendors, but if you need to cancel after that, we’ll apply your 2020 fee to provide a free registration for CppCon 2021.)
Have you learned something interesting about C++, maybe a new technique possible in C++14/17/20? Or perhaps you have implemented something cool related to C++, maybe a new C++ library? If so, consider sharing it with other C++ enthusiasts by giving a regular program talk at CppCon 2020.
CppCon represents an unparalleled opportunity for C++ authors to engage with potential reviewers and readers.
Even for authors that cannot attend in person, the conference is an opportunity for exposure by working with authors to have their hard copy books available for sale at the conference and/or having special attendee discounts for ebook editions.