Abstract: Many people hate math, some programmers do too. We hold that this hate stems from a reductionist view of mathematics as merely rule application: number crunching, equation solving and the like. But programming is more akin to mathematical creation, and writing a well designed, neat program can be as exhilarating as devising a new little math theory. In this talk we'll investigate how the mathematical mind approaches the world, and how developing a mathematical inclination can help you be a better C++ programmer.
Presentation: https://github.com/joaquintides/usingstdcpp2026
Vinnie Falco, creator of Boost.Beast, shares the origin story behind two new coroutine-based networking libraries, Corosio and Capy. While designing Beast2 as a C++11 networking library, Falco repeatedly sought design advice from Peter Dimov, who had one persistent answer: just use coroutines. Determined to prove him wrong, Falco set out to learn coroutines, implement his own task type, and benchmark it against ASIO.
The results surprised him. Initial benchmarks confirmed his suspicion that coroutines performed poorly, but after applying optimizations like a recycling allocator, performance improved dramatically. Under more realistic, higher-abstraction scenarios, coroutines actually beat ASIO - because composed operations built from nested operation states accumulate costly move constructions and memory copies as structs grow, while a coroutine handle remains just a pointer. What began as a mission to discredit coroutines became the foundation for two new libraries.
Levers that matter: Backend: std::vector (default) or boost::container::small_vector for small buffer optimization and fewer heap hits. Block: choose an unsigned type that matches your CPU/cache tradeoffs (e.g., 64-bit on x64). Maintainability: API stays the same—operator&, |, ^, shifts, resize/shrink_to_fit. Add reserve for predictable growth.
Boost.Decimal by Matt Borland and Chris Kormanyos has been accepted! Implementation of IEEE 754 and ISO/IEC DTR 24733 Decimal Floating Point numbers. Thanks to Review Manager John Maddock.