C++ Reference Guide

The last word about rvalue references hasn't been said yet. While the current Working Draft seems to be in a much better shape than it was three months ago, I'm still concerned about this feature in particular. Not only are rvalue references underspecified, they are a pervasive feature whose impact cannot be isolated to a single chapter of the C++0x standard. Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that we don't need rvalue references, heaven forbid. I'm saying the opposite: we do need rvalue references, and that's exactly why they have to be fully specified and tested before we rush to produce an FCD. This week's More on Rvalue References discusses my concerns about rvalue references and questions whether there are any core features that "only library implementers will use."

What's my take on Apple's Tablet? I'm not the typical gadget consumer as you already know, so I can't praise or criticize it here. I believe, however, that it's a step in the right direction towards the convergence of smartphones and portable computers. Indeed, the Tablet is too big to replace an iPhone but it's only the beginning (if you're interested in building iPhone apps, don't skip The iPhone Developer's Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone 3.0 SDK, 2nd Edition). Don't be surprised if Apple's rivals come up within months with a Tablet-like device that's smaller and probably cheaper than Tablet, while at the same time new models of smartphones become heavier and thicker. At the end this process, we will forget that these new devices originally belonged to different market categories.