CppCon 2017

For the past year or so, I have worked with Herb Sutter on language support for compile-time programming, reflection, metaclasses, and code injection for the C++ programming language. This talk will focus on the related language features of static reflection and projection. These features aim to help programmers work with source code as data, and in some limited ways, use that data to write software.

I plan to trace the evolution of this work from its original proposal to its current implementation in the Clang C++ compiler (two implementations, actually). In particular, I will discuss design criteria, decisions, and issues related to reflection and projection as we implemented and experimented with them. I will also discuss how our current approach is shaped by alternative proposals, community and committee feedback, and restrictions imposed by the C++ programming language itself (i.e., what can you do and what can't you do).