2013 was the year C++ stopped being your dad’s systems language and started flirting with modernity. The ISO standard known as C++11 (published late 2011) had finally trickled down from compiler god-mode to everyday build systems. GCC 4.8.1 was solid. Clang 3.3 was a revelation. Even Visual Studio 2013— yes, Microsoft —started playing catch-up with real move semantics and variadic templates. Let’s start with auto . In 1998, auto was a joke—a keyword that meant "please ignore me." In 2013, auto meant finally, I don't have to type std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Foo>>::const_iterator like a medieval scribe .
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (one star removed for template error messages longer than War and Peace ) 2013 c++
Review by a recovering C++98 programmer
Initialization was still a minefield: