CppCon 2023

Codebases contain all the history for a project, from designed-new features to hacked-together quick fixes that no one has come back to. Whenever new software development occurs, designed or not, the meaning of a section of code is morphed, hopefully to the intended purpose. When the next person comes along, they will need to understand the past “whys” behind decisions to create the most maintainable and cohesive codebase. This involves understanding not just the codebase’s history, but also C++’s history to effectively understand the story of how the code got to where it is now. In this talk, we will investigate the life cycle of a C++ codebase utilizing the skills and perspective of genealogy. We will address the difficulties in understanding a codebase’s C++ past, how that links to C++’s past, and how we can use that information to improve our codebases—now and in the future.