CppCon

CppCon
Name	CppCon
Status	Active
Genre	Programming conference
Frequency	Annual
Location	Bellevue, Washington
Country	United States
First	2014
Organizer	Meeting C++
Attendance	~3,000

CppCon

CppCon is an annual conference focused on the C++ programming language, held in the Seattle metropolitan area and attracting practitioners, implementers, educators, and industry representatives. The event emphasizes standards, tooling, libraries, and practice, drawing contributors from projects such as ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 21, Boost, and compiler teams like LLVM and GCC. Attendees include engineers from organizations such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Adobe Systems.

Overview

CppCon serves as a forum for discussion of the ISO/IEC 14882 standard, implementation status from Clang, GCC and other compilers, and ecosystem developments among library maintainers like Boost and STLport. The conference features tracks that cover language features introduced by proposals from working groups within ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 21, practical usage case studies from companies such as Apple Inc., Amazon, NVIDIA, and contributions from research groups at institutions like MIT, Stanford University, and University of Cambridge. Sessions often address interoperation with ecosystems including Rust, Python, Java, and runtime systems like LLVM and Microsoft .NET.

History

The conference originated in 2014 as a community-driven successor to regional conferences and meetings involving organizers connected to Meeting C++. Early editions featured speakers active in standardization such as Bjarne Stroustrup, Scott Meyers, and Herb Sutter, and representatives from compiler projects like Apple Inc.'s Clang, GNU's GCC, and libraries like Boost. Over subsequent years, the event expanded attendance and program scope to include practitioners from Intel Corporation, Qualcomm, ARM Holdings, and academic contributors from Carnegie Mellon University, ETH Zurich, and University of Toronto. The conference adapted to disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic with virtual sessions and hybrid formats used by events like PyCon and CppCon peers.

Program and Format

CppCon's program typically includes multiple parallel tracks covering standards, tooling, embedded systems, game development, and finance software; formats mirror those used at conferences like ACM SIGPLAN, IEEE symposia, and QCon. Core components include recorded plenary talks modeled after TED-style presentations, moderated panels akin to those at SXSW, and vendor booths similar to Black Hat exhibitions. The schedule balances long-form technical deep dives and short "lightning" talks comparable to DEF CON village sessions, while recordings are posted to channels following precedents set by O’Reilly Media and LWN.net.

Speakers and Keynotes

Keynotes and speakers have included prominent figures associated with language design, compiler implementation, and software engineering such as Bjarne Stroustrup, Herb Sutter, Scott Meyers, Andrei Alexandrescu, and implementers from LLVM, GCC, and Microsoft Visual C++. The roster often features authors and educators linked to publishers like Addison-Wesley, O’Reilly Media, and Manning Publications, as well as researchers from University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, Princeton University, and University of Waterloo. Industry keynote presenters have represented companies including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel Corporation, and NVIDIA.

Workshops and Tutorials

Pre-conference and conference workshops cover topics such as modern C++ idioms, constexpr techniques, concurrency, metaprogramming, and cross-language interfacing; comparable instructional formats are used at CppCast meetups and university short courses. Tutorials are taught by practitioners like Scott Meyers, Jason Turner, and Nicolai Josuttis, and address toolchains including CMake, Conan, vcpkg, and debuggers such as GDB and LLDB. Advanced sessions explore integration with ecosystems like CUDA from NVIDIA, OpenMP directives, and performance analysis with tools from Intel and Valgrind.

Community and Sponsorship

CppCon is supported by corporate sponsors, non-profit organizations, and community groups, with sponsorship models similar to those employed by PyCon US, RustConf, and FOSDEM. Sponsors have included Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Intel Corporation, NVIDIA, Amazon, ARM Holdings, JetBrains, and GitHub. The community organizing apparatus interacts with standards bodies like ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 21 and regional user groups such as C++ Users Group chapters and projects like Boost. Outreach and diversity initiatives mirror efforts from The Ada Initiative and Linux Foundation programs.

Impact and Reception

CppCon has become a primary venue influencing adoption of C++11, C++14, C++17, C++20, and subsequent standard features by showcasing library implementations, compiler readiness, and industrial case studies from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Adobe Systems. Coverage and commentary appear in media outlets and community sites like InfoQ, LWN.net, Stack Overflow, and Medium posts by practitioners. The conference is cited by participants and organizations—including Boost, LLVM, and academic groups at MIT and ETH Zurich—as shaping best practices in systems programming, toolchain development, and standards evolution.

Category:Programming conferences