Back to Basics: C++ API Design
summary
Argues for concrete rules: mark getters no discard, mark non‑throwing functions no accept, prefer returning unique_ptr or an expected‑style type over raw pointers, avoid implicit conversions and delete dangerous overloads, pick one in‑band error strategy (exceptions or std::expected / "stood expected"), make factory semantics explicit, and run sanitizer‑backed fuzzers against the API to find real misuse. Examples include vector.empty, fopen mode parsing, and factory return patterns.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction
- 3:52Make your API hard to use wrong
- 8:08Understanding [[nodiscard]]
- 17:38Error handling with [[noexcept]]
- 23:19Factory functions and ownership
- 32:53No raw pointers and error handling
- 41:51Avoid implicit conversions
- 51:01Compile-time safety tricks
- 59:05Fuzzing API robustness
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