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Comment by quicknir | Hacker News Reader

HFT doesn't subset C++ nor does it ignore the standard library. Given you're totally wrong about one I'm not inclined to believe you on the other, and I have an examples from the standard library used in game dev eg atomics.

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The people I know using C++ for games wrote their own atomics library :-)

Well you can certainly elect to torture yourself if you really want to. Atomics in C++ compile to assembly in very straightforward ways and there isn't really an enormous design space there. Preshing certainly makes it seem like Ubisoft is using C++ atomics; if it makes sense for them with so many developers and creating AAA games... I'd be curious to know the motivation for writing their own.

> Atomics in C++ compile to assembly in very straightforward ways

in release mode.

Disabling RTTI and exceptions is subseting C++, as it is outside of ISO C++ requirements, even if is common support among C++ compilers.

As for game developers, you don't have to look any further than Unreal, CryEngine or EASTL, or a couple of talks at GDC Vault.

So who's right?

Except that in HFT we don't generally disable RTTI or exceptions. I work at a top HFT firm, have friends/colleagues at other top firms, have seen multiple people like Carl Cook at Optiver state in talks that they use exceptions... So what on Earth are you talking about?

Not using some or most of the standard library is precisely not an example of subsetting C++. Just because the C++ standard library has a hash table available doesn't mean that every project has to use it. Companies standardizing their own high performance data structures where it makes sense, and other things as well, is just something that happens and often makes sense independent of language.

I guess Herb Sutter is all wrong on his talks then, what does he know.

> we don't generally disable RTTI or exceptions

Keep up the good fight! "Exceptions are slow" is a realy outdated opinion

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