So for example I'd write:
var x = new List<Foo>();
List<Foo> x = new List<Foo>();
Whereas I'd write:
List<Foo> x = FooBarService.GetMyThings();
Although with newer language features you can also write:
List<Foo> x = new();
With good naming it should be pretty obvious it's a Foo, and then either you know the type by heart, or will need to look up the definition anyway.
With standard containers, you can have the assumption that everyone knows the type, at least high level. So knowing whether it's a list, a vector, a stack, a map or a multimap, ... is pretty useful and avoid a lookup.
List<Foo> x = new();
Nowadays I only use
var x = new List<Foo>();
auto it = some_container.begin();
Not even once have I wished to know the actual type of the iterator.
IDEs are an invention from the late 1970's, early 1980's.
Having syntax highlighting makes me slightly faster, but I want to still be able to understand things, when looking at a diff or working over SSH and using cat.
For example:
auto a;
will always fail to compile not matter what flags.
int a;
is valid.
Also it prevents implicit type conversions, what you get as type on auto is the type you put at the right.
That's good.
What do you mean it is not a source of bugs?
I think what they mean, and what I also think is that the bug does not come from the existence of uninitialized variables. It comes from the USE of uninitialized variables. Making the variables initialized does not make the bug go away, at most it silences it. Making the program invalid instead (which is what UB fundamentally is) is way more helpful for making programs have less bugs. That the compiler still emits a program is a defect, although an unfixable one.
As to my knowledge C (and derivatives like C++) is the only common language where the question "Is this a program?" has false positives. It is certainly an interesting choice.
So, I see uninitialized variables as a good way to find such logic errors. And, therefore, advice to always initialize variable - bad practice.
Of course if you already have a good value to initialize variable - do it. But if you have no - better leave it uninitialized.
Moreover - this will not cause safety issues in production builds because you can use `-ftrivial-auto-var-init` to initialize automatic variables to e.g. zeroes (`-fhardened` will do this too)