2/10 Data Types and the world of (smart) pointers [2026]

In the beginnings were...data and data types. Which is where we begin our journey through C++. The language provides for a range of interesting, fundamental, complex and custom types - one of which is a set of pointer types. 
My guest in this episode is Marc Hartung from Dive in Berlin, Germany.

Links:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming) summary of what pointers are
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_(programming_language) one of the early uses of pointers in the APL language
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_management article on memory management
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/cpp/type-conversions-and-type-safety-modern-cpp an article on type conversion
• https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/_005f_005fint128.html GCC compiler and support for 128bit integers
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B_Standard_Library C++ Standard Library
• https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/242604.242613 Ań article on how the C++ Standard Library emerged
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Template_Library the Standard Template Library (not to be confused with the C++ Standard Lib)

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This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK.
Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt