BeCPP Symposium 2026 - Guy Davidson - Abstraction: The True Superpower of C++

Event: BeCPP Symposium 2026 ( https://becpp.org/Symposium2026/ ) Slides: https://becpp.org/blog/2026/04/16/sli... Speaker: Guy Davidson Title: Abstraction: The True Superpower of C++ Abstract: The word "abstraction" is used extensively when discussing the facilities of C++. But what does it actually mean? Can you spot an abstraction when you see one? Can you spot the correct level of abstraction? Can you spot what is being abstracted? And what does a zero-cost abstraction mean? All these questions and more will be answered in this talk. Bio: Guy Davidson is the convenor of the C++ standards committee. He is also the Head of Engineering at Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast. He has been writing games for nearly 50 years, having spent about half that time at Creative Assembly as the Head of Engineering Practice on the Total War franchise. He is the co-author of Beautiful C++, and you can find many of his talks online. In his copious free time, he plays the piano as well as singing first bass for the Brighton Festival Chorus. He lives in Brighton where he went to the University of Sussex back in the 80s.