The awesome `auto` keyword

In modern C++, you write auto auto(auto auto) { auto; } and the compiler infers the rest

Ok, it's not that easy, but I promise that using auto does indeed feel like magic. Let's go with the first article with actual content of the Learning modern C++ series!

The auto keyword is used to let the compiler infer the type of a variable automatically from its initial value instead of having to explicitly declare it. (Bonus: forget about uninitialized variables!) For instance:

// Older standards
int i = 0;

// Modern C++
auto i = 0;

At first, this may not seem like a huge deal, but let's see another example. If we have a getMatrix function that returns a std::vector<std::vector<int>> type, we can easily print all its elements with a range-based for loop (if you don't know what a range-based for loop is, you'll love the next article of this series!). In this example, you'll see how auto starts to shine a bit more:

// Older standards
std::vector<std::vector<int>> matrix = getMatrix();
for (std::vector<int> row : matrix) {
  for (int element : row) {
    std::cout << element << std::endl;
  }
}

// Modern C++
auto matrix = getMatrix();
for (auto row : matrix) {
  for (auto element : row) {
    std::cout << element << std::endl;
  }
}

Hey, isn't that cool? 😎 And it gets even better! What would happen if the getMatrix function was changed to return a std::vector<std::vector<double>> type instead? With older C++ standards, we would have to adapt our code in order for it to work again, but using the modern C++ auto keyword we wouldn't need to touch anything!

Of course, this gets even more meaningful in real-world examples, but I think the ones presented should be enough to at least spark some interest.

auto can also be used in function declarations, although I must admit that I haven't committed to it (yet?). The syntax is:

// Older standards
int getIntParameter(int parameter) { return parameter; }

// Modern C++
auto getIntParameter(int parameter) -> int { return parameter; }

However, it can be very useful when used in conjunction with the decltype specifier (which inspects the declared type of a varibale):

template <typename T, typename U>
auto sum(T t, U u) -> decltype(t + u) { return t + u; }

Note that in the example above we don't know the types t and u, but we don't even need it! We could call the function like:

auto x = sum(1, 1); // (int) 2
auto y = sum(1, 0.14); // (double) 1.14
auto pi = sum(x, y); // (double) 3.14
auto tau = sum(pi, pi); // (double) 6.28

And everything will work wonderfully 🎉

That's probably enough for the post, let me know what you think of it on the comments section below! Reacting to and sharing the post is also appreciated 😊 And, as always, thanks for reading!