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6 Useful New Features in C++17 – Part 1

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In this 5 parts of blog series, Patrik from Scionova will talk about useful features in C++17, that can help you write better codes. Every Monday and Thursday new posts in this series will come out.

Every now and again, I have some time to spare in which I try to brush up or gain some new knowledge in different areas. In the previous project I was working in, C++14 was used as the latest approved revision of the C++ standard. But the C++17 is (almost entirely) supported by commonly used compilers and can be used in new projects. Therefore, I was thinking that this time it might be a good idea to familiarise myself with C++17 revision.

And it was good stuff that I was finding, so why not share these findings with my colleagues, and why not everyone? So that is what I did,  and the following is a small set of features of the C++17 revision that can help you write better and more maintainable code. Keep in mind though that there are a lot more features in this revision, here is a compilation of all changes between C++14 and C++17.

Short hand for nested namespace declaration

Large projects I’ve been working in have had a lot of nested namespaces, in the format like company::area::component. This pattern is also found in Android Open Source Project, e.g., android::hardware::wifi::V1_0::IWifi. C++17 supports a short hand in writing these Nested namespace on one single, neat looking line:

What’s more is that one can attach attributes to entire namespaces as well. One convenient use case could be to deprecate an entire namespace in an API.

Compiler Support

These features are all fully supported by GCC, MSVC, and clang. Below follows a table showing which version enables support for each feature respectively.

For more a detailed matrix with more compilers and all features of C++17 listed, follow this link

READ PART 2 “6 Useful New Features in C++17” HERE.

 

// Patrik Ingmarsson

Is scrum master a 100% position?

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I would like to share my thoughts on this topic. I got inspired after I read the book “The great Scrum Master by Zuzana Sochova and my own personal experience.

My feeling is that many organizations do not utilize the full potential of what the scrum master role entitles. Many organizations have different expectations, demands on what the scrum master should do.

The scrum master is a role that evolves over time:

Team level:
In the first transformation stage, the scrum master would find himself/herself teaching and be explaining scrum, removing impediments and facilitating scrum events. The more the team becomes self-organize, the need of the scrum master is less and less but not neglected. At this stage, the scrum master is ready to move to the next level.

Relationship level:
The scrum master focuses on the creation of a self-confident team where there is a good level of interaction and communication between the development team and the product owner. The scrum master also focuses on other relationships that interact with the development team such as stakeholders, product management, marketing, line managers and so on. The scrum master applies self-organization to everyone who works with the development team. Promote an agile culture, philosophy, and mindset. At this state, the scrum master can focus as well on other aspects such as scale scrum for example.

Company level:
At this level, the focus is on the organization. The scrum master focuses on transforming the organization. Bringing the agile mindset and scrum values to the company level.

The fact is that not all scrum masters are ready to perform at all these levels. It takes experience and time to develop the skills needed to coach and perform at the company level.

Many organizations today have agile coaches for example. This type of position usually performs at a relationship level and company level. However, in my personal opinion, I see an agile coach as a natural evolution of the scrum master role.

I think that many organizations have scrum masters performing at the team level. Meaning that if you have a mature and self-organized team, I would say that it is the time for the scrum master to occupy his/her idle time in coaching at the relationship level or company level.

In many cases, the scrum master cannot perform at the relationship or company level. This might be due to many factors, the experience just to mention one; if this is the case then I think that the scrum master role is not a 100% position.

 

// Ricardo Morales

Improve your coding skills

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Peter give his best tip on how you can improve your coding skills in an efficiently and funny way.

No matter if you are a junior or senior developer, it is easy to get stuck in doing things a specific way over and over again, missing out that there is a new, smarter or more efficient ways to solve common problems. There is, of course, many ways to improve your coding skills but one thing in common for many good programmers is that they do some programming for fun in addition to their work projects.

One way that I have found efficient and also very fun is coding challenges. There are several good websites out there but one of my favorites right now is codewars.com. This site provides a good ranking system, where you are faced with more challenging exercises when you improve your skills. But the part I like the most is that after you have solved a challenge, you can compare your solution with how others have solved the same task. There is also a voting system where you can show what solutions have gotten most votes for being more clever or following best practices. This is where I have learned the most. Even if I could solve the challenge successfully, I have always found that there are easier or smarter ways to solve the task which really make every challenge a learning experience.

What are your best ways to improve your coding skills?

 

//Peter Fredriksson, Senior Developer and founder at Scionova

 

What does IoT mean?

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Probably nobody have missed the buzz about “Internet of things” (IoT). We have all seen it lately, smart products that can be controlled with a fancy app. You install it, test it and forget that it is a “smart” product. At Scionova we have worked with connecting all kinds of devices many years before the expression was born. The development of everything being connected is very exciting and the possibilities are of course, almost limitless.

But what is IoT? 

There is no generally accepted definition of what it really is – beyond the Internet and things.
You can say that IoT is when products are connected to the internet and communicate and interact with each other. But also with us people. These products are mainly everyday products that you already own, ranging from refrigerators to cars and “smart” bracelets that measure your body values. IoT products can then communicate with each other to do anything from ordering food that has expired, announcing when the laundry is done, and to save our lives.

This article below describes the real value of Internet of things in an interesting way.
https://view.ceros.com/gartner/iot/p/1

 

20 years with Bluetooth

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Already at the university in the 90’s the founders Peter and Joakim started to explore and research the potential of connectivity and wireless communication. Participating in research projects developing, for that time, revolutionary small wireless access points using the latest available technology such as Bluetooth, Linux and webservices. Moving on to a master thesis focusing on Bluetooth for industrial usage, resulting in a start-up company being founded. After developing wireless products together for five years, Peter and Joakim founded Scionova with a wish to by using modern technology and processes develop better wireless products.
Today we are 15 experts at Scionova where the passion for wireless solutions brings us together. We are specializing in three main areas; Automotive, Smart home and Medtech.

 

Read this article from bluetooth.com where they have collected interesting facts about the past 20 years.

 

Happy Birthday Bluetooth!

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Today 20 years ago the Bluetooth SIG was founded with a vision to make it possible to connect devices to your phone without the need of cables. Today, 20 years later Bluetooth is a complete success with almost 100% market penetration in Phones, tablets, computers.

19 years ago, the two founders of Scionova, Peter and Joakim started working in a research project to evaluate if the Bluetooth technology could be used outside of mobile industry. Back then, a Bluetooth development kit covered half your desk, did cost a fortune and had very limited functionality.

Since its start, Scionova has helped many customers build products based on Bluetooth. Our engineers have been involved in the development of the Bluetooth part of mobile phones, headsets, cars, medical devices, industrial devices and many more. Our expertise covers both the technology itself as well as the process to release a Bluetooth product and make sure that it works with all other Bluetooth devices on the market. This broad understanding secures a successful product launch where customers can enjoy the benefits with wireless.

We at Scionova think that Bluetooth have aged with grace. With the release of Bluetooth smart and mesh, Bluetooth is likely to expand even more and be an important building block in our connected society.