C++应该算是流行的编程语言中最复杂的（之一）。看看这篇文章 C++, Ruby, CoffeeScript: a visual comparison of language complexity 就知道C++ 相对于 Ruby 和 CoffeeScript 有多么复杂了。关于 C++ 还有段子：When your hammer is C++, everything begins to look like a thumb. (Steve Haflich in alt.lang.design, December 1994)。
也许正是因为 C++ 如此复杂，Scott Meyers 的 《Effective C++》才会受到如此的推崇，几乎在所有C++书籍的推荐名单上，这部专著都会位于前三名。甚至有人说C++程序员可以分成两类，读过Effective C++的和没读过的。可见 Effective C++ 的地位。
去年10月 ISO/IEC 发布了 C++11 编程语言标准，open standards 上可以找到标准草案 n3242 (PDF)，（wiki 上显示最终标准是3290，不过鉴于标准文档动辄几百刀，况且几乎没有人会对着标准文档学习，大家还是看看草案就好了，相信差别不大），C++ 11 更像是一个全新的语言，学习 C++ 11 可以参考 Bjarne Stroustrup 的 C++0xFAQ ，不过还是很期待 Effective 系列，不知道大师 Scott Meyers 什么时候会再出 Effective C++ 11，4月份的时候 Scott Meyers 在 C++ and Beyond 上发出了 Effective C++ 11 的初步想法（原文在这里），先睹为快吧：
- Prefer auto to Explicit Type Declarations
- Distinguish () and {} When Creating Objects
- Remember that auto + { expr } == std::initializer_list
- Prefer non-member begin/end to member versions
- Declare std::thread Members Last in Classes
- Be Wary of Default Capture Modes in Lambdas Escaping Member Functions
- Prefer Emplacement to Insertion
- Pass std::launch::async if Asynchronicity is Essential
- Minimize use of Weak Atomics
- Distinguish Rvalue References from Universal References
- Assume that move operations are neither present nor cheap
- Prefer Lambdas over Binders
- Prefer Lambdas over Variadic Arguments to Threading Functions
- Be Wary of Oversubscription
- Apply std::forward when Passing Universal References
- Prefer std::array to Built-in Arrays
- Use std::make_shared Whenever Possible
- Prefer Pass-by-Reference-to-const to Pass-by-Value for std::shared_ptrs
- Pass by Value if You’ll Copy Your Parameter
- Reserve noexcept for Functions with Wide Interfaces
- For Copyable Types, View Move as an Optimization of Copy
- Prefer enum classes to enums
- Prefer nullptr to NULL and 0
- Distinguish among std::enable_if, static_assert, and =delete