hackertube.io

CppCon 2017: Louis Brandy “Curiously Recurring C++ Bugs at Facebook”

CppCon · talk · Watch on YouTube

C, C++, Rust, Go & systems languagesSecurity & hacking

What it is

Louis Brandy presents the most common and infamous recurring C++ bugs seen in Facebook's huge codebase, including shared_ptr data races and operator[] pitfalls. He explains the surprising complexity behind seemingly simple code.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as a must-watch catalogue of C++ footguns, often cited in debates about Rust and C++ safety.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “is a great video that covers a lot of good stuff in particular this usability bug. It's worth watching in its entirety.”

    Covers many good C++ bugs including a unique_lock usability bug.

    wyldfire, 2020-01 · Strong recommendation · in “C++20 Reference Card”

  2. “Louis Brandy's Curiously Recurring Bugs at Facebook presentation from CppCon17 has somewhat of the same feeling”

    Similar feel to Effective C++, covering a few recurring bugs.

    slavik81, 2021-06 · Recommendation · in “My favourite C++ footgun”

  3. “This is Bug #5 in this great talk”

    Bug #5 on shared_ptr data races is covered.

    oconnor663, 2023-01 · Recommendation · in “Swift Achieved Dynamic Linking Where Rust Couldn't”

  4. “There’s a great talk by Louis Brandy called “Curiously Recurring C++ Bugs at Facebook” [0] that covers this really well”

    Covers vector and map operator[] bugs and other tricky bugs.

    ddulaney, 2025-04 · Recommendation · in “Pitfalls of Safe Rust”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: c++, footguns, shared_ptr, cppcon, memory safety, facebook

Also recommended by the same people