cpp20-overview.qdoc

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// Copyright (C) 2024 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only
 
/*!
    \page cpp20-overview.html
    \title C++20 Overview
    \brief An overview of C++20 features available in Qt.
 
    Qt 6 officially requires C++17, however we are constantly working on
    supporting new C++ language features to make Qt faster and safer, and
    provide a better experience for our users.
 
    This page gives a brief overview of C++20 features available in Qt.
 
    \section1 WebEngine and Module-Specific Requirements
 
    While Qt 6 only requires a C++17-compatible compiler in general,
    the \l{Qt WebEngine} module requires a C++20-compatible compiler
    due to its dependencies (such as Chromium).
 
    If you are building Qt WebEngine, ensure that your compiler fully supports C++20.
 
    See \l{qtwebengine-platform-notes.html}{Qt WebEngine Platform Notes} for detailed requirements.
 
    \section1 Support for \c{std::chrono}
 
    Various classes related to date and time have support for \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono} {std::chrono} features from older
    versions of C++. With the arrival of C++20, \c{std::chrono} has added new \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com//w/cpp/chrono#Calendar} {calendar types}, such
    as \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/year_month_day}
    {year_month_day}, plus \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com//w/cpp/chrono#Time_point} {date and time
    representations}, such as the \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/system_clock} {system_clock} and
    its \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/time_point} {time_point}
    types. It also now provides access to the IANA database of \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono#Time_zone} {timezone-related
    information}. When Qt is built with C++20, it can now make use of these
    additions.
 
    QDate and QDateTime now support conversion to and from the various calendar,
    date and date-time types, along with addition of \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/duration} {duration
    types}. QTimeZone now supports construction from a \l
    {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/time_zone} {time_zone}.
 
    QTimeZone can also, when built with feature \c timezone_tzdb enabled, use
    the C++20 \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/tzdb} {tzdb}
    facilities in place of platform-specific backends to access timezone
    information. This remains experimental in Qt 6.9 as some standard library
    implementations do not faithfully represent the IANA data for timezones.
 
    \section1 QSpan - a Qt version of \c {std::span}
 
    The \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/span}{std::span} class
    template is an addition to the standard library that provides a uniform
    way to access a contiguous portion of any contiguous container.
 
    Using \c {std::span} in the public APIs of Qt could provide significant
    advantages. However, Qt 6 only requires C++17, meaning it cannot have C++20
    types in the API and ABI.
 
    Qt 6.7 introduced \l QSpan - a Qt version of \c {std::span}. The API of the
    class is compatible with the std version. \l QSpan and \c {std::span} can be
    implicitly converted into each other. However, there are some differences
    between the classes. See the corresponding section in the
    \l {span-STL} {QSpan class documentation} for more details.
 
    \section1 Three-way comparison operator
 
    C++20 introduced \c {operator<=>()}, also known as the
    \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/operator_comparison#Three-way_comparison}
    {three-way comparison operator}, and three ordering types to represent
    the results of the comparison:
 
    \list
        \li \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/compare/strong_ordering}
            {std::strong_ordering};
        \li \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/compare/weak_ordering}
            {std::weak_ordering};
        \li \l {https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/compare/partial_ordering}
            {std::partial_ordering}.
    \endlist
 
    In Qt 6.8, many of the QtCore classes got support for \c {operator<=>()}.
    To use the new operator, the user project must be compiled in C++20 mode.
 
    However, starting from Qt 6.7, C++17 users can use
    \l {Comparison types overview}{our own equivalents} of the std ordering
    types.
 
    As a C++20 language feature, backporting \c {operator<=>()} to C++17 is not
    possible, but you can use the \l Qt::compareThreeWay() function, which acts
    like a C++17 version of \c {operator<=>()} for built-in C++ types (such as
    integers, floating-point, and enumeration types).
 
    Qt also defines helper functions \c {compareThreeWay()} for various classes
    in QtCore. These are all implemented as \l {https://wg21.link/p1601}
    {hidden friends}. Users can implement their own \c {compareThreeWay()}
    functions for custom types.
 
    Finally, Qt provides a \l qCompareThreeWay() function template, which serves
    as a generic three-way comparison implementation. It relies on
    \l {Qt::compareThreeWay()} and the above-mentioned free
    \c {compareThreeWay()} functions in its implementation.
 
    \section1 Additional important features
 
    Qt has also adopted a few more features from C++20, such as:
 
    \list
        \li \l Q_CONSTINIT macro that expands to the C++20 \c {constinit}
            keyword, or to compiler-specific attributes if they are available
        \li \l Q_NODISCARD_CTOR macro that expands to the \c {[[nodiscard]]}
            attribute if the compiler supports \c {[[nodiscard]]} on
            constructors
        \li \l Q_NODISCARD_X and \l Q_NODISCARD_CTOR_X macros for
            \c {[[nodiscard("reason")]]}
    \endlist
*/