} // good to go

Okay, let's see what we've got. Two sets of annotated training materials. Six books. Over four dozen online videos. Some 80 articles, interviews, and academic papers. A slew of blog entries, and more posts to Usenet and StackOverflow than you can shake a stick at. A couple of contributions to the C++ vernacular. A poll equating my hair with that of a cartoon character.

I think that's enough; we're good to go. So consider me gone. 25 years after publication of my first academic papers involving C++, I'm retiring from active involvement with the language.

It's a good time for it. My job is explaining C++ and how to use it, but the C++ explanation biz is bustling. The conference scene is richer and more accessible than ever before, user group meetings take place worldwide, the C++ blogosphere grows increasingly populous, technical videos cover everything from atomics to zero initialization, audio podcasts turn commute-time into learn-time, and livecoding makes it possible to approach C++ as a spectator sport. StackOverflow provides quick, detailed answers to programming questions, and the C++ Core Guidelines aim to codify best practices. My voice is dropping out, but a great chorus will continue.

Anyway, I'm only mostly retiring from C++. I'll continue to address errata in my books, and I'll remain consulting editor for the Effective Software Development Series. I may even give one more talk. (A potential conference appearance has been in the works for a while. If it gets scheduled, I'll let you know.)

"What's next?," you may wonder. I get that a lot. I've spent the last quarter century focusing almost exclusively on C++, and that's caused me to push a lot of other things to the sidelines. Those things now get a chance to get off the bench. 25 years of deferred activities begets a pretty long to-do list. The topmost entry? Stop trying to monitor everything in the world of C++ :-)

Scott