Vittorio Romeo - C++ Training, Mentoring, and Consulting

Hello!

I'm Vittorio, a passionate C++ expert with over a decade of professional and personal experience. My expertise covers library development, high-performance financial backends, game development, open-source contributions, and active participation in ISO C++ standardization.

As the coauthor of "Embracing Modern C++ Safely" and a speaker at over 25 international conferences , I bring real-world insights to empower you fully utilize C++ to its advantage.

I offer specialized training, mentoring, and consulting services to help companies & individuals leverage the full potential of C++.

Brian Edwards

CodeMentor

"Simultaneously helped me find my bug and gave me good advice on how to write better code."

Aaron Schofield

CodeMentor

"I had a strange bug that I spent an hour trying to fix, and he fixed it in 10 minutes."

Brian Jones

CodeMentor

"Very helpful, spends time to make sure he has the understanding of your requirements then helps from there. Must recommend."

Ivan Ogasawara

MentorCruise

"Vittorio is a master Jedi in C++ topics."

Services

Whether you need to enhance your skills, optimize performance, or tackle complex architectural challenges, I provide tailored solutions to meet your goals. From modernizing legacy code to designing robust APIs, my expertise covers a wide range of C++ applications.

For detailed examples and specific offerings, please explore the items below. If you're interested or need assistance with something not listed, feel free to reach out . I'm confident we can find a solution that meets your needs. click/tap on the items to expand them

Bespoke Training Courses, Workshops, and Seminars
Engage in structured learning tailored to your unique needs, available remotely or on-site. Choose from live, interactive lessons or custom-made offline materials supported by Q&A sessions and exercises.
Examples:

"C++ Fundamentals for Experienced Non-C++ Developers"

"From C++03 to Modern C++: Modernizing Your Codebase with C++11/14/17/20/23"

"Embracing Type Inference Safely: Everything About auto and decltype"
1-on-1 Mentoring
Receive personalized, ongoing guidance and support tailored to your specific experience and goals. Whether you're a beginner eager to learn C++ or an experienced developer aiming to enhance your skills, I am here to help you achieve your objectives.
Examples:

Succeeding in your university course or work tasks

Developing personal projects from concept to completion

Simplifying complex topics such as move semantics and object lifetimes

Understanding best practices and choosing the right techniques

Preparing for job interviews or exams

Writing an ISO C++ proposal to improve the language

Contributing to open-source projects and finding suitable ones for you

Supporting your learning with customized exercises and personalized materials
Consulting and Code Reviews
Receive expert advice to solve specific problems or enhance processes in your company or project. I can assist in determining the optimal high-level architecture for your project, writing code that balances readability, performance, and future flexibility, or recommending tooling and build system improvements.
Examples:

Designing or refining the high-level architecture of a codebase

Creating robust APIs for your library or service that minimize misuse while maintaining flexibility and performance

Significantly improving compilation times through a combination of tooling and coding best practices

Determining the appropriate use of programming paradigms such as object-oriented programming or data-oriented programming

Developing coding standards and policies, such as those for assertions and error handling techniques

Evaluating the pros and cons of various refactoring techniques to find the right balance between DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It)

Providing guidance on writing technical articles/books or delivering technical presentations

Experience

With over a decade in C++ development, I've significantly impacted Bloomberg L.P. by teaching and mentoring engineers from novice to expert levels. My experience ranges from optimizing critical financial infrastructure to contributing to C++ language standardization. I've also made substantial open-source contributions, developed commercial games, and created innovative C++ tools.

For detailed insights into my diverse projects and achievements, please explore the items below. click/tap on the items to expand them

Work Experience @ Bloomberg L.P.
During my tenure as a Senior Software Engineer and Senior Technical Trainer at Bloomberg L.P. from 2016 to 2024, I played a pivotal role in driving innovation and excellence in software development.
Key Responsibilities and Achievements:

Led the design and optimization efforts of critical components within Bloomberg L.P.'s market order data analytics full-stack infrastructure, enhancing performance and reliability.

Implemented service discovery mechanisms and spearheaded various codebase enhancements for Bloomberg L.P.'s internal microservice backend infrastructure, contributing to improved scalability and efficiency.

Developed and delivered advanced courses on Modern C++, safe API design, multithreading, and internal technologies, empowering Bloomberg L.P.'s engineering teams with cutting-edge knowledge and skills.

Represented Bloomberg L.P. at WG21 ISO C++ meetings, actively contributing to discussions and proposals on topics such as modules, contracts, and polymorphic allocators, shaping the future of the C++ language.
Open-Source Contributions
Programming is not just my profession, it's my passion. In my spare time, I actively contribute to open-source projects, aiming to advance the field and give back to the community.
Notable Contributions:

Layed the foundation and heavily contributed to the SFML 3.x major release,transforming the old C++03 library into a prime example of a functional and elegant C++17 API. SFML, widely used in educational and commercial projects, now provides a safer, more modern, and welcoming environment for multimedia C++ applications and games.

Contributed modernization and usability enhancements to various projects such as libcpr, MAME, thread-pool-cpp, RaftLib, Boost.Hana, rang, IncludeOS, LuaJIT, imgui-sfml, and more. Explore relevant pull requests on my GitHub page .

Identified and reported major and minor issues for GCC, Clang, and MSVC compiler toolchains, contributing to their improvement. View my reports on the GCC bug tracker and LLVM bug tracker .

Influenced major compiler toolchains (GCC, Clang, MSVC) to enhance the usability and performance of fundamental C++ Standard Library functions such as std::move. Explore my insights in my article on the subject .

Accumulated over 92k reputation on StackOverflow by contributing high-quality questions and answers.
Game Development & Virtual Reality
My journey into programming began in childhood, fueled by a passion for video games and a desire to create my own interactive experiences. Despite professional and personal responsibilities, I have continuously indulged in the joy of well-crafted gaming and pursued numerous hobby game development projects.
Notable Projects:

Developed and released a commercial game on Steam, Open Hexagon , entirely written in Modern C++. Despite its commercial nature, the game's source code is freely available. It has garnered ~400 user reviews, with over 97% being positive.

As a virtual reality enthusiast since its inception, I realized a childhood dream by transforming Quake (1996) into an immersive VR experience with my Quake VR mod. Additionally, I created major add-ons for popular VR experiences, including Half-Life 2: VR Mod - Unleashed and Vertigo 2 - Unleashed , which introduce unique VR interactions such as motion-based melee attacks, dual wielding, and virtual stock. My research in VR immersion and accessibility design led to a checklist for VR developers to ensure high-quality final products.
FOSS Tools & Libraries
In addition to contributing to existing open-source tools and libraries, I have created my own projects to address real-world problems I've encountered or observed among peers, both at work and online.
Notable Projects:

Developed a command line tool, camomilla , to significantly improve the development experience with heavily templated C++ codebases. The tool simplifies complex compiler diagnostics, making them more understandable for developers.

Created the scelta library , a collection of zero-overhead utilities designed to enhance the usability and flexibility of algebraic data types such as std::optional and std::variant. The library introduces a new pattern matching syntax that supports recursive visitation, monadic operations, and an intuitive placeholder-based syntax for defining recursive ADTs.

Conducted several years of research and experimentation on libraries for automatic parallelization of data processing. My bachelor thesis project, ecst , implements the entity-component-system pattern through compile-time declaration of task dependencies, automatically introducing parallelism where possible. Another experimental library, orizzonte , explores defining chains of futures/promises without allocation or type erasure, embedding the structure of such chains within C++'s rich type system.

Designed and implemented a custom Markdown variant called majsdown , which enhances traditional Markdown by incorporating inline JavaScript. This allows for dynamic content generation, reduction of repetition, and the introduction of state. I have leveraged this language to create innovative features, such as the ability to instantly compile and run any code snippet embedded in a presentation or to embed subsections of existing code files, ensuring presentations stay synchronized with their source material. majsdown also includes its own Visual Studio Code syntax highlighting and live presentation extensions.
Miscellaneous
Below is a list of other relevant experiences in the world of C++ and software engineering.
Highlights:

I have provided 1-on-1 mentoring services both in person and through platforms like CodeMentor and MentorCruise. My teaching is highly praised for its clarity and my ability to break down and simplify notoriously complex concepts. See the testimonials section for examples of the feedback I've received.

I have collaborated with institutions such as the University of Messina, Nautilus Academy, and Istituto Tecnico Economico A. M. Jaci to introduce students to C++ software development through bespoke courses on game development, version control with git, and best practices in API design.

My personal website was created by developing a static site generator from scratch in C++. This project included implementing my own JSON parser, library, and templating engine, all without any external dependencies.

Publications

My contributions to the C++ community span various mediums, including co-authoring "Embracing Modern C++ Safely" , publishing multiple ISO C++ proposals, and delivering video courses on advanced C++ topics. I've also presented numerous talks at major C++ conferences worldwide, covering subjects from language features to performance optimization.

For a complete list of books, papers, courses, and conference presentations, please explore the items below. click/tap on the items to expand them

Books and Papers
Embracing Modern C++ Safely
In-depth analysis of C++ 11/14 feature usage at scale.
[John Lakos, Vittorio Romeo, Rostislav Khlebnikov, Alisdair Meredith]
[Published Dec 23, 2021 by Addison-Wesley Professional. (ISBN-13: 978-0-13-738035-0)]

P2674: A trait for implicit lifetime types literals
Standard ISO C++ proposal for a trait to detect implicit lifetime types.

P2048: Prohibit zero and `NULL` from being used as null pointer literals
Standard ISO C++ proposal to remove obsolete syntax.

P1881: Epochs: a backward-compatible language evolution mechanism
Standard ISO C++ proposal for language versioning.

P1819: Interpolated literals
Standard ISO C++ proposal for interpolated string literals.

P1062: Diet Graphics
Standard ISO C++ proposal for a lightweight graphics API.

P0792: `function_ref`: a non-owning reference to a `Callable`
Standard ISO C++ proposal for a general-purpose function reference.
Courses and Workshops
C++17: All You Need To Know
In-person workshop on C++17's most important features. Delivered at CppCon 2020, CppCon 2021, and Core C++ 2022.

C++11/14 for C++03 Developers
In-person training class on modern C++. Delivered at CppCon 2019.

What's new in C++
Video course on C++17's newest additions. Published by O'Reilly.

Type-Safe Interfaces with Modern C++
Video course on writing intuitive and secure APIs. Published by Packt, also available on Udemy.

Mastering C++ Standard Library Features
Video course on advanced use of the C++ standard library. Published by Packt, also available on Udemy.
Conference Talks
Improving Compilation Times: Tools & Techniques
ACCU 2023 (Bristol) , Italian C++ Conference 2023 (Milan) , Core C++ 2023 (Tel Aviv)

Lightning Talk: Emplacing std::array Is Impossible - Vittorio Romeo - ACCU 2023
ACCU 2023 (Bristol)

C++ And Beyond: Discussion - Vittorio Romeo, Kevlin Henney, Nico Josuttis & Kate Gregory - ACCU 2023
ACCU 2023 (Bristol)

Pragmatic Simplicity: Actionable Guidelines To Tame Complexity
CppCon 2022 (Aurora), Core C++ 2022 (Tel Aviv)

Debug performance is improving: what now?
CppCon 2022 (Aurora)

majsdown: Metaprogramming? In my slides?
CppCon 2022 (Aurora)

Moving an int Is Slow: Debug Performance Matters!
ACCU 2022 (Bristol)

wordlexpr -- compile time Wordle
ACCU 2022 (Bristol)

The C++ Tech Community at Bloomberg
ACCU 2022 (Bristol)

C++11/14 at Scale - What Have We Learned?
ACCU 2021 (Remote), C++ Now 2021 (Remote), CppCon 2021 (Remote), Cpp Toronto 2021 (Remote)

Fixing C++ with Epochs
CppCon 2019 (Aurora)

Making sense of terrible template errors with camomilla
CppCon 2019 (Aurora)

Putting integer_sequence on a diet
C++ Now 2019 (Aspen)

Higher-order functions and function_ref
C++ on Sea 2019 (Folkestone), ACCU 2019 (Bristol), C++ Russia 2019 (Moscow), C++ Now 2019 (Aspen), CppCon 2019 (Aurora)

Zero-allocation & no type erasure futures
ACCU 2018 (Bristol), itCppCon 2018 (Milan), C++ Now 2018 (Aspen)

function_ref
Meeting C++ 2017 (Berlin)

You must type it three times
C++ Now 2017 (Aspen)

Implementing variant visitation using lambdas
ACCU 2017 (Bristol), C++ Now 2017 (Aspen), C++::London [May 2017] (London)

Checking expression validity in C++ 11/14/17
C++::London [Dec. 2016] (London)

Implementing static control flow in C++ 14
Meeting C++ 2016 (Berlin), CppCon 2016 (Bellevue), C++ Now 2016 (Aspen)

Implementation of a multithreaded compile-time ECS in C++ 14
Meeting C++ 2016 (Berlin), C++ Now 2016 (Aspen)

"Meaningful" casts
Meeting C++ 2015 (Berlin)

static_if in C++ 14
Meeting C++ 2015 (Berlin)

for_each_argument explained and expanded
CppCon 2015 (Bellevue), C++ Now 2015 (Aspen)

Implementation of a component-based entity system in modern C++ 11
CppCon 2015 (Bellevue)

Introduction to game development with C++ 14
++it Meetup 2015 (Florence)

Introduction to Git and GitHub
Linux Day 2014 (Messina)

Quick Game Development with C++ 11/C++ 14
CppCon 2014 (Bellevue), Linux Day 2013 (Messina)

Testimonials

Cedric

CodeMentor

Excellent breadth of knowledge and up-to-date with everything, including C++17 features.

M. Marzooghian

CodeMentor

Fantastic mentor, very well educated. perfect.

10/10.

A. Koskinas

MentorCruise

Vittorio is very knowledgeable and has a strong technical background in C++. In addition, he is capable of explaining C++ concepts very well in different abstraction levels. That makes him very suitable for beginner mentees as well as more advanced ones.

Moreover, he is always well prepared for our sessions and he replies to texts within a day or two. What I particularly enjoy are the interactive sessions and the customized assignments.

Overall, I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for improving his C++ skills.

Anonymous

O'Reilly Course Feedback

Will be really useful for a project later this year when I'll be starting to use newer language features. Excellent examples that clearly show the use & differences.

Anonymous

O'Reilly Course Feedback

Really good presentation, as simple and as detailed as it should be, with great answers in questions. Instructor is magnificent.

Anonymous

EMC++S Amazon Customer

This book offers an unparalleled, in-depth exploration of modern C++, setting a new standard for literature in the field. It covers a broad spectrum of topics, from basic concepts to advanced techniques, making it the most comprehensive and complete treatment of modern C++ available.

Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, this book provides invaluable insights and practical examples that enhance your understanding of the language's capabilities and best practices.

Susanna M.

EMC++S Amazon Customer

An incredibly good reference work. The quality of the code samples is excellent.

Other authors should take a look at this.

B. Filipek

C++ Stories

I'm impressed with the level of detail and the quality the authors put into this material. The book has become my primary “reference” for those C++11/14 parts. Final mark: 5+/5.

Contact

To discuss how I can help you with your C++ needs, please get in touch using the form below. You can also email me at mail@vittorioromeo.example.com or reach out on Twitter .

I offer a free initial consultation to ensure we're a good fit. Let's connect to discuss your goals and how I can support you in achieving them.