Acknowledgments

First, of course, thanks to all the GotW readers and enthusiasts on comp.lang.c++.moderated, especially the scores of people who participated in the contest to select a name for this book. Two in particular were instrumental in leading us to the final title, and I want to thank them specifically: Marco Dalla Gasperina for suggesting the name Enlightened C++, and Rob Stewart for suggesting the name Practical C++ Problems and Solutions. It was only natural to take these a step further and insert the pun exceptional, given the repeated emphasis herein on exception safety.

Many thanks also to series editor Bjarne Stroustrup and to Marina Lang, Debbie Lafferty, and the rest of the Addison Wesley Longman editorial staff for their continued interest and enthusiasm in this project, and for hosting a really nice reception at the Santa Cruz C++ standards meeting in 1998.

I also want to thank the many people who acted as reviewers—many of them fellow standards-committee members—who provided thoughtful and incisive comments that have helped to improve the text you are about to read. Special thanks to Bjarne Stroustrup and Scott Meyers, and to Andrei Alexandrescu, Steve Clamage, Steve Dewhurst, Cay Horstmann, Jim Hyslop, Brendan Kehoe, and Dennis Mancl, for their invaluable insights and reviews.

Finally, thanks most of all to my family and friends for always being there, in so many different ways.

Herb Sutter
June 1999