Intel Proposes Tool To Auto-Convert Code To C++11

An Intel developer has proposed a migration tool based upon LLVM's Clang tooling library to auto-convert C++ code to take advantage of new C++11 features in an automated manner.

Edwin Vane of Intel Canada has called for comments on his proposal to develop a Clang-based tool using the LibTooling library for automatically transforming C++ code-bases to take advantage of modern C++11 features without needing any manual code rewriting.

This tool is being dubbed "cpp11-migrate" and hasn't been written yet but Edwin is currently seeking comments on his design document. The premise is that since C++11 introduces many new features for making writing -- and maintaining -- code more convenient to developers and improving the performance over earlier C++ standards, there should be an automated tool for migrating existing C++ code-bases.

The cpp11-migrate goal is to have a single tool that applies code transformations for all C++11 features with implemented transformations, a framework for adding new transformations in a minimally invasive manner, and specific transformations can be independently enabled/disabled via command-line switches.

For developers interested in more information on the cp11-migrate tool, see this mailing list post and the design document on Google Docs.