There is a mistake on page 188 of C++ All-in-One for Dummies, 4th Edition that is based on a supposed April Fool’s prank that was actually initiated on March 26, 2018 (see https://www.modernescpp.com/index.php/no-new-new) and spread throughout the Internet to sites such as: https://www.fluentcpp.com/2018/04/01/cpp-will-no-longer-have-pointers/. The problem with pranks, especially pranks that linger because the people who perpetuate them haven’t removed them, is that other people tend to believe them, as in this post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59820879/are-new-and-delete-getting-deprecated-in-c#. Later, much later, as in the note on the Fluent C++ site, people admit that it was a joke, but still leave the errant material in place.
After I had discovered that this information was a joke, I had meant to remove two sentences from the book, but somehow they stayed intact. The two sentences in question appear in the “Understanding the Changes in Pointers for C++ 20” section:
Readers who already know something about pointers need to be aware of the changes in pointers for C++ 20, which is why it appears first. The essential thing to remember as you move to C++ 20 (where new is deprecated) and then to C++ 23 (where new is removed) is that pointers are going to change.
If you find any other references in the book that state that new is deprecated or removed, they too will be modified or eliminated during the next printing. I apologize for any problems that the error has caused, especially to readers who are new to C++, and have submitted an errata to the publisher so that the error is fixed during the next printing. If you have any questions at all about the book, please contact me at [email protected].
