Foo f1(); // Most vexing parse: it's a function declaration. Foo f2{}; // Ah, uniform initialization. Unless it isn't. And compile times? You could brew coffee, drink it, and contemplate your life choices while #include <boost/spirit/> did its dark magic. std::string didn’t have starts_with() or ends_with() . You rolled your own or used .find() == 0 like a savage. std::regex was in the standard—but its performance was so tragically slow that many shops banned it in hot paths.
If you used C++ in 2011, you felt old. If you used it in 2012, you felt hopeful. But in ? You finally felt dangerous again. 2013 c++
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (one star removed for template error messages longer than War and Peace ) Foo f1(); // Most vexing parse: it's a function declaration