Citadel Securities' new coding guru suggests you need to get with C++26
Citadel Securities is a big user of the programming language C++. It's the main language used at the electronic trading firm, which last November hired Microsoft C++ guru Herb Sutter. Now, Sutter - who's leading Citadel Securities' C++ training initiatives, has taken to the Citadel Securities blog to advocate for the language's coming new iteration.
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C++26, which is due to be launched next year, is going to change the C++ "game" declares Sutter. Until now, he says, writing "modern C++" has meant anything from coding in C++11 onward. Soon, though, Sutter says it will mean coding in C++26 and beyond.
This is because C++26 makes code "more efficient, reliable and resilient," with new features like reflection (the ability of a program to examine and modify its own structure), std::execution (which provides a framework for managing asynchronous execution) and contracts (which provide precise interfaces for software components.)
Even though C++26 isn't officially unleashed until next year, Sutter says Citadel Securities is implementing elements of the language already. For example, it's using a draft version of C++26 std::execution to "run all trading for an entire asset class." C++26 offers superior system reliability, says Sutter, which is important given that Citadel Securities accounts for around 23% of US equities traded by volume.
While Citadel Securities is ahead of the C++26 implementation game, banks are famously slow to introduce new versions of coding languages and are likely to be laggards. Most banks are stuck on C++ 17, says Paul Bilokon founder of Thalesians and a visiting professor at Imperial.
JPMorgan's electronic market making group has, however, recently been advertising roles involving C++20, which suggests that JPMorgan is not as out of date as in the past, when it was stuck on Python 2 four years after tech firms moved to Python 3.
Introducing C++26 before it's officially launched seems highly unlikely in banking, though. "You'd need to look at cool AI and HFT start-ups for that," says Bilokon. Or Citadel Securities, maybe.
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