Please read this before sending Andrei email

Before emailing, you may want to keep something simple in mind. Andrei does his best to reply to all of his email in need for a response. However, people all over the world write him with hard questions. Like, "I plan to leave my wife and kids to pursue this idea, what do you think?" questions. (Ok, kidding.) Anyhow, at any given time, there are many and interesting messages that wait for a response. Only now Andrei's Inbox holds 10 messages, the oldest being as old as July 13, 2005 (yes, the information is computed dynamically and no, please don't send email just to check if it's going to increase). That wouldn't be very bad, but Andrei is extremely busy with his research, which asks for all of his time and then some more. So he might take literally months to reply to any given email—time by which you might have lost any need for a reply. Part of this page's purpose is to direct you to resources that might be of help for you, and in a much more timely manner.

• If you have a question related to the Loki library, it's best to go straight to one of the discussion fora:
  • Help (best place to go if you want a quick answer on using Loki);
  • Open Discussion (general Loki-related topics); or
  • Developers (if you'd like to contribute to Loki).
• Speaking of being busy, if you feel you're not busy enough and would like to participate to Loki's development, do let Andrei know. Loki benefits of the contribution of many bright people, and your interesting ideas couldn't find a better place to grow.
• If you have a very general C++ question, such as "How do I implement a list in C++?" or "Should main return int or void?" etc., there is a great place where you might want to go: the Usenet. Andrei finds it inconceivable to program in C++ without staying in touch with the Usenet newsgroup comp.lang.c++.moderated, where many experts hang out. You can get access to Usenet via the Web or through servers for the NNTP protocol a.k.a. Usenet (for example, your Internet provider might offer that, or, just by googling around, you can find a free nntp server quite easily—which is exactly what Andrei the cheapskate did).
• If you have a harder C++-related question, the recommendation again is to check comp.lang.c++.moderated. In addition, you may want to take a look at comp.std.c++, where you can ask questions about the most obscure aspects of the language—and get sensical answers. Be warned, however, that too much knowledge about the most obscure aspects of the language might have harmful effects on your health :o)—just take a look at this!
• If you found a problem with Modern C++ Design, you may want to check the online errata first. If you haven't found an already submitted fix, it would be appreciated if you took the time to submit a new erratum. Andrei monitors new submissions so he can validate your entry. Should the erratum be rejected, he will send you an email with an explanation.
• If you have a comment or an idea related to Modern C++ Design, sharing would be appreciated. However, please keep in mind two things:
  1. C++ is not Andrei's main research interest, and
  2. an idea related to a very advanced topic needs much thought, and so the delay in replying might be considerable.
  A question that's best left to philosophers is, what's better to write: a beginner's book and get a million easy emails, or an advanced book and get a thousand really hard ones?
• If you plan on sending "you suck" email, um, what can be done to change your mind? :o)
• If you plan on pumping Andrei's ego and sending him fan mail, do so do so do so :o). The main problem with the nice fan mails, though, is that it's hard to answer them sensibly. (Any idea?)
• Corrections to the pages found on this website (syntax, grammar, broken links etc.) are of course always welcome and appreciated.

You may not want to send Andrei email from a newsgroup by using the address SeeWebsiteForEmail@moderncppdesign.com. "See Website For Email" is as clear and explicit as it gets, but sometimes people just hit Reply and send an email without looking. Andrei does monitor that address, but much more rarely than his regular address.

This being said, Andrei's email is , as nicely rendered by the folks at cooltext.com. Thanks for taking the time to read this page!