03 — YouTube Channels & Must-Watch Talks

The C++ community publishes more high-signal video content than a single person can consume. This file is your curated triage. Subscriber counts July 2026. Every URL verified.

The channels: subscribe on Day 1

1. CppCon (official)

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@CppCon

  • Subscribers: ~185K (July 2026).

  • Upload frequency: Bursty — the annual conference (September, Aurora Colorado in 2026) yields ~120 talks that upload one per business day starting early November, finishing by end of February the following year. Between March–October, only occasional “CppCon Preview” videos.

  • Signal: The highest-signal C++ video channel in existence. WG21 chairs, library authors, working practitioners.

  • Verdict: Subscribe. Do not attempt to watch everything — use the curated list below.

2. C++ Weekly (Jason Turner) — @lefticus

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@cppweekly

  • Subscribers: ~128K (July 2026).

  • Total videos: 619 as of July 2026.

  • Upload frequency: Weekly, every Monday, since 2016. Consistency-of-a-decade level.

  • Length: 5–25 min. Bite-size.

  • Flagship playlist: “C++ Weekly Complete” (all videos, oldest to newest). For a starter list: watch the last 20 uploaded episodes to catch up on current C++23/26 features Jason is teaching.

  • Signal: Highest per-minute return on investment for staying current on C++ language features and idioms.

  • Verdict: Subscribe. Watch new episodes as they arrive during your Monday-morning coffee.

3. Meeting C++

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@MeetingCPP

  • Subscribers: ~40K.

  • Upload frequency: Bursty around the annual Berlin conference (November); occasional studies between.

  • Focus: European C++ community. Heavier on library-implementation, standardization, and tooling than CppCon.

  • Verdict: Subscribe.

4. The Cherno

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCherno

  • Subscribers: ~753K.

  • Upload frequency: 1–2 per week, mixed content (game engine dev, C++ tips, industry commentary).

  • Character: Game-engine-flavored C++. Best-known series: “The Cherno C++” (foundational series). Also his “Hazel Engine” development videos.

  • Signal: Mixed. Community sentiment (r/cpp, 2024–25 threads) is that Cherno is a good explainer but occasionally teaches idioms that experienced C++ engineers criticize (e.g., pessimistic take on exceptions, some pre-C++17 defaults). Watch selectively; not a primary source.

  • Verdict: Subscribe if you like his style; do not treat as authoritative.

5. ACCU Conference

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@ACCUConf

  • Subscribers: ~15K.

  • Frequency: Annual Bristol conference (April) uploads over the following 3–4 months.

  • Focus: Broader than C++ (also functional programming, testing, tooling) but with a strong C++ track.

  • Signal: Very high. Bryce Lelbach, Kate Gregory, Andrei Alexandrescu, Peter Sommerlad regularly speak.

  • Verdict: Subscribe.

6. C++ on Sea

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@cpponsea

  • Subscribers: ~17.9K (July 2026).

  • Frequency: Annual UK conference (June/July), talks upload over the following 4–6 months.

  • Focus: Tooling, testing, correctness. Smaller conference, warmer community.

  • Verdict: Subscribe.

7. C++Now

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@BoostCon

  • Subscribers: ~15K.

  • Frequency: Annual Aspen conference (May). Uploads over summer.

  • Focus: Advanced C++, library design, template metaprogramming, Boost. Highest technical depth of any C++ conference.

  • Verdict: Subscribe. Save for Phase 4+ — many talks assume expert baseline.

8. code::dive

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@codedive

  • Subscribers: ~8K.

  • Frequency: Annual Wrocław conference (November). Uploads over the winter.

  • Focus: European C++ industry practitioners; embedded, systems, performance.

  • Verdict: Subscribe.

9. NDC Conferences

  • URL: https://www.youtube.com/@NDC

  • Subscribers: ~120K.

  • Focus: Broad software conference (Norway origin); notable for hosting Sean Parent, Kate Gregory, and others. Search “NDC C++” for the C++ subset.

  • Verdict: Optional subscribe; more useful as a “search when a talk is referenced” resource.

10. Klaus Iglberger’s channel (@KlausIglberger)

  • URL: search “Klaus Iglberger” on YouTube; he curates a playlist of his own talks (“Software Design”).

  • Verdict: Not a channel to subscribe to (few uploads); rather, watch his 3–4 flagship talks.

The must-watch talks (curated 15 for Phases P0–P7)

Ordered by phase. Each is a canonical CppCon/Meeting C++/ACCU talk that pays back its viewing time many-fold.

Phase 0–1 (foundations & modern C++)

  1. Kate Gregory — “Stop Teaching C” (CppCon 2015). Search title on YouTube. 45 min. Rewires your defaults away from pre-C++11 idioms. Watch first.

  2. Herb Sutter — “Back to the Basics! Essentials of Modern C++ Style” (CppCon 2014). Search title. 1h 30m. Old but the item list still stands.

  3. Kate Gregory — “10 Core Guidelines You Need to Start Using Now” (CppCon 2017). 1h.

  4. Bjarne Stroustrup — keynote from CppCon 2023 or 2024 (“Approaching C++” or similar; check CppCon channel for latest). 1h. State-of-the-language from the source.

Phase 2 (DSA + algorithm mindset)

  1. Chandler Carruth — “Efficiency with Algorithms, Performance with Data Structures” (CppCon 2014). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHNmRkzxHWs. 1h 13m. The talk on why data-structure choice dominates. Non-negotiable.

  2. Sean Parent — “C++ Seasoning” (GoingNative 2013). Search title. 1h. “No raw loops” origin. Timeless.

Phase 3 (systems + concurrency)

  1. Herb Sutter — “atomic<> Weapons: The C++ Memory Model and Modern Hardware” (2 parts). https://herbsutter.com/2013/02/11/atomic-weapons-the-c-memory-model-and-modern-hardware/. ~3h total. The best explanation of the C++ memory model, period.

  2. Chandler Carruth — “Going Nowhere Faster” (CppCon 2017). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EWejmkKlxs. 1h. Loops, branches, vectorization.

  3. Fedor Pikus — “C++ Atomics: The Sad Story” (CppCon 2020). Search title. 1h. Practical std::atomic gotchas.

  4. Bryce Adelstein Lelbach — “The C++ Execution Model” (ACCU 2025). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zq5ZmCvldU. 1h. std::execution (senders/receivers), the future of C++ concurrency.

Phase 4 (design + performance)

  1. Fedor Pikus — “Design for Performance” (CppCon 2018). Search title. 1h. Distilled book philosophy.

  2. Klaus Iglberger — “Breaking Dependencies: The SOLID Principles” (CppCon 2020). 1h.

  3. Klaus Iglberger — “Breaking Dependencies: Type Erasure - A Design Analysis” (CppCon 2021). 1h 30m.

  4. Matt Godbolt — “What Has My Compiler Done For Me Lately?” (CppCon 2017). Search title. 1h. How to read the disassembly output of Compiler Explorer.

Phase 5 (ML/data + GPU)

  1. Bryce Adelstein Lelbach — “CUDA C++ Developer Toolbox” (ACCU 2025). https://accu.org/video/spring-2025-day-1/lelbach-2. 1h. GPU-parallel C++, the sweet spot for your applied-ML positioning.

Bonus: talks that expand into full deep-dives

  • Bjarne Stroustrup — “HOPL IV: Thriving in a Crowded and Changing World” conference talk companion to the paper. Search on ACM/CppCon channels.

  • Andrei Alexandrescu — “Speed Is Found in the Minds of People” (CppCon 2019). Search title. Sort-algorithm perf case study.

  • Ben Deane — “Constexpr All The Things” (CppCon 2017). Constexpr philosophy.

  • Nicolai Josuttis — “The Nightmare of Move Semantics for Trivial Classes” (CppCon 2017). Move-semantics corner cases you didn’t know existed.

How to actually watch these (India context)

  1. YouTube Premium India is ₹149/month (individual) or ₹249/month (family). Justified for the ad-free experience alone once you’re watching 5+ hrs/week of C++ talks. Not required.

  2. Playback speed: 1.25x is almost always fine. 1.5x for repeat viewing. Do not 2x a first viewing of a technical talk — you’ll skip nuance.

  3. Watch during a commute or gym session, take notes later. Notes-as-you-watch requires focused sitting time and defeats the ambient-consumption value of YouTube.

  4. Bookmark timestamps for re-visitable moments using YouTube’s built-in “clip” feature or note them separately ([talk name] 34:52 — why RVO doesn't apply here).

The one thing not to do

Do not consume C++ YouTube passively for hours as “studying.” Passive watching of technical talks without accompanying code work is the #1 fake-productivity trap of self-study. Rule: for every hour of talk watched, spend 2 hours writing/modifying code that applies what you learned. If you can’t articulate what to code next after a talk, the talk was too advanced — shelve for later.