CppCon 2026 puts three language designers on one stage
CppCon has announced something it has never done in its history: a keynote panel. The 2026 edition (September 12-18 in Aurora, Colorado) will put three language designers on one stage at the same time.
Who is on it
- Bjarne Stroustrup, creator of C++
- Guido van Rossum, creator of Python
- Mads Torgersen, lead designer of C#
That is three of the most widely deployed programming languages in the world, represented by the people who shaped them, in one conversation. CppCon keynotes are usually a single voice; a panel of this composition is a deliberate departure.
Why it is interesting right now
The timing is not accidental. Every one of these languages is wrestling with the same pressures from different starting points: memory safety and the security conversation that has put C and C++ under a regulatory microscope; the role of AI and LLMs in how code gets written; and how a mature language keeps evolving without breaking the billions of lines already in production. C++ is mid-debate on safety profiles and contracts. Python has spent years on typing and the GIL. C# has pushed nullable reference types and source generators into the mainstream.
Hearing the three designers compare how they make those trade-offs, what they envy about each other’s languages, and where they think the next decade goes, is the kind of cross-pollination the C++ community rarely gets in one room. If you go to one keynote at CppCon 2026, this is a strong candidate.
Update, 7 September 2026: the rest of the keynotes
The panel is no longer the only reason to read the schedule. Between 30 August and 3 September CppCon announced its remaining keynotes, and the conference opens on Monday.
| Speaker | Keynote |
|---|---|
| Bjarne Stroustrup | “Profiles for simplicity and guarantees” (Monday 14th, opening) |
| Stroustrup, van Rossum, Torgersen | the language designers panel (Tuesday 15th) |
| Timur Doumler | “How C++26 changes the way we write code” |
| Laurie Kirk | “The Address is Not The Place: Object Residency in C++26” |
| Herb Sutter | “C++: Growing in a world of efficiency, safety, and AI” (closing) |
CppCon has not published the day for Doumler’s or Kirk’s slot, so the three unpinned entries could land anywhere in the week.
Read as a set, the lineup is narrower than five keynotes usually are. Four of the five are the same subject at different distances: what C++26 actually changed, and what did not make it. Doumler takes the practitioner’s view of the features that shipped. Kirk takes one corner of the object model that reflection made visible. Sutter’s title is the one he has been giving all year, and it puts safety and AI where the industry pressure is.
The pointed one is Stroustrup’s. Profiles are the part of the safety story that did
not ship: the [[profiles::enforce]] mechanism was deferred to C++29, which we
covered when the Brno votes came in. Opening the
first CppCon after C++26 shipped with a keynote on the feature that missed it is a
choice, and it suggests the argument is being restarted rather than settled.
One practical note for anyone within reach of Colorado: sessions are onsite only this year, but the Friday programme is open to the public.
Details: CppCon 2026, September 12-18, Gaylord Rockies, Aurora, CO. Announcement via isocpp.org.