The curious case of C++ locked in a box

Up until now, we have observed cases where the standard compliance was at the developers’ own discretion. They had the option to choose their platform, use the extensions provided by their favorite compiler, or go for pure standard C++. However, out there in the wild wide world, there are certain circumstances wherein we cannot fully comply with the standard due to some restrictions imposed upon us by the environment that disallows the usage of certain features found in the C++ standard.

Not considering obscene scenarios, when we must maintain decades-old legacy code written in the golden age of C++ (i.e., before the standardization committee took over and ruined all the fun by demanding standard compliance, in order to avert the uncontrollable spread of C++ dialects as happened with BASIC), there are situations outside of our control that make the usage of the full C++ standard features impossible. For example, there might be certain...