Book Image

Beginning C++ Programming

By : Richard Grimes
Book Image

Beginning C++ Programming

By: Richard Grimes

Overview of this book

C++ has come a long way and is now adopted in several contexts. Its key strengths are its software infrastructure and resource-constrained applications, including desktop applications, servers, and performance-critical applications, not to forget its importance in game programming. Despite its strengths in these areas, beginners usually tend to shy away from learning the language because of its steep learning curve. The main mission of this book is to make you familiar and comfortable with C++. You will finish the book not only being able to write your own code, but more importantly, you will be able to read other projects. It is only by being able to read others' code that you will progress from a beginner to an advanced programmer. This book is the first step in that progression. The first task is to familiarize you with the structure of C++ projects so you will know how to start reading a project. Next, you will be able to identify the main structures in the language, functions, and classes, and feel confident being able to identify the execution flow through the code. You will then become aware of the facilities of the standard library and be able to determine whether you need to write a routine yourself, or use an existing routine in the standard library. Throughout the book, there is a big emphasis on memory and pointers. You will understand memory usage, allocation, and access, and be able to write code that does not leak memory. Finally, you will learn about C++ classes and get an introduction to object orientation and polymorphism.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

Summary

When you write your C++ code you should always have one eye looking towards the testing and debugging of your code. The ideal way to prevent the need to debug code is to write robust, well-designed code. Ideals are difficult to achieve, so it is better to write code that is easy for you to diagnose issues and easy to debug with. The C Runtime and the C++ Standard Library provides a wide range of facilities to enable you to trace and report issues, and through error code handling and exceptions you have a rich collection of tools to report and handle the failure of functions.

After reading this book you should be aware that the C++ language and Standard Library provide a rich, flexible, and powerful way to write code. What's more, once you know how to use the language and its libraries, C++ is a pleasure to use.