Book Image

C++ Fundamentals

By : Antonio Mallia, Francesco Zoffoli
Book Image

C++ Fundamentals

By: Antonio Mallia, Francesco Zoffoli

Overview of this book

C++ Fundamentals begins by introducing you to the C++ compilation model and syntax. You will then study data types, variable declaration, scope, and control flow statements. With the help of this book, you'll be able to compile fully working C++ code and understand how variables, references, and pointers can be used to manipulate the state of the program. Next, you will explore functions and classes — the features that C++ offers to organize a program — and use them to solve more complex problems. You will also understand common pitfalls and modern best practices, especially the ones that diverge from the C++98 guidelines. As you advance through the chapters, you'll study the advantages of generic programming and write your own templates to make generic algorithms that work with any type. This C++ book will guide you in fully exploiting standard containers and algorithms, understanding how to pick the appropriate one for each problem. By the end of this book, you will not only be able to write efficient code but also be equipped to improve the readability, performance, and maintainability of your programs.
Table of Contents (9 chapters)
C++ Fundamentals
Preface

Writing Easy-to-Read Templates


Up until now, we have seen many features that we can use to write powerful templates that allow us to create high-level abstractions over the specific problems we face.

But, as usual, code is more often read than written, and we should optimize for readability: the code should express the intentions of the code more than what operation is achieved.

Template code can sometimes make that hard to do, but there are a few patterns that can help.

Type Alias

Type aliases allow the user to give a name to a type. They are declared with using name = type.

After the declaration, everywhere Name is used is going to be equivalent to having used Type.

This is very powerful for three reasons:

  • It can give a shorter and more meaningful name to complex types

  • It can declare a nested type to simplify access to it

  • It allows you to avoid having to specify the typename keyword in front of a dependent type

Let's see examples for these two points.

Imagine we have a type, UserAccount, which contains...