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

Summary


In this chapter, we saw how the concept of classes can be used in C++. We started by delineating the advantages of using classes, describing how they can help us to create powerful abstractions.

We outlined the access modifiers a class can use to control who has access to class fields and methods.

We continued by exploring the conceptual differences between a class and its instances, along with the implications this has when implementing static fields and static methods.

We saw how constructors are used to initialize classes and their members, while destructors are used to clean up the resources that are managed by a class.

We then explored how constructors and destructors can be combined to implement the fundamental paradigm C++ is famous for: RAII. We showed how RAII makes it easy to create classes that handle resources and make programs safer and easier to work with.

Finally, we introduced the concept of operator overloading and how it can be used to create classes that are as easy...