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

Introduction


The core of C++ is its Standard Template Library (STL), which represents a set of important data structures and algorithms that facilitates the programmer's task and improves code efficiency.

The components of the STL are parametric so that they can be reused and combined in different ways. The STL is mainly made up of container classes, iterators, and algorithms.

Containers are used to store collections of elements of a certain type. Usually, the type of the container is a template parameter, which allows the same container class to support arbitrary elements. There are several container classes, each of them with different characteristics and features.

Iterators are used to traverse the elements of a container. Iterators offer the programmer a simple and common interface to access containers of a different type.

Iterators are similar to raw pointers, which can also iterate through elements using the increment and the decrement operators, or can access a specific element using...