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

Safe and Easy Dynamic Memory


In the previous section, we learned how dynamic memory could be useful when working with interfaces, especially when creating new instances of derived classes.

We also saw how working with dynamic memory can be hard – we need to make sure to call new and delete in pairs, and failing to do so always has negative effects on our program. Fortunately for us, since C++11, there are tools in the standard library to help us overcome such limitations – smart pointers.

Smart pointers are types that behave like pointers, which are called raw pointers in this context, but have additional functionality.

We are going to look at two smart pointers from the standard library: std::unique_ptr and std::shared_ptr (read as unique pointer and shared pointer). Both pointers are used to free the developer from the complexity of making sure to call delete appropriately.

They represent different ownership models. The owner of an object is the code that determines the lifetime of the object...