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 the basic structure and syntax of the language. We started with an overview of the compilation model, the process of transforming C++ source code into an executable program. We wrote, compiled, and ran our first program, a simple main function that successfully returns an exit/return code.

We described the built-in arithmetic types that the language offers.

We learned how to declare and define variable names, and what the difference is between references and pointers. We also saw the use of the const qualifier and its advantages.

Furthermore, we talked about control flow statements and how to exploit them to perform more complex actions.

Finally, we presented arrays and multidimensional arrays, and the operation to perform to initialize them and access their values. In the next chapter, we will learn what functions in C++ are, and how and why we should use them in our code.