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

Constructors and Destructors


Up until now, we have learned how to declare data members, how to use them in functions with a public specifier, and how to access them. Now, let's explore how to set a value to them.

In the following example, we'll declare a struct by the name of Rectangle, and set a value to it as follows:

struct Rectangle {
  int height;
  int width;
};

Rectangle rectangle;

// What will the following print function print?
std::cout << "Height: " << rectangle.height << std::endl;

This line will print a random value because we never set the value of int. The C++ rule for the initialization of basic types is that they get non-specified values.

Note

In some situations, the values of variables are set to 0 when they are not initialized. This might happen because of some details in the implementation of the operating system, the standard library, or the compiler, and the C++ standard does not guarantee it. A program will have strange bugs when it relies on this behavior...