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

Operator Overloading


C++ classes represent user-defined types. So, the need arises to be able to operate with these types in a different way. Some operator functions may have a different meaning when operating on different types. Operator overloading lets you define the meaning of an operator when applied to a class type object.

For example, the + operator applied to numerical types is different than when it is applied to the following Point class, which is constituted of coordinates. The language cannot specify what the + operator should do for user-defined types such as Point, as it is not in control of such types and does not know what the expected behavior is. Because of that, the language does not define the operators for user-defined types.

However, C++ allows the user to specify the behavior of most operators for user-defined types, including classes.

Here is an example of the + operator, defined for the Point class:

class Point
{
  Point operator+(const Point &other) 
  {
    Point...