Book Image

The C++ Workshop

By : Dale Green, Kurt Guntheroth, Shaun Ross Mitchell
Book Image

The C++ Workshop

By: Dale Green, Kurt Guntheroth, Shaun Ross Mitchell

Overview of this book

C++ is the backbone of many games, GUI-based applications, and operating systems. Learning C++ effectively is more than a matter of simply reading through theory, as the real challenge is understanding the fundamentals in depth and being able to use them in the real world. If you're looking to learn C++ programming efficiently, this Workshop is a comprehensive guide that covers all the core features of C++ and how to apply them. It will help you take the next big step toward writing efficient, reliable C++ programs. The C++ Workshop begins by explaining the basic structure of a C++ application, showing you how to write and run your first program to understand data types, operators, variables and the flow of control structures. You'll also see how to make smarter decisions when it comes to using storage space by declaring dynamic variables during program runtime. Moving ahead, you'll use object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques such as inheritance, polymorphism, and class hierarchies to make your code structure organized and efficient. Finally, you'll use the C++ standard library?s built-in functions and templates to speed up different programming tasks. By the end of this C++ book, you will have the knowledge and skills to confidently tackle your own ambitious projects and advance your career as a C++ developer.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

References

A reference is a second kind of variable that holds the address of another variable. That is, the reference points to another variable. Unlike pointers, which can refer to a valid variable, an invalid memory location, or nullptr, a reference must be initialized to point to a variable when declared.

One difference between references and pointers is that a reference cannot be updated; once it is declared, it always points to the same variable. This means that a reference can't be incremented to step through an array the same way that a pointer can.

A second difference is that references are implicitly dereferenced in use. Arithmetic and relational operators applied to references affect the pointed-to variable. If ir is an int reference, then the statement ir = ir – 10; subtracts 10 from the referenced int. Mathematical expressions involving references, therefore, have a very natural appearance. A developer can use references to efficiently point to a variable...