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)

Summary

We have covered several concepts in this chapter. We looked at unions and structs and how they differ from classes (and how they don't). We then went into detail about different types of constructors and discussed possible problems when copying objects and how to solve them. We learned about the rule of three and how important it is. Finally, we had a quick look at destructors.

We found that C++ has some very specific things we must keep in mind when defining our own types and found out that we must handle dynamic memory very carefully and design our classes accordingly. So long as we follow the guidelines laid out in this chapter, we can see that C++ gives us all the tools needed to create robust and easy-to-use types.

All this information has armed us with the necessary knowledge to step further into object-oriented concepts, confident that we have the basics covered. The coming chapter will discuss how best to design our classes from a front-facing perspective...