Professional C++, 6th Edition

1A Crash Course in C++ and the Standard Library

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• A brief overview of the most important parts and syntax of the C++ language and the C++ Standard Library
• How to write a basic class
• How scope resolution works
• What uniform initialization is
• The use of const
• What pointers, references, exceptions, and type aliases are
• Basics of type inference

WILEY.COM DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

Please note that all the code examples for this chapter are available as a part of the chapter's code download on this book's website at www.wiley.com/go/proc++6e on the Download Code tab.

The goal of this chapter is to cover briefly the most important parts of C++ so that you have a foundation of knowledge before embarking on the rest of this book. This chapter is not a comprehensive lesson in the C++ programming language or the Standard Library. Certain basic points, such as what a program is and what recursion is, are not covered. Esoteric points, such as the definition of a union, or the volatile keyword, are also omitted. Certain parts of the C language that are less relevant in C++ are also left out, as are parts of C++ that get in-depth coverage in later chapters.

This chapter aims to cover the parts of C++ that programmers encounter every day. For example, if you're fairly new to C++ and don't understand what a reference variable is, you'll learn about that kind of variable here. You'll also learn the basics of how to use the functionality available in ...