Beginning C++

Beginning C++ is a tutorial for beginners in C++ and discusses a subset of C++ that is suitable for beginners. The language syntax corresponds to the C++14 standard. This book is environment neutral and does not presume any specific operating system or program development system. There is no assumption of prior programming knowledge.

All language concepts that are explained in the book are illustrated with working program examples. Most chapters include exercises for you to test your knowledge. Code downloads are provided for examples from the text and solutions to the exercises and there is an additional download for a more substantial project for you to try when you have finished the book.

This book introduces the elements of the C++ standard library that provide essential support for the language syntax that is discussed. While the Standard Template Library (STL) is not discussed to a significant extent, a few elements from the STL that are important to the notion of modern C++ are introduced and applied.

Beginning C++ is based on and supersedes Ivor Horton’s previous book, Beginning ANSI C++.

What you’ll learn

• How to work with fundamental C++ data types and do calculations
• How to build logic into a program using loops, choices, decisions and more
• How to work with arrays, vectors, and strings
• How to use raw pointers and smart pointers
• How to program with functions and deal with program files and pre-processing directives
• How to define your own data types using classes and class operations
• How to implement operator overloading for your own data types
• How to apply class inheritance and use virtual functions to obtain polymorphism and errors/exception handling
• How to signal and handle errors using exceptions
• How to define and use function templates and class templates
• How to do file input and output with C++

Who this book is for

This book is for industry practitioners and students wanting to learn C++ and use this as a reference guide for their applications.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Basic Ideas
Chapter 2: Introducing Fundamental Types of Data
Chapter 3: Working Fundamental Types
Chapter 4: Making Decisions
Chapter 5: Arrays and Loops
Chapter 6: Pointers and References
Chapter 7: Working with Strings
Chapter 8: Defining Functions
Chapter 9: Lambda Expressions
Chapter 10: Preprocessor directives
Chapter 11: Defining your own Data Types
Chapter 12: Operator Overloading
Chapter 13: Inheritance
Chapter 14: Virtual Functions and Polymorphism
Chapter 15: Runtime Errors and Exceptions
Chapter 16: Class Templates
Chapter 17: File Input and Output