Introduction to C++: Glossary

C++ formatting is very flexible, whitespace generally doesn’t matter.

C++ has two styles of comments, for single lines, and for multi-lines.

Libraries generally exist in a separate namespace.

The type of each variable must be declared.

The fundamental data types available in C++ closely match the native system types.

Variables can be initialized at the time they are declared.

Literals are available for all the fundamental data types.

Constant expressions can be defined using the const keyword.

C++ provides an extensive set of arithmetic and logical operators.

Decisions are made using if and select statements.

Looping is performed with while, do-while, and for statements.

Functions are the primary way to structure programs and achieve code reuse.

Execution can be transferred to a function, then resume at the point the function was invoked.

Functions can be supplied multiple values, but only return a single value.

Different scopes provide a means of controlling the visibility and life of variables.

Namespaces provide additional flexibility for name visibility.

How data is stored is related to its scope.

Arrays provide a convenient way of storing many values of the same type.

Arrays are defined by a name and elements are accessed using an index.

C++ supports multi-dimensional arrays.

Arrays can only be passed by reference as parameters to functions.

Struct types are for grouping different data types together.

Accessing members of a struct is just like accessing a variable.

Arrays of structs are allowed.

Structs can contain any data type, including other structs.

Classes encapsulate both data and functions.

Classes are types, objects are variables.

Classes allow access to members to be controlled.

A constructor can be used to initialize data members.

Exceptional conditions occur within any program.

Handling exceptions is important to ensuring program correctness.

Exception handlers are just like regular functions.

Operations in the standard library throw exceptions.

Special parameters in the main function are used to handle command-line parameters.

Each parameter is a string, and special processing must be performed by the program