SUMMARY

C++ is one of the oldest yet most popular programming languages in the world due to its
performance and efficiency.

• It’s often used in building performance-critical applications, video games (especially

with Unreal Engine), servers, operating systems, etc.

• To learn C++, you need to learn the syntax (grammar) of the language as well as C++
Standard Library, which is a collection of pre-written C++ code for solving common
problems.

• To write C++ applications, we often use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

The most popular IDEs are MS Visual Studio, XCode, and CLion.

• To run C++ applications, first we have to compile our C++ code to machine code.

• The main() function is the starting point of a C++ program

THE BASICS

We use variables to temporarily store data in the computer’s memory.

• To declare a variable, we should specify its type and give it a meaningful name.

• We should initialize variables before using them. Using an uninitialized variable can
lead to unexpected behavior in our programs since these variables hold garbage values.
• Unlike variables, the value of constants don’t change.

• The common naming conventions used in C++ applications are: PascalCase,

camelCase, and snake_case.

• An expression is a piece of code that produces a value. A mathematical (arithmetic)

expression consists of an operator (+, -, *, /, %) and two operands.
• Multiplication and division operators have a higher priority than addition and
subtraction operators. So, they’re applied first.

We can use parentheses to change the order of operators.

• We use cout (pronounced sea-out) to write characters to the Standard Output Stream
which represents the terminal or console window.

• We use cin (pronounced sea-in) to read data from the Standard Input Stream which
represents the keyboard.

• We use the Stream Insertion Operator (<>) to read data from a stream.

• The Standard Template Library (STL) consists of several files each containing
functions for different purposes.

• To use functions in the Standard Library, we should include the corresponding files
using the #include directive.

• Using comments we can explain what cannot be expressed in code. This includes
why’s, how’s, and any assumptions we made while writing code.
DATA TYPES

C++ has several built-in data types for storing integers (whole numbers), floating-point
numbers (numbers with a decimal point), characters, and Boolean values (true/false).

• Floating-point numbers are interpreted as double by default. To represent a float, we

have to add the F suffix to our numbers (eg 1.2F).

• Whole numbers are interpreted as int by default. To represent a long, we have to use
the L suffix (eg 10L).

• Using the auto keyword, we can let the compiler infer the type of a variable based on
its initial value.

• Numbers can be represented using the decimal, binary, and hexadecimal systems.

• If we store a value larger or smaller than a data type’s limits, overflowing or

underflowing occurs.

• Using the sizeof() function, we can see the number of bytes taken by a data type.

• We can use stream manipulators to format data sent to a stream. The most common
manipulators are setw, fixed, setprecision, boolalpha, left, and right.

• The Boolean false is represented as 0. Any non-zero number is interpreted as the

Boolean true.

• In C++, characters should be surrounded with single quotes.

• Characters are internally represented as numbers.

• A string is a sequence of characters and should be surrounded by double quotes.

• We use arrays to store a sequence of items (eg numbers, characters, etc).

• Array elements can be accessed using an index. The index of the first element in an
array is 0.

• When we store a smaller value in a larger data type, the value gets automatically cast
(converted to) the larger type. When storing a large value in a smaller data type, we have
to explicit cast the value.

• C-style casting involves prefixing a variable with the target data type in parentheses. In
C++, we use the static_cast operator.

• C++ casting is safer because conversion problems can be caught at the compile-
time. With C-style casting, we won’t know about conversion issues until the run-time
DECISION MAKING

• We use comparison operators to compare values.

• A Boolean expression is a piece of code that produces a Boolean value.

• With Logical operators we can combine Boolean expressions and represent more
complex conditions.

• With the logical AND operator (&&) both operands should be true. If either of them is
false, the result will be false.

• With the logical OR operator (||), the result is true if either of the operands is true.

• The logical NOT operator (!) reverses a Boolean value.

• Using if and switch statements, we can control the logic of our programs.

• An if statement can have zero or more else if clauses for evaluating additional
conditions.

• An if statement can optionally have an else clause.

• We can code an if statement within another. This is called nesting if statements.

• Using the conditional operator we can simplify many of the if/else statements.

• We use switch statements to compare a variable against different values.

• A switch block often has two or more case labels and optionally a default label.

• Case labels should be terminated with a break statement; otherwise, the control
moves to the following case label.

• Switch statements are not as flexible as if statements but sometimes they can make
our code easier to read.