In this article, I will introduce you to the basic fundamentals of the C ++ programming language. Here I will cover all the basic things you need to know before you start with the C ++ programming language.
C ++ is a powerful, versatile programming language. It can be used to develop operating systems, browsers, games, etc. C ++ supports different programming methods such as procedural, object-oriented, functional, etc. This makes C ++ powerful and flexible.
Also, Read – Why C++ is the best programming language?
Fundamentals of C++ Programming Language
To walk you through the basics of the C ++ programming language, I’ll write a very simple hello world program first and then walk through all the basics of the C ++ programming language step by step. So let’s start by writing a very simple hello world program.
#include <iostream>
int main() {
std::cout << "Hello World\n";
return 0;
}Now Let’s examine each part of this code in detail to understand the fundamentals of C++ programming language.
#include is a preprocessor directive that includes the content of the standard C++ header file iostream.
iostream is a standard library header file that contains definitions of the standard input and output streams. These definitions are included in the std namespace, explained below.
Standard input / output (I / O) streams allow programs to get inputs and outputs to an external system – typically the terminal.
int main () {…} defines a new function named main. By convention, the main function is called during the execution of the program. There should only be one main function in a C ++ program, and it should always return a number of type int.
Here, the int is what’s called the return type of the function. The value returned by the main function is an exit code.
By convention, a program exit code of 0 or EXIT_SUCCESS is interpreted as success by a system running the program. Any other return code is associated with an error. If no return statement is present, the main function (and therefore the program itself) returns 0 by default. In this example, we don’t need to explicitly write return 0;
All other functions, except those that return type void, must either explicitly return a value based on their return type, or they must not return at all.
Understanding Std in C++ Programming Language
std::cout << “Hello World!” << std::endl; prints “Hello World!” to the standard output stream. std is a namespace, and :: is the scope resolution operator that allows look-ups for objects by name within a namespace.
There are many namespaces. Here, we use :: to show we want to use cout from the std namespace. std::cout is the standard output stream object, defined in iostream, and it prints to the standard output (stdout). << is, in this context, the stream insertion operator, so called because it inserts an object into the stream object.
The standard library defines the << operator to perform data insertion for certain data types into output streams. stream << content inserts content into the stream and returns the same, but updated stream. This allows stream insertions to be chained: std::cout << “Foo” << ” Bar”; prints “FooBar” to the console.
“Hello World!” is a character string literal, or a “text literal.” The stream insertion operator for character string literals is defined in file iostream.
The stream manipulator std::endl does two things: first it inserts the end-of-line character and then it flushes the stream buffer to force the text to show up on the console. This ensures that the data inserted into the stream actually appear on your console.
Understanding the Fundamentals of C++ Compilation Process
C ++ executable program code is typically produced by a compiler. A compiler is a program that translates code from a programming language into another form that is (more) directly executable for a computer.
Using a compiler to translate code is called compilation. C ++ inherits the form of its compilation process from its “parent” language, C. Below is a list showing the four main stages of compilation in C ++:
- The C ++ preprocessor copies the contents of all header files included in the source code file, generates macro code, and replaces symbolic constants defined using #define with their values.
- The developed source code file produced by the C ++ preprocessor is compiled into the appropriate assembly language for the platform.
- The assembly code generated by the compiler is assembled into object code appropriate for the platform.
- The object code file generated by the assembler is linked with the object code files for all library functions used to produce an executable file.
Many C ++ compilers can also merge or unmerge parts of the compilation process for convenience or for additional analysis. Many C ++ programmers will use different tools, but all tools will generally follow this generalized process when involved in producing a program.
So these were the basic fundamentals that you must know before starting with the C++ programming language. I hope you liked this article on the Fundamentals of C++ programming language. Feel free to ask your valuable questions in the comments section below.
