C++ BASICS

Ezekiel Ogakhan Nyamu

History of C++:
The C++ programming language was created by Bjarne Stroustrup
and his team at Bell Laboratories (AT&T, USA) to help implement
simulation projects in an object- oriented and efficient way.
 C++ is a superset of C because; any valid C program is valid C++
program too but not the vice versa is not true.
 C++ can make use of existing C software libraries with major
addition of “Class Construct”.
 This language was called “C with classes” and later in 1983, it was
named “C++” by Rick Mascitii. As the name C++ implies, C++
was derived from the C programming language: ++ is the increment
operator in C.
 C++ systems
 Program-development environment
 Language
 C++ Standard Library
 C++ program names extensions
 .cpp
 .cxx
 .cc
 .C
Why Use C++
 C++ is one of the world's most popular programming languages.
 C++ can be found in today's operating systems, Graphical User Interfaces,
and embedded systems.
 C++ is an object-oriented programming language which gives a clear structure to
programs and allows code to be reused, lowering development costs.
 C++ is portable and can be used to develop applications that can be adapted
to multiple platforms.
 C++ is fun and easy to learn!
 As C++ is close to C# and Java, it makes it easy for programmers to switch to C++
or vice versa
C# (pronounced "C-sharp") is a modern, object-oriented programming language developed by
Microsoft. It was introduced in the early 2000s as part of the .NET framework and is widely used for
building a variety of applications, including desktop software, web services, cloud-based
applications, games, and mobile apps.
•Translating a C++ program
 C++ Install IDE: download and Install Turbo C++ or Install
Codeblocks
 The program execution process consists of the following steps:

Installation Process
Example Using an IDE
Most IDEs like Visual Studio, Code::Blocks, or CLion have a Build and
Run or Run button that automates the entire process:
[Link] "Build" compiles the code and checks for errors.
[Link] "Run" runs the last successful build.
[Link] "Build and Run" compiles and runs in one step, launching the
program if there are no build errors.
•General Structure of C++ Program.
• Different programming languages have their own format of
coding.
• The basic components of a C++program are:
• Comments or Documentation Section
• Pre-processor Directives (Linker Section):
• Definition
• Global Declaration
• main ( ) function
• Declarations
• Statements
Output Operator:

The statement cout <<”Hello, world” displayed the string with in quotes on the screen.
The identifier cout can be used to display individual characters, strings and even
numbers. It is a predefined object that corresponds to the standard output stream.
Stream just refers to a flow of data and the standard Output stream normally flows to
the screen display. The cout object, whose properties are defined in iostream.h
represents that stream. The insertion operator << also called the ‘put to’ operator
directs the information on its right to the object on its left.

Return Statement:

In C++ main ( ) returns an integer type value to the operating system. Therefore every main ( ) in C++ should
end with a return (0) statement, otherwise a warning or an error might occur.
Input Operator:
The statement cin>> number 1; is an input statement and
causes The program to wait for the user to type in a number.
The number keyed in is placed in the variable number1. The
identifier cin is a predefined object in C++ that corresponds to
the standard input stream. Here this stream represents the key
board.
The operator >> is known as get from operator. It extracts
value from the keyboard and assigns it to the variable on its
right.
comments
Parts of C++
What will be the output
•C++ Character Set:
•Character Set means the valid set of characters that a language can
recognizes.
 The character set of C++ includes the following:
C++ Tokens:
The smallest individual unit is known as token.
 These elements help us to construct statements, definitions,
declarations, and so on,which in turn helps us to construct
complete program.
 Tokens used in C++ are:
Identifier
Reserved Keywords
Constants or Literals
Punctuators
Operators
•C++ Identifier:
•identifiers are the unique names assigned to variables, functions, classes, structs,
or other entities within the program
 It contains letters, digits and underscore.
 C++ does not allow punctuation characters such as @, $, and % within

 C++ is a case sensitive; it treats uppercase and lowercase characters differently.

 The following are some valid identifiers:
 Adisesha
 time_table
 s2e2r3
 _dos _HJI3_JK
C++ Identifier:
Rules to be followed while creating identifiers.
 Identifiers are a sequence of characters which should begin with the
alphabet either from A-Z (uppercase) or a-z (lowercase) or _
(underscore).
 C++ treats uppercase and lowercase characters differently. For
example, DATA is not same as data.
 No Special character is allowed except underscore “_”.
 Identifier should be single words i.e. blank spaces cannot be included
in identifier.
 Reserved Keywords should not be used as identifiers.
 Identifiers should be of reasonable length.
C++ Keywords:
•Keyword is a predefined word that gives special meaning to the
complier. The programmer is not allowed to change its meaning.
 These words have predefined functions, so you cannot use them as
identifiers (like variable names, function names, etc.).
 Example:
• cin, cout, for, if, else, ,
• do, float, while, switch etc.,
There are keywords in C++ as mentioned below
•Literals: A Literals/ constant are identifiers whose value does not
change during program execution.

•In C++, literals are fixed values written directly in the code. They represent
constant values of various data types, such as integers, floating-point
numbers, characters, strings, and Boolean values

 Constants are sometimes referred to as literal.

 A constant or literal my be any one of the following:
 Integer Constant
 Floating Constant
 Character Constant
 String Constant
•Integer Constant:
 An integer constant is a whole number, which can be either positive or
negative.
 They do not have fractional part or exponents.
 We can specify integer constants in:
 Decimal Integer Constant int a = 120; //Decimal Constant
 Octal Integer Constant int b = 0374; //Octal Constant
 Hexadecimal Integer Constant int c = -0XABF; //Hexadecimal
Constant
 Unsigned Constant unsigned d = 328u; //Unsigned
value
•Floating Point Constant:
 Floating point constants are also called as “real constants”.
 These values contain decimal points (.) and can contain exponents.
 They are used to represent values that will have a fractional part
and can be represented in two forms (i.e. fractional form and
exponent form)
 We can specify Floating Point constants in:
 float a=23.46 // equal to 23.46 x 100 = 23.46 x 1 = 23.46
 float b=26.126
•Character constants: are specified as single character enclosed
in pair of single quotation marks.
 For example char ch = ‘P’;
 There are certain characters used in C++ which represents character

constants called as escape sequence which starts with a back slash (

\ ) followed by a character.
String Constants:
 A string constant consists of zero or more character enclosed by double
quotation marks (“ ”).
 Multiple character constants are called string constants and they are treated as
an array of char.
 By default compiler adds a special character called the “Null Character” (\0) at
the end of the string to mark the end of the string.
 Example:
 char str[25] = “Hello Adisesha” ;
 This is actually represented as char str[25] = “Hello Adisesha\0” in the memory
There are two simple ways in C++ to define constants
−
• Using #define preprocessor.
• Using const keyword.

The #define Preprocessor

• Following is the form to use #define preprocessor to
define a constant −
#define identifier value
#define LENGTH 10
#define WIDTH 5
The const Keyword
You can use const prefix to declare constants with a
specific type as follows −

const type variable = value;

const int LENGTH = 10;
const int WIDTH = 5;
C++ Operators
C++ Operators: Operators are used to perform operations on variables and
values.
 Example: int x = 100 + 50;
 C++ Operators Types:
 C++ divides the operators into the following groups.
 Arithmetic operators
 Assignment operators
 Comparison operators
 Logical operators
 Bitwise operators
Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators are used to perform common mathematical
operations.
Assignment Operators
Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables
Relational Operator
 Comparison operators are used to compare two values.

 The return value of a comparison is either true (1) or false (0).

Logical Operators
Logical operators are used to determine the logic between variables
or values
Bitwise Operators
A Bitwise operators are used in bit level programming
Classification of Operators
Operators may also be classified on the number of operands they act on
either:
 Unary Operators
 Example: a++, a+1

 Binary Operators
 Example: x = x – 10;

 Ternary Operators
 Example: x = (a>b) ? a:b;
•Special Operator :
 An expression is a combination of opcode and operand.

 Some special operators used in C++ programming are:

Punctuators
Punctuators in C++ have syntactic and semantic meaning to the
compiler.
• General Structure of C++ Program.
• Different programming languages have their own format of coding.
• The basic components of a C++program are:
• Comments or Documentation Section
• Pre-processor Directives (Linker Section):
• Definition
• Global Declaration
• main ( ) function
• Declarations
• Statements
•General Structure of C++ Program
 Different programming languages have their own format of coding.
 The basic components of a C++program are:
•C++ Comments
•Comments can be used as non-executable statement to explain C++ code, and to
make
•it more readable.
 It can also be used to prevent execution when testing alternative code.

 Comments can be:

 singled-lined: Single-line comments start with two forward slashes (//).

• Example:
 multi-lined.: Multi-line comments start with /* and ends
with */. Example:
Linker Section in C++
•The linker is a program that makes executable files.
 The linker resolves linkage issues, such as the use of symbol hash (#) defined in

one translation unit.

 The C++ preprocessor directives programming skills that should be acquired:

 Able to understand and use #include.

 Able to understand and use #define.
 Able to understand and use macros and inline functions.
Input & Output Operators
Input & Output Operators
• The input output operations are done using library functions cin
and cout objects of the class iostream.
• Using the standard input and output library, we will able to
interact with the user by printing message on the screen and
getting the user’s input from the keyboard.
• A stream is an object where a program can either insert/extract
characters to/from it.
• The standard C++ library includes the header file iostream,
where the standard
• input and output stream objects are declared.
•Library Functions in C++
•Built-in functions are also known as library functions.
 We need not to declare and define these functions as they are already

written in the
• C++ libraries such as iostream, cmath etc
•Library Functions in C++
•Built-in functions for String manipulation are:
Main function section in C++
•The starting point of all C++ programs is the main function.
 This function is called by the operating system when your program is executed

by the computer.
int main( )
{
cout << "Hello World" << endl; //Function body section
return 0;
}
 { signifies the start of a block of code, and } signifies the end.
Data Types in C++:
•Data Types can be defined as the set of values, which can be stored in a variable
along
•with the operations that can be performed on those values.
 C++ defines several types of data and each type has unique characteristics.

 C++ data types can be classified as:

 The fundamental data type(built-in data)

 Derived Data type
 User-defined data type
Data Types:
 C++ defines several types of data and each type has unique
characteristics.
 C++ data types can be classified as:
Basic Data Types:char type
•The char type: It is character data type to store any character from the basic
character set.
 Characters are enclosed in single quotation marks (‘). ‘A’, ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘9’, ‘+’ etc.

are
• character constants.
 When a variable of type char is declared, the compiler converts the character to its
equivalent ASCII code.
 A character is allocated only 1 byte (8 bits) of memory space.
 The general form of a character declaration is: char variable_list;
 Example: char alpha=’a’;
Basic Data Types:float type
•The float type: This represents the number with fractional part i.e. real numbers.
 The float type is used to store real numbers.

 Float is allocated 4 bytes (32 bits) of memory space.

 Number such as 1.8, 4.5, 12e-5 and -9.66 are all floating-point numbers.

 The range of numbers we can store from -34e-38 to 3.4e38.

 The general form of a float declaration is: float variable_name;

 Example:

 float a=5.5;
Basic Data Types:double type
•The double type: The double and float are very similar.
 The float type allows you to store single precision floating point numbers,

while the
• double keyword allows you to store double precision floating point numbers.
 Its size is typically 8 bytes of memory space. The range of numbers we

can store are from -1.7e308 to 1.7e308.

 The general form of a double declaration is: double variable_list;

 Example: double a = 5.5e-7; //a is equivalent to 5.5x10-7

 float a=5.5;
Basic Data Types:bool type
•The bool type: The bool type has logical value true or false.
 The identifier true has the value 1, and the identifier false has the value 0.

 The general form of a bool declaration is: bool variable_name;

 Example:

 bool legal_age=true;
 The statement legal_age= (age>=21);
 assigns the value true if age is greater than or equal to 21 or else it
returns the value false
Basic Data Types:void type
•The void type : The void data type has no values and no operations.
 In other words, both the set of values and set of operations are empty.

 In this declaration the main function does not return any value.

 Example:

 void main( )

{
Statements;
}
•Basic Data Types:
 The data type specifies the size and type of information the variable
will store.
Derived data types:
•These data types are constructed using simple or fundamental data types.
 Derived data types emphasize on structuring of a group of homogeneous (same

type)
• data items.
 These data types includes:

 Arrays
 Functions
 Pointers
 References
User defined data types:
These data types are constructed by user using simple or fundamental data types.
 User defined data types emphasize on structuring of a group of homogeneous

(same
• type) or heterogeneous (different type) data items.
 Some user defined data types include

 Enumerated
 Structure
 Union
 Class