C++ Tutorial: Introduction, Instructions for use.

Introduction Instructions for use

To whom is this tutorial directed?

This tutorial is for those people who want to learn programming in C++ and do not necessarily have any previous knowledge of other programming languages. Of course any knowledge of other programming languages or any general computer skill can be useful to better understand this tutorial, although it is not essential.

If you are familiar with C language you can take the first 3 parts of this tutorial (from 1.1 to 3.4) as a review, since they mainly explain the C part of C++.

Part 4 describes object-oriented programming.

Part 5 mostly describes the new features introduced by ANSI-C++ standard.

Structure of this tutorial

The tutorial is divided in 6 parts and each part is in several different sections. You can access any section directly from the main index or begin the tutorial from any point and follow the links at the bottom of each section.

Many sections include an additional page with specific examples that describe the use of the newly acquired knowledge in that chapter. It is recommended to read these examples and be able to understand each of the code lines that constitute it before passing to the next chapter.

A good way to gain experience with a programming language is by modifying and adding new functionalities on your own to the example programs that you fully understand. Don't be scared to modify the examples provided with this tutorial. There are no reports of people whose computer has been destroyed due to that.

Compatibility Notes

The ANSI-C++ standard accepted as an international standard is relatively recent. It was published in November 1997, nevertheless the C++ language exists from long ago (1980s). Therefore there are many compilers which do not support all the new capabilities included in ANSI-C++, specially those released prior to the publication of the standard.

During this tutorial, the concepts that have been added by ANSI-C++ standard which are not included in most older C++ compilers are indicated by the following icon:

<- new in ANSI C++

Also, given the enormous extension that the C language enjoys (the language from which C++ was derived), an icon will also be included when the topic explained is a concept whose implementation is clearly different between C and C++ or that is exclusive of C++:

<- different implementation in C and C++

Compilers

The examples included in this tutorial are all console programs. That means they use text to communicate with the user and to show results.

All C++ compilers support the compilation of console programs. If you want to get more information on how to compile the examples that appear in this tutorial, check the document Compilation of Console Programs, where you will find specific information about this subject for several C++ compilers existing in the market.

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1.1 - Structure of a C++ program