Modern C++ for Absolute Beginners: A Friendly Introduction to the C++ Programming Language and C++11 to C++23 Standards. 2 Ed

Table of Contents....5

About the Author....15

About the Technical Reviewer....16

Acknowledgments....17

About the Second Edition....18

Chapter 1: Introduction....19

Chapter 2: What Is C++?....20

C++ Standards....20

Chapter 3: C++ Compilers....21

Installing C++ Compilers....21

On Linux....21

On Windows....22

Chapter 4: Our First Program....23

Comments....23

Hello World Example....24

Chapter 5: Types....28

Fundamental Types....28

Boolean....28

Character Type....29

Integer Types....31

Floating-Point Types....33

Type void....33

Type Modifiers....34

Variable Declaration, Definition, and Initialization....34

Chapter 6: Exercises....36

Hello World and Comments....36

Declaration....36

Definition....37

Initialization....37

Chapter 7: Operators....39

Assignment Operator....39

Arithmetic Operators....39

Compound Assignment Operators....41

Increment/Decrement Operators....42

Chapter 8: Standard Input....43

Chapter 9: Exercises....45

Standard Input....45

Two Inputs....45

Multiple Inputs....46

Inputs and Arithmetic Operations....47

Postincrement and Compound Assignment....47

Integral and Floating-Point Division....48

Chapter 10: Arrays....49

Chapter 11: Pointers....51

Chapter 12: References....54

Chapter 13: Introduction to Strings....56

Defining a String....56

Concatenating Strings....57

Accessing Characters....58

Comparing Strings....59

String Input....60

A Pointer to a String....61

Substrings....61

Finding a Substring....62

Chapter 14: Automatic Type Deduction....64

Chapter 15: Exercises....66

Array Definition....66

Pointer to an Object....67

Reference Type....67

Strings....68

Strings from Standard Input....68

Creating a Substring....69

Finding a Single Character....70

Finding a Substring....71

Automatic Type Deduction....72

Chapter 16: Statements....73

Selection Statements....73

if Statement....73

Conditional Expression....75

The Logical Operators....77

Comparison Operators....79

switch Statement....82

Iteration Statements....83

for Statement....84

while Statement....85

do Statement....87

Chapter 17: Constants....88

Chapter 18: Exercises....90

A Simple if Statement....90

Logical Operators....91

The switch Statement....92

The for Loop....93

Array and the for Loop....94

The const Type Qualifier....94

Chapter 19: Functions....96

Introduction....96

Function Declaration....96

Function Definition....97

Return Statement....100

Passing Arguments....102

Passing by Value/Copy....102

Passing by Reference....103

Passing by Const Reference....104

Function Overloading....105

Chapter 20: Exercises....108

Function Definition....108

Separate Declaration and Definition....108

Function Parameters....109

Passing Arguments....110

Function Overloads....110

Chapter 21: Scope and Lifetime....112

Local Scope....112

Block Scope....112

Lifetime....113

Automatic Storage Duration....113

Dynamic Storage Duration....113

Static Storage Duration....114

Operators new and delete....114

Chapter 22: Exercises....116

Automatic Storage Duration....116

Dynamic Storage Duration....117

Automatic and Dynamic Storage Durations....118

Chapter 23: Classes – Introduction....120

Data Member Fields....120

Member Functions....121

Access Specifiers....123

Constructors....127

Default Constructor....127

Member Initialization....130

Copy Constructor....131

Copy Assignment....134

Move Constructor....135

Move Assignment....137

Operator Overloading....139

Destructors....145

Chapter 24: Exercises....148

Class Instance....148

Class with Data Members....148

Class with Member Function....149

Class with Data and Function Members....150

Class Access Specifiers....150

User-Defined Default Constructor and Destructor....151

Constructor Initializer List....152

User-Defined Copy Constructor....154

User-Defined Move Constructor....155

Overloading Arithmetic Operators....156

Chapter 25: Classes – Inheritance and Polymorphism....158

Inheritance....158

Polymorphism....162

Chapter 26: Exercises....167

Inheritance....167

Chapter 27: The static Specifier....171

Chapter 28: Templates....174

Function Templates....174

Class Templates....176

Template Specialization....180

Chapter 29: Enumerations....182

Chapter 30: Exercises....185

Static Variable....185

Static Data Member....186

Static Member Function....187

Function Template....188

Class Template....189

Scoped Enums....190

Enums in a switch....191

Chapter 31: Organizing Code....193

Header and Source Files....193

Header Guards....194

Namespaces....194

Chapter 32: Exercises....198

Header and Source Files....198

Multiple Source Files....199

Namespaces....200

Nested Namespaces....201

Chapter 33: Conversions....203

Implicit Conversions....203

Explicit Conversions....207

Chapter 34: Exceptions....211

Chapter 35: Smart Pointers....216

Unique Pointer....216

Shared Pointer....219

Chapter 36: Exercises....221

static_cast Conversion....221

A Simple Unique Pointer....222

Unique Pointer to an Object of a Class....222

Shared Pointer Exercise....223

Simple Polymorphism....224

Polymorphism II....225

Exception Handling....226

Multiple Exceptions....227

Chapter 37: Input/Output Streams....229

File Streams....229

String Streams....233

Chapter 38: C++ Standard Library and Friends....238

Containers....238

std::vector....239

std::array....241

std::set....242

std::map....244

std::pair....247

Other Containers....248

The Range-Based for Loop....248

Iterators....251

Algorithms and Utilities....254

std::sort....255

std::find....257

std::copy....258

Min and Max Elements....260

Lambda Expressions....261

Chapter 39: Exercises....269

Basic Vector....269

Deleting a Single Value....270

Deleting a Range of Elements....270

Finding Elements in a Vector....271

Basic Set....272

Set Data Manipulation....273

Set Member Functions....274

Search for Data in a Set....275

Basic Map....276

Inserting into a Map....277

Searching and Deleting from a Map....279

Lambda Expressions....280

Chapter 40: C++ Standards....283

C++11....283

Automatic Type Deduction....284

Range-Based Loops....284

Initializer Lists....285

Move Semantics....286

Lambda Expressions....286

The constexpr Specifier....287

Scoped Enumerators....288

Smart Pointers....288

std::unordered_set....290

std::unordered_map....292

std::tuple....294

static_assert....295

Introduction to Concurrency....296

Deleted and Defaulted Functions....303

Type Aliases....306

C++14....306

Binary Literals....307

Digit Separators....308

Auto for Functions....308

Generic Lambdas....309

std::make_unique....309

C++17....310

Nested Namespaces....310

Constexpr Lambdas....311

Structured Bindings....311

std::filesystem....313

std::string_view....317

std::any....319

std::variant....321

C++20....324

Modules....325

Concepts....327

Lambda Templates....331

[likely] and [unlikely] Attributes....332

Ranges....334

Coroutines....338

std::span....339

Mathematical Constants....340

C++23....341

Multidimensional Subscript Operator....342

Literal Suffixes for size_t....342

The #warning Preprocessor Directive....343

The std::string::contains() Member Function....343

std::print....345

Chapter 41: Projects....348

Project I: Book Inventory....348

Project II: Book Inventory – Multiple Files....363

Project III: Message Logger....368

Project IV: Message Logger – Multiple Files....387

Project V: Information System....393

Project VI: Information System – Multiple Files....423

Index....434

Learn the C++ programming language in a structured, straightforward, and friendly manner. This book teaches the basics of the modern C++ programming language, the C++ Standard Library, and modern C++ standards, including C++23. No previous programming experience is required.

C++ is a language like no other, surprising in its complexity, yet wonderfully sleek and elegant in so many ways. It is also a language that cannot be learned by guessing, one that is easy to get wrong and challenging to get right. To overcome this, each section is filled with real-world examples that gradually increase in complexity. Modern C++ for Absolute Beginners, Second Edition teaches more than just programming in C++23. It provides a solid C++ foundation to build upon.

The author takes you through the C++ programming language, the Standard Library, and C++11 to C++23 standard basics. Each chapter is accompanied by the right amount oftheory and plenty of source code examples. You will work with C++23 features and standards, yet you will also compare and take a look into previous versions of C++.

After reading this book, you'll be able to start programming in modern C++ standards. You will do so with plenty of relevant source code examples, freely available via a dedicated GitHub repository.

What You Will Learn

• Get Introduced to modern C++ in a friendly but effective way
• Work with the basics of C++: types, operators, variables, constants, expressions, references, functions, classes, I/O, smart pointers, polymorphism, and more
• Set up the Visual Studio environment on Windows and GCC on Linux, where you can write your own code
• Declare and define functions, classes, and objects, and organize code into namespaces
• Discover object-oriented programming: classes and objects, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and more using the most advanced C++ features
• Employ best practices in organizing source code and controlling program workflow
• Get familiar with C++ language do's and don'ts, and more
• Manage the basics of lambdas, inheritance, polymorphism, smart pointers, templates, modules, contracts, concepts, and more

Who This Book Is For

 Beginner or novice programmers who wish to learn C++ programming. No prior programming experience is required.