Introduction

Welcome to The C++ Programming Language, an introductory book aimed at teaching C++. C++ is a high-level, general purpose, multi-paradigm programming language aimed at giving developers absolute control over their programs but also the means to design, build and use any kind of abstraction to make the language more ergonomic and expressible with zero penalties for what you don't use. This allows for C++ programs to be performant as well as expressive.

Who/What is C++ for?

C++ was designed for building systems and embedded software in resources constrained contexts. These are systems that prioritize performance, efficiency and flexibility of use allow the developer to write performant code that can run or make any kind of system. If you want the ability to build helpful abstractions but needs to run in a constrained environment and make use of every resource as effectively as possible C++ will get you there.

Who is this book for?

This book is generally aimed at people who have programmed in at least one other language but regardless of which (ones). This is to say you should have an idea about what a program is, common programming concepts, and a rough idea how a computer works but does not restrict the background in which you learnt these concepts. I aim to make the material as approachable as possible to anyone from any background. It is possible to read this book without any prior experience to programming but it is highly recommended you start at an introduction to programming book or course if you have never programmed before. The purpose of this book is to showcase how the C++ language works and the various concepts and capabilities present within the language, as apposed to teaching you about the basics of programming using C++ as the content medium. C++ is a very dense language in its entirety and and it can be much more difficult to become comfortable programming and utilising the concepts from this particular book effectively if you do not have a foundation for programming in general.

How to Use This Book

In general, this book assumes that you're reading it in sequence from front to back. Later chapters build on concepts in earlier chapters, and earlier chapters might not delve into details on a particular topic but will revisit the topic in a later chapter.

You'll find two kinds of chapters in this book: concept chapters and project chapters. In concept chapters, you'll learn about an aspect or concept from C++. In project chapters, we'll build small programs together, applying what you've learned so far. Chapters ... are project chapters; the rest are concept chapters. Add the end of a concept chapter there will be challenges that you can complete. These are simple quiz like questions that you can use to query your understanding of the concepts presented in the previous chapter.

Note: You can also search for specific content using the search button in the top left or by pressing the S key.

Synopsis

Getting Started, explains how install the necessary tools for compiling C++ programs on various platforms like Windows, macOS and Linux. It also goes through writing a classical "Hello, world!" program and will discuss the anatomy of a basic C++ program and using the CMake build system.
Project: Guessing Game, is the first project chapter where you will build a simple 'number guessing game'. This will introduce you to compiling and building a C++ program and utilising various pieces from C++ at a high level, with later chapters offering more details.

Planned

Common Programming Concepts, will cover the basics of the C++ language from variables and data types to creating functions and controlling the execution flow of a program.
Ownership, will cover C++ ownership model and how you are able share data or even transfer data ownership.
Structured Data will look at how to create custom types using structs.
In Managing Projects we'll discuss how to compile multiple files together and how CMake makes this process easier.
Custom Types explores how to create more powerful custom types and how to manage the lifetime of data.
Error Handling will look at the various ways to verify the correctness of your programs at compile time. We will also look at recovering from errors to prevent crashes.
Templates covers C++'s metaprogramming capabilities that allow you to build generic code that applies multiple types.
In Functional Language Features we will look
The IO chapter will briefly look deeper at C++ IO capabilities using streams. We also explore C++ filesystem library.
Memory will showcase how to safey (and unsafely ... for science) control memory.
In Concurrency we will look at how to parallelize our programs using a miriade of concurrency concepts while ensure safe access and manipulation of shared data.
Appendices, The appendices hold extra information may be of use to the reader but do not fit in elsewhere in the book.
- A - Keywords
- B - Operators
- C - Standard Versions
- D - Compilation Pipeline
- E - Value Categories
- F - Compiler Vendors
- G - Challenge Answers

Possible Future Chapters

IO Project, will look at utilising ideas from previous chapters in order to build a tool that replicates a subset of the functionality of the command line tool grep.
Algorithms, will showcase a few of the common algorithms available in the C++ standard library and they can be used to manipulate any of the standard containers in an expressive and generic manner. We will also cover the concept of a range and a view and how they allow use to write composable algorithms.
Improved IO Project, will look at improving our IO project from Chapter 11 by utilising the standard algorithms.
Object Orientated Programming In C++, covers C++ support for write object orientated code and how it contrasts to the rest of the languages features and object oriented principles you may be familiar with from other languages.
Date, Time and Localization, introduces C++ support for working with time and dates how to change the locale currently being used to express said times and dates.

There is no wrong way to read this book: if you want to skip ahead, go for it! You might have to jump back to earlier chapters if you experience any confusion. But do whatever works for you.

An important part of the process of learning any programming language is learning how to read the error messages the compiler displays, which can be challenging for large codebases, especially if they are written in C++ (although this is improving). Error messages no matter the language will offer key insight into where the compilation of a program failed and in the case of C++, why it failed, which will guide you toward working code. As such, I'll provide many examples that don't compile along with the error message the compiler will show you in each situation. Know that if you enter and run a random example, it may not compile! Make sure you read the surrounding text to see whether the example you're trying to run is meant to error.

Note: the error message style and content can be dramatically different given a different compiler, compiler version and standard of C++ being used.

Source Code

The source code from which this book is generated can be found on GitHub. Refer to the supporting docs on the books repo for details on how to contribute changes, fix typos or create new content for this book.

External Resources