Overview of C++ programming

The C++ standard

C++ is a middle-level and widely used programming language because, in addition to the high-level features necessary for writing applications such as payroll systems and inventory programs, it also has many low-level features.

C++ is based on the C language, which was invented for purposes such as writing operating systems and compilers. Because C++ evolved from C, it carries all of C’s low-level capabilities with it.

C++ is also popular because of its portability. This means that a C++ program can be written on one type of computer and then run on many other types of systems. This usually requires that the program is recompiled on each type of system, but the program itself may need little or no change.

Source Code and Executable Code

When a C++ program is written, it must be typed into the computer and saved to a file. A text editor, which is similar to a word processing program, is used for this task.

The statements written by the programmer are called source code, and the file they are saved in is called the source file

The ISO C++ standard defines two kinds of entities:

• Core language features , such as built-in types (e.g., char and int) and loops (e.g., for-statements and while-statements)
• Standard-library components, such as containers (e.g., vector and map) and I/O operations (e.g., << and getline() )

The standard-library components are perfectly ordinary C++ code provided by every C++ implementation. That is, the C++ standard library can be implemented in C++ itself (and is with very minor uses of machine code for things such as thread context switching).

This implies that C++ is sufficiently expressive and efficient for the most demanding systems programming tasks.

Download C/C++ compilers & editors

You can choose between the two compilers to create and compile your C++ programs and codes. Download from ufficial websites and be ready to learn with us the fundamentals of C++ programming.

Note:

We suggest you to compile our codes in Visual Studio Community or Eclipse because they are more professional and adapted to the new C++ standard.

In the next tutorial you will learn how to configure Visual Studio Community to run and compile C++ programs.