Introduction to C++ Programming Training

C++ Programming Course Outline

• Introduction and Overview

  • Relating C, C++, Java, and C#
  • The in-class development environment
  • Other development environments

• C++ Programming Building Blocks

  The main function and standard I/O

  • Displaying values and strings to cout
  • Reading values from cin
  • Formatting with stream manipulators

  Objects, constants, and references

  • Declaring and initializing variables
  • Utilizing C++ 11/14 new keywords
  • Integer and floating-point data types
  • Performing calculations and displaying results
  • Utilizing references for efficiency and constants for safety

  Defining and calling functions

  • Passing arguments to functions and returning values from functions
  • Call-by-value vs. call-by-reference vs. call-by-address
  • Scope, duration, and initial values variables

  Decisions, loops, and logic

  • Making decisions with if/else
  • bool vs. int logical values
  • if/else statement "chains"
  • Performing loops with while and for
  • Implementing C++ range-based for loops
  • Equality, relational, and logical operators

  Arrays, pointers, and strings

  • Declaring and using arrays and pointers
  • Storing strings in character arrays
  • Accessing array elements via pointers
  • Pointers vs. references
  • Standard string class and functions

• Defining C++ Classes and Objects

  Encapsulating higher-level data types

  • Public member functions and private data members
  • Protected class members
  • Constructors and destructors
  • Self-reference: the this pointer
  • The class member operator (::)

  Declaring, accessing, and modifying objects

  • Manipulating arrays of objects, pointers to objects and references to objects
  • Invoking member functions
  • const member functions
  • Passing objects by value and by reference

  Overloading and templates

  • Simplifying class interfaces
  • Function signatures
  • Overloading assignment (=) and insertion (\<\<)
  • friend functions and classes
  • Explicit copy/move construction
  • Avoiding default assignment and copy construction
  • Utilizing STL templates to define families of classes

  Separating interfaces and implementations

  • How separation supports code reuse
  • Building header files and code files

• Extending Classes via Inheritance

  Deriving new classes from existing classes

  • Construction and destruction of derived objects
  • Reusability via incremental extensions
  • Base classes and derived classes

  Utilizing polymorphic functions

  • Overriding virtual base-class member functions in derived classes
  • Runtime lookup of functions through base-class pointers and references

  Managing dynamic data

  • Allocating and deallocating memory with new and delete
  • Handling errors with try and catch
  • Avoiding memory leaks
  • Utilizing lambdas and smart pointers

  Standards and Portability

  • Applicability to Windows and UNIX/Linux
  • ANSI/ISO C++ 11/14 and evolving standards