Difference between revisions of "cpp/language"

Revision as of 12:25, 31 January 2012

Template:cpp/language/sidebar This is a brief reference of available C++ constructs.

General topics

Preprocessor

Comments

Keywords

ASCII chart

Escape sequences

History of C++

Flow control

Conditional execution statements

Different code paths are executed according to the value of given expression

• if executes code conditionally
• switch executes code according to the value of an integral argument

Iteration statements

The same code is executed several times

• for executes loop
• range-for executes loop over a range (since C++11)
• while executes loop, checking condition before each iteration
• do-while executes loop, checking condition after each iteration

Jump statements

Continue execution at a different location

• continue skips the remaining part of the enclosing loop body
• break terminates the enclosing loop
• goto continues execution in another location
• return terminates execution of the enclosing function

Functions

The same code can be reused at different locations in the program

• function declaration declares a function
• lambda function declaration declares a lambda function
• function template declares a function template
• inline specifier hints the compiler to insert a function's body directly into the calling code
• exception specifications enforces the function to throw only specific exceptions or not to throw at all (deprecated)
• noexcept specifier enforces the function not to throw any exceptions (since C++11)

Exceptions

Exceptions are a more robust way to signal error condition than function return codes or global error variables

• throw expression signals an error and transfers control to error handler
• try-catch block catches exceptions originating from specific block of code

Namespaces

Namespaces provide a way to prevent name clashes in large projects

• namespace declaration
• namespace aliases

Types

• fundamental types defines basic character, integer and floating point types
• compound types defines types, holding several data members (essentially the same as class)
• enumeration types defines types, that are able to hold only one of the specified values
• union types defines types, that can hold data in several representations
• function types define function call signatures, that is the types of arguments and the return type
• decltype specifier defines a type, equivalent to the type of an expression (since C++11)

Specifiers

• cv specifiers specifies constness and volatility of a type
• storage duration specifiers specifies storage duration of a type
• constexpr specifier specifies that the value of a variable or function can be computed at compile time (since C++11)
• auto specifier specifies that the actual type shall be defined from the expression, assigned to the variable (since C++11)
• alignas specifier specifies that the storage for the variable should be aligned by specific amount (since C++11)

Literals

Literals are the tokens of a C++ program that represent constant values, embedded in the source code.

• integer literals are decimal, octal, or hexadecimal numbers of integer type.
• character literals are individual characters of type Template:cpp, Template:cpp, Template:cpp, or Template:cpp.
• floating-point literals are values of type Template:cpp, Template:cpp, or Template:cpp
• string literals are sequences of characters, which may be narrow, multibyte, or wide.
• boolean literals are values of type Template:cpp, that is Template:cpp and Template:cpp
• nullptr is the pointer literal which specifies a null pointer value (since C++11)
• user-defined literals are constant values of user-specified type (since C++11)

Expressions

An expression is a sequence of operators and operands that specifies a computation. An expression can result in a value and can cause side effects.

• value categories (lvalue, rvalue, glvalue, prvalue, xvalue) classify expressions by their values.
• order of evaluation of arguments and subexpressions specified the order in which intermediate results are obtained.
• operators allow the use of syntax commonly found in mathematics

• operator precedence the order in which operators are bound to their arguments
• alternative representations alternative spellings for some of the operators

Utilities

Types

• typedef declaration creates a synonym for a type
• type alias declaration creates a synonym for a type
• attributes defines additional information about variable (since C++11)

Casts

• standard conversions implicit conversions from one type to another
• const_cast conversion
• static_cast conversion
• dynamic_cast conversion
• reinterpret_cast conversion

Memory allocation

• new expression allocates memory dynamically
• delete expression deallocates memory dynamically

Classes

Classes provide the concept of object-oriented programming in C++

• class declaration
• this pointer links to the current instance of a class in member methods
• access specifiers
• friend specifier grants access privileges to private/protected parts for non-member classes or functions
• initializer lists
• virtual function specifier declares a virtual functions
• explicit function specifier declares that a constructor or casting operator can not be used in implicit conversions

Special member functions

• default constructor initializes the object with default contents
• copy constructor initializes the object with the contents of another object
• move constructor initializes the object with the contents of other, temporary object, minimizing copying overhead (since C++11)
• assignment operator replaces the contents of the object with the contents of another object
• move assignment operator replaces the contents of the object with the contents of other, temporary object, minimizing copying overhead (since C++11)
• destructor releases claimed resources

Templates

Allows functions and classes to operate on generic types

• class template declaration
• function template declaration
• parameter packs (since C++11)

Miscellaneous

• Inline assembly