C++ Programming Code Examples

The C++ comments are statements that are not executed by the compiler. The comments in C++ programming can be used to provide explanation of the code, variable, method or class. If we write comments on our code, it will be easier for us to understand the code in the future. Also, it will be easier for your fellow developers to understand the code. By the help of comments, you can hide the program code also. There are two types of comments in C++: • Single Line comment • Multi Line comment The single line comment starts with // (double slash). C++ multi line comment is used to comment multiple lines of code. It is surrounded by slash and asterisk (/* ..... */). Comments shouldn't be the substitute for a way to explain poorly written code in English. We should always write well-structured and self-explanatory code. And, then use comments.

When executing C++ code, different errors can occur: coding errors made by the programmer, errors due to wrong input, or other unforeseeable things. When an error occurs, C++ will normally stop and generate an error message. The technical term for this is: C++ will throw an exception (throw an error). An exception is a problem that arises during the execution of a program. A C++ exception is a response to an exceptional circumstance that arises while a program is running, such as an attempt to divide by zero. Exceptions provide a way to transfer control from one part of a program to another. C++ exception handling is built upon three keywords: try, catch, and throw. The try and catch keywords come in pairs: The try statement allows you to define a block of code to be tested for errors while it is being executed. The code which can throw any exception is kept inside(or enclosed in) atry block. Then, when the code will lead to any error, that error/exception will get caught inside the catch block. The throw keyword throws an exception when a problem is detected, which lets us create a custom error. It is used to throw exceptions to exception handler i.e. it is used to communicate information about error. A throw expression accepts one parameter and that parameter is passed to handler. throw statement is used when we explicitly want an exception to occur, then we can use throw statement to throw or generate that exception. The catch statement allows you to define a block of code to be executed, if an error occurs in the try block. catch block is intended to catch the error and handle the exception condition. We can have multiple catch blocks to handle different types of exception and perform different actions when the exceptions occur. For example, we can display descriptive messages to explain why any particular excpetion occured. If you do not know the throw type used in the try block, you can use the "three dots" syntax (...) inside the catch block, which will handle any type of exception: There are some standard exceptions in C++ under <exception> which we can use in our programs. They are arranged in a parent-child class hierarchy which is depicted below: • std::exception - Parent class of all the standard C++ exceptions. • logic_error - Exception happens in the internal logical of a program. domain_error - Exception due to use of invalid domain. invalid argument - Exception due to invalid argument. out_of_range - Exception due to out of range i.e. size requirement exceeds allocation. length_error - Exception due to length error. • runtime_error - Exception happens during runtime. range_error - Exception due to range errors in internal computations. overflow_error - Exception due to arithmetic overflow errors. underflow_error - Exception due to arithmetic underflow errors. • bad_alloc - Exception happens when memory allocation with new() fails. • bad_cast - Exception happens when dynamic cast fails. • bad_exception - Exception is specially designed to be listed in the dynamic-exception-specifier. • bad_typeid - Exception thrown by typeid.

The pointer in C++ language is a variable, it is also known as locator or indicator that points to an address of a value. In C++, a pointer refers to a variable that holds the address of another variable. Like regular variables, pointers have a data type. For example, a pointer of type integer can hold the address of a variable of type integer. A pointer of character type can hold the address of a variable of character type. You should see a pointer as a symbolic representation of a memory address. With pointers, programs can simulate call-by-reference. They can also create and manipulate dynamic data structures. In C++, a pointer variable refers to a variable pointing to a specific address in a memory pointed by another variable. • Pointer reduces the code and improves the performance, it is used to retrieving strings, trees etc. and used with arrays, structures and functions. • We can return multiple values from function using pointer. • It makes you able to access any memory location in the computer's memory. Dynamic memory allocation: In c language, we can dynamically allocate memory using malloc() and calloc() functions where pointer is used. Arrays, Functions and Structures: Pointers in C language are widely used in arrays, functions and structures. It reduces the code and improves the performance. & (ampersand sign): Address operator - Determine the address of a variable. * (asterisk sign): Indirection operator - Access the value of an address. The pointer in C++ language can be declared using * (asterisk symbol).

A program shall contain a global function named main, which is the designated start of the program in hosted environment. main() function is the entry point of any C++ program. It is the point at which execution of program is started. When a C++ program is executed, the execution control goes directly to the main() function. Every C++ program have a main() function. void is a keyword in C++ language, void means nothing, whenever we use void as a function return type then that function nothing return. here main() function no return any value. main is a name of function which is predefined function in C++ library. In place of void we can also use int return type of main() function, at that time main() return integer type value. 1) It cannot be used anywhere in the program a) in particular, it cannot be called recursively b) its address cannot be taken 2) It cannot be predefined and cannot be overloaded: effectively, the name main in the global namespace is reserved for functions (although it can be used to name classes, namespaces, enumerations, and any entity in a non-global namespace, except that a function called "main" cannot be declared with C language linkage in any namespace). 3) It cannot be defined as deleted or (since C++11) declared with C language linkage, constexpr (since C++11), consteval (since C++20), inline, or static. 4) The body of the main function does not need to contain the return statement: if control reaches the end of main without encountering a return statement, the effect is that of executing return 0;. 5) Execution of the return (or the implicit return upon reaching the end of main) is equivalent to first leaving the function normally (which destroys the objects with automatic storage duration) and then calling std::exit with the same argument as the argument of the return. (std::exit then destroys static objects and terminates the program). 6) (since C++14) The return type of the main function cannot be deduced (auto main() {... is not allowed). 7) (since C++20) The main function cannot be a coroutine.

Consider a situation, when we have two persons with the same name, jhon, in the same class. Whenever we need to differentiate them definitely we would have to use some additional information along with their name, like either the area, if they live in different area or their mother's or father's name, etc. Same situation can arise in your C++ applications. For example, you might be writing some code that has a function called xyz() and there is another library available which is also having same function xyz(). Now the compiler has no way of knowing which version of xyz() function you are referring to within your code. A namespace is designed to overcome this difficulty and is used as additional information to differentiate similar functions, classes, variables etc. with the same name available in different libraries. Using namespace, you can define the context in which names are defined. In essence, a namespace defines a scope. A namespace definition begins with the keyword namespace followed by the namespace name as follows: To call the namespace-enabled version of either function or variable, prepend (::) the namespace name as follows: You can also avoid prepending of namespaces with the using namespace directive. This directive tells the compiler that the subsequent code is making use of names in the specified namespace. A namespace can be defined in several parts and so a namespace is made up of the sum of its separately defined parts. The separate parts of a namespace can be spread over multiple files. So, if one part of the namespace requires a name defined in another file, that name must still be declared. Writing a following namespace definition either defines a new namespace or adds new elements to an existing one: Namespaces can be nested where you can define one namespace inside another name space as follows: • Namespace is a feature added in C++ and not present in C. • A namespace is a declarative region that provides a scope to the identifiers (names of the types, function, variables etc) inside it. • Multiple namespace blocks with the same name are allowed. All declarations within those blocks are declared in the named scope. • Namespace declarations appear only at global scope. • Namespace declarations can be nested within another namespace. • Namespace declarations don't have access specifiers. (Public or private) • No need to give semicolon after the closing brace of definition of namespace. • We can split the definition of namespace over several units.

#include is a way of including a standard or user-defined file in the program and is mostly written at the beginning of any C/C++ program. This directive is read by the preprocessor and orders it to insert the content of a user-defined or system header file into the following program. These files are mainly imported from an outside source into the current program. The process of importing such files that might be system-defined or user-defined is known as File Inclusion. This type of preprocessor directive tells the compiler to include a file in the source code program. Including using " ": When using the double quotes(" "), the preprocessor access the current directory in which the source "header_file" is located. This type is mainly used to access any header files of the user's program or user-defined files. Including using <>: While importing file using angular brackets(<>), the the preprocessor uses a predetermined directory path to access the file. It is mainly used to access system header files located in the standard system directories. Header File or Standard files: This is a file which contains C/C++ function declarations and macro definitions to be shared between several source files. Functions like the printf(), scanf(), cout, cin and various other input-output or other standard functions are contained within different header files. So to utilise those functions, the users need to import a few header files which define the required functions. User-defined files: These files resembles the header files, except for the fact that they are written and defined by the user itself. This saves the user from writing a particular function multiple times. Once a user-defined file is written, it can be imported anywhere in the program using the #include preprocessor. • In #include directive, comments are not recognized. So in case of #include <a//b>, a//b is treated as filename. • In #include directive, backslash is considered as normal text not escape sequence. So in case of #include <a\nb>, a\nb is treated as filename. • You can use only comment after filename otherwise it will give error.

The cout is a predefined object of ostream class. It is connected with the standard output device, which is usually a display screen. The cout is used in conjunction with stream insertion operator (<<) to display the output on a console. On most program environments, the standard output by default is the screen, and the C++ stream object defined to access it is cout. The syntax of the cout object in C++: cout << var_name; Or cout << "Some String"; is the insertion operator is usually a variable, but can also be an array element or elements of containers like vectors, lists, maps, etc. The "c" in cout refers to "character" and "out" means "output". Hence cout means "character output". The cout object is used along with the insertion operator << in order to display a stream of characters. The << operator can be used more than once with a combination of variables, strings, and manipulators. cout is used for displaying data on the screen. The operator << called as insertion operator or put to operator. The Insertion operator can be overloaded. Insertion operator is similar to the printf() operation in C. cout is the object of ostream class. Data flow direction is from variable to output device. Multiple outputs can be displayed using cout.