C++ Programming Code Examples

In computer programming, we use the if statement to run a block code only when a certain condition is met. An if statement can be followed by an optional else statement, which executes when the boolean expression is false. There are three forms of if...else statements in C++: • if statement, • if...else statement, • if...else if...else statement, The if statement evaluates the condition inside the parentheses ( ). If the condition evaluates to true, the code inside the body of if is executed. If the condition evaluates to false, the code inside the body of if is skipped. The if..else statement evaluates the condition inside the parenthesis. If the condition evaluates true, the code inside the body of if is executed, the code inside the body of else is skipped from execution. If the condition evaluates false, the code inside the body of else is executed, the code inside the body of if is skipped from execution. The if...else statement is used to execute a block of code among two alternatives. However, if we need to make a choice between more than two alternatives, we use the if...else if...else statement. • If condition1 evaluates to true, the code block 1 is executed. • If condition1 evaluates to false, then condition2 is evaluated. • If condition2 is true, the code block 2 is executed. • If condition2 is false, the code block 3 is executed. There can be more than one else if statement but only one if and else statements. In C/C++ if-else-if ladder helps user decide from among multiple options. The C/C++ if statements are executed from the top down. As soon as one of the conditions controlling the if is true, the statement associated with that if is executed, and the rest of the C else-if ladder is bypassed. If none of the conditions is true, then the final else statement will be executed. Working of the if-else-if ladder: 1. Control falls into the if block. 2. The flow jumps to Condition 1. 3. Condition is tested. If Condition yields true, goto Step 4. If Condition yields false, goto Step 5. 4. The present block is executed. Goto Step 7. 5. The flow jumps to Condition 2. If Condition yields true, goto step 4. If Condition yields false, goto Step 6. 6. The flow jumps to Condition 3. If Condition yields true, goto step 4. If Condition yields false, execute else block. Goto Step 7. 7. Exits the if-else-if ladder. • The if else ladder statement in C++ programming language is used to check set of conditions in sequence. • This is useful when we want to selectively executes one code block(out of many) based on certain conditions. • It allows us to check for multiple condition expressions and execute different code blocks for more than two conditions. • A condition expression is tested only when all previous if conditions in if-else ladder is false. • If any of the conditional expression evaluates to true, then it will execute the corresponding code block and exits whole if-else ladder.

Add element at the end. Adds a new element at the end of the list container, after its current last element. The content of val is copied (or moved) to the new element. This effectively increases the container size by one. The list:push_back() function in C++ STL is used to add a new element to an existing list container. It takes the element to be added as a parameter and adds it to the list container. Value to be copied (or moved) to the new element. Member type value_type is the type of the elements in the container, defined in list as an alias of its first template parameter (T). This function accepts a single parameter which is mandatory value. This refers to the element needed to be added to the list, list_name. This function does not return any value. The storage for the new elements is allocated using the container's allocator, which may throw exceptions on failure (for the default allocator, bad_alloc is thrown if the allocation request does not succeed). Constant No changes The container is modified. No existing contained elements are accessed: concurrently accessing or modifying them is safe. Strong guarantee: if an exception is thrown, there are no changes in the container. If allocator_traits::construct is not supported with val as argument, it causes undefined behavior.

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.

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.

Insert element. Inserts a new element at the top of the stack, above its current top element. The content of this new element is initialized to a copy of val. This member function effectively calls the member function push_back of the underlying container object. C++ Stack push () function is used for adding new elements at the top of the stack. If we have an array of type stack and by using the push() function we can insert new elements in the stack. The elements are inserted at the top of the stack. The element which is inserted most initially is deleted at the end and vice versa as stacks follow LIFO principle. Value to which the inserted element is initialized. Member type value_type is the type of the elements in the container (defined as an alias of the first class template parameter, T). The function only inserts element and does not return any value. The return type of the function can be thought as void. One call to push_back on the underlying container. The container and up to all its contained elements are modified. Provides the same level of guarantees as the operation performed on the underlying container object.

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).

LIFO stack. Stacks are a type of container adaptor, specifically designed to operate in a LIFO context (last-in first-out), where elements are inserted and extracted only from one end of the container. stacks are implemented as container adaptors, which are classes that use an encapsulated object of a specific container class as its underlying container, providing a specific set of member functions to access its elements. Elements are pushed/popped from the "back" of the specific container, which is known as the top of the stack. Type of the elements. Aliased as member type stack::value_type. Type of the internal underlying container object where the elements are stored. Its value_type shall be T. Aliased as member type stack::container_type. value_type The first template parameter (T) Type of the elements container_type The second template parameter (Container) Type of the underlying container reference container_type::reference usually, value_type& const_reference container_type::const_reference usually, const value_type& size_type an unsigned integral type usually, the same as size_t (constructor) Construct stack (public member function ) stack::emplace: Constructs and inserts new element at the top of stack. stack::empty: Tests whether stack is empty or not. stack::operator= copy version: Assigns new contents to the stack by replacing old ones. stack::operator= move version: Assigns new contents to the stack by replacing old ones. stack::pop: Removes top element from the stack. stack::push copy version: Inserts new element at the top of the stack. stack::push move version: Inserts new element at the top of the stack. stack::size: Returns the total number of elements present in the stack. stack::swap: Exchanges the contents of stack with contents of another stack. stack::top: Returns a reference to the topmost element of the stack. relational operators Relational operators for stack (function ) swap (stack) Exchange contents of stacks (public member function ) operator==: Tests whether two stacks are equal or not. operator!=: Tests whether two stacks are equal or not. operator<: Tests whether first stack is less than other or not. operator<=: Tests whether first stack is less than or equal to other or not. operator>: Tests whether first stack is greater than other or not. operator>=: Tests whether first stack is greater than or equal to other or not. uses_allocator<stack> Uses allocator for stack (class template ) The standard container classes vector, deque and list fulfill these requirements. By default, if no container class is specified for a particular stack class instantiation, the standard container deque is used. Stack is a data structure designed to operate in LIFO (Last in First out) context. In stack elements are inserted as well as get removed from only one end. Stack class is container adapter. Container is an objects that hold data of same type. Stack can be created from different sequence containers. If container is not provided it uses default deque container. Container adapters do not support iterators therefore we cannot use them for data manipulation. However they support push() and pop() member functions for data insertion and removal respectively.

Return iterator to beginning. Returns an iterator pointing to the first element in the list container. Notice that, unlike member list::front, which returns a reference to the first element, this function returns a bidirectional iterator pointing to it. If the container is empty, the returned iterator value shall not be dereferenced. begin() function is used to return an iterator pointing to the first element of the list container. It is different from the front() function because the front function returns a reference to the first element of the container but begin() function returns a bidirectional iterator to the first element of the container. This function does not accept any parameter. Function returns an iterator to the beginning of the sequence container. If the list object is const-qualified, the function returns a const_iterator. Otherwise, it returns an iterator. Member types iterator and const_iterator are bidirectional iterator types (pointing to an element and to a const element, respectively). If list object is constant qualified then method returns constant random access iterator otherwise non constant random access iterator. Constant No changes The container is accessed (neither the const nor the non-const versions modify the container). No contained elements are accessed by the call, but the iterator returned can be used to access or modify elements. Concurrently accessing or modifying different elements is safe. No-throw guarantee: this member function never throws exceptions. The copy construction or assignment of the returned iterator is also guaranteed to never throw.

C supports nesting of loops in C. Nesting of loops is the feature in C that allows the looping of statements inside another loop. Any number of loops can be defined inside another loop, i.e., there is no restriction for defining any number of loops. The nesting level can be defined at n times. You can define any type of loop inside another loop; for example, you can define 'while' loop inside a 'for' loop. A loop inside another loop is called a nested loop. The depth of nested loop depends on the complexity of a problem. We can have any number of nested loops as required. Consider a nested loop where the outer loop runs n times and consists of another loop inside it. The inner loop runs m times. Then, the total number of times the inner loop runs during the program execution is n*m. Outer_loop and Inner_loop are the valid loops that can be a 'for' loop, 'while' loop or 'do-while' loop.

Allocate storage space. Default allocation functions (single-object form). A new operator is used to create the object while a delete operator is used to delete the object. When the object is created by using the new operator, then the object will exist until we explicitly use the delete operator to delete the object. Therefore, we can say that the lifetime of the object is not related to the block structure of the program. Size in bytes of the requested memory block. This is the size of the type specifier in the new-expression when called automatically by such an expression. If this argument is zero, the function still returns a distinct non-null pointer on success (although dereferencing this pointer leads to undefined behavior). size_t is an integral type. The constant nothrow. This parameter is only used to distinguish it from the first version with an overloaded version. When the nothrow constant is passed as second parameter to operator new, operator new returns a null-pointer on failure instead of throwing a bad_alloc exception. nothrow_t is the type of constant nothrow. A pointer to an already-allocated memory block of the proper size. If called by a new-expression, the object is initialized (or constructed) at this location. For the first and second versions, function returns a pointer to the newly allocated storage space. For the third version, ptr is returned. • (1) throwing allocation: Allocates size bytes of storage, suitably aligned to represent any object of that size, and returns a non-null pointer to the first byte of this block. On failure, it throws a bad_alloc exception. • (2) nothrow allocation: Same as above (1), except that on failure it returns a null pointer instead of throwing an exception. The default definition allocates memory by calling the the first version: ::operator new (size). If replaced, both the first and second versions shall return pointers with identical properties. • (3) placement: Simply returns ptr (no storage is allocated). Notice though that, if the function is called by a new-expression, the proper initialization will be performed (for class objects, this includes calling its default constructor). The default allocation and deallocation functions are special components of the standard library; They have the following unique properties: • Global: All three versions of operator new are declared in the global namespace, not within the std namespace. • Implicit: The allocating versions ((1) and (2)) are implicitly declared in every translation unit of a C++ program, no matter whether header <new> is included or not. • Replaceable: The allocating versions ((1) and (2)) are also replaceable: A program may provide its own definition that replaces the one provided by default to produce the result described above, or can overload it for specific types. If set_new_handler has been used to define a new_handler function, this new-handler function is called by the default definitions of the allocating versions ((1) and (2)) if they fail to allocate the requested storage. operator new can be called explicitly as a regular function, but in C++, new is an operator with a very specific behavior: An expression with the new operator, first calls function operator new (i.e., this function) with the size of its type specifier as first argument, and if this is successful, it then automatically initializes or constructs the object (if needed). Finally, the expression evaluates as a pointer to the appropriate type. Modifies the storage referenced by the returned value. Calls to allocation and deallocation functions that reuse the same unit of storage shall occur in a single total order where each deallocation happens entirely before the next allocation. This shall also apply to the observable behavior of custom replacements for this function. The first version (1) throws bad_alloc if it fails to allocate storage. Otherwise, it throws no exceptions (no-throw guarantee).

List is a popularly used sequence container. Container is an object that holds data of same type. List container is implemented as doubly linked-list, hence it provides bidirectional sequential access to it's data. List doesn't provide fast random access, it only supports sequential access in both directions. List allows insertion and deletion operation anywhere within a sequence in constant time. Elements of list can be scattered in different chunks of memory. Container stores necessary information to allow sequential access to it's data. Lists can shrink or expand as needed from both ends at run time. The storage requirement is fulfilled automatically by internal allocator. Zero sized lists are also valid. In that case list.begin() and list.end() points to same location. But behavior of calling front() or back() is undefined. To define the std::list, we have to import the <list> header file. Defines the type of element contained. You can substitute T by any data type, even user-defined types. Defines the type of the allocator object. This uses the allocator class template by default. It's value-dependent and uses a simple memory allocation model. • List is a contiguous container while vector is a non-contiguous container i.e list stores the elements on a contiguous memory and vector stores on a non-contiguous memory. • Insertion and deletion in the middle of the vector is very costly as it takes lot of time in shifting all the elements. Linklist overcome this problem and it is implemented using list container. • List supports a bidirectional and provides an efficient way for insertion and deletion operations. • Traversal is slow in list as list elements are accessed sequentially while vector supports a random access. Following member types can be used as parameters or return type by member functions: • value_type T (First parameter of the template) • allocator_type Alloc (Second parameter of the template) • reference value_type& • const_reference const value_type& • pointer value_type* • const_pointer const value_type* • iterator a random access iterator to value_type • const_iterator a random access iterator to const value_type • reverse_iterator std::reverse_iterator <iterator> • const_reverse_iterator std::reverse_iterator <const_iterator> • size_type size_t • difference_type ptrdiff_t C++ List Member Functions • insert(): It inserts the new element before the position pointed by the iterator. • push_back(): It adds a new element at the end of the vector. • push_front(): It adds a new element to the front. • pop_back(): It deletes the last element. • pop_front(): It deletes the first element. • empty(): It checks whether the list is empty or not. • size(): It finds the number of elements present in the list. • max_size(): It finds the maximum size of the list. • front(): It returns the first element of the list. • back(): It returns the last element of the list. • swap(): It swaps two list when the type of both the list are same. • reverse(): It reverses the elements of the list. • sort(): It sorts the elements of the list in an increasing order. • merge(): It merges the two sorted list. • splice(): It inserts a new list into the invoking list. • unique(): It removes all the duplicate elements from the list. • resize(): It changes the size of the list container. • assign(): It assigns a new element to the list container. • emplace(): It inserts a new element at a specified position. • emplace_back(): It inserts a new element at the end of the vector. • emplace_front(): It inserts a new element at the beginning of the list. Non-member overloaded functions operator== Tests whether two lists are equal or not. 2 operator!= Tests whether two lists are equal or not. 3 operator< Tests whether first list is less than other or not. 4 operator<= Tests whether first list is less than or equal to other or not. 5 operator> Tests whether first list is greater than other or not. 6 operator>= Tests whether first list is greater than or equal to other or not. 7 swap Exchanges the contents of two list.

An array is defined as the collection of similar type of data items stored at contiguous memory locations. Arrays are the derived data type in C++ programming language which can store the primitive type of data such as int, char, double, float, etc. It also has the capability to store the collection of derived data types, such as pointers, structure, etc. The array is the simplest data structure where each data element can be randomly accessed by using its index number. C++ array is beneficial if you have to store similar elements. For example, if we want to store the marks of a student in 6 subjects, then we don't need to define different variables for the marks in the different subject. Instead of that, we can define an array which can store the marks in each subject at the contiguous memory locations. By using the array, we can access the elements easily. Only a few lines of code are required to access the elements of the array. The array contains the following properties. • Each element of an array is of same data type and carries the same size, i.e., int = 4 bytes. • Elements of the array are stored at contiguous memory locations where the first element is stored at the smallest memory location. • Elements of the array can be randomly accessed since we can calculate the address of each element of the array with the given base address and the size of the data element. • 1) Code Optimization: Less code to the access the data. • 2) Ease of traversing: By using the for loop, we can retrieve the elements of an array easily. • 3) Ease of sorting: To sort the elements of the array, we need a few lines of code only. • 4) Random Access: We can access any element randomly using the array. • 1) Allows a fixed number of elements to be entered which is decided at the time of declaration. Unlike a linked list, an array in C++ is not dynamic. • 2) Insertion and deletion of elements can be costly since the elements are needed to be managed in accordance with the new memory allocation. To declare an array in C++, a programmer specifies the type of the elements and the number of elements required by an array as follows This is called a single-dimensional array. The arraySize must be an integer constant greater than zero and type can be any valid C++ data type. For example, to declare a 10-element array called balance of type double, use this statement Here balance is a variable array which is sufficient to hold up to 10 double numbers. You can initialize an array in C++ either one by one or using a single statement as follows The number of values between braces { } cannot be larger than the number of elements that we declare for the array between square brackets [ ]. If you omit the size of the array, an array just big enough to hold the initialization is created. Therefore, if you write An element is accessed by indexing the array name. This is done by placing the index of the element within square brackets after the name of the array. The above statement will take the 10^th element from the array and assign the value to salary variable.

Iterators are just like pointers used to access the container elements. Iterators are one of the four pillars of the Standard Template Library or STL in C++. An iterator is used to point to the memory address of the STL container classes. For better understanding, you can relate them with a pointer, to some extent. Iterators act as a bridge that connects algorithms to STL containers and allows the modifications of the data present inside the container. They allow you to iterate over the container, access and assign the values, and run different operators over them, to get the desired result. • Iterators are used to traverse from one element to another element, a process is known as iterating through the container. • The main advantage of an iterator is to provide a common interface for all the containers type. • Iterators make the algorithm independent of the type of the container used. • Iterators provide a generic approach to navigate through the elements of a container. Operator (*) : The '*' operator returns the element of the current position pointed by the iterator. Operator (++) : The '++' operator increments the iterator by one. Therefore, an iterator points to the next element of the container. Operator (==) and Operator (!=) : Both these operators determine whether the two iterators point to the same position or not. Operator (=) : The '=' operator assigns the iterator. Iterators can be smart pointers which allow to iterate over the complex data structures. A Container provides its iterator type. Therefore, we can say that the iterators have the common interface with different container type. The container classes provide two basic member functions that allow to iterate or move through the elements of a container: begin(): The begin() function returns an iterator pointing to the first element of the container. end(): The end() function returns an iterator pointing to the past-the-last element of the container. Input Iterator: An input iterator is an iterator used to access the elements from the container, but it does not modify the value of a container. Operators used for an input iterator are: Increment operator(++), Equal operator(==), Not equal operator(!=), Dereference operator(*). Output Iterator: An output iterator is an iterator used to modify the value of a container, but it does not read the value from a container. Therefore, we can say that an output iterator is a write-only iterator. Operators used for an output iterator are: Increment operator(++), Assignment operator(=). Forward Iterator: A forward iterator is an iterator used to read and write to a container. It is a multi-pass iterator. Operators used for a Forward iterator are: Increment operator(++), Assignment operator(=), Equal operator(=), Not equal operator(!=). Bidirectional iterator: A bidirectional iterator is an iterator supports all the features of a forward iterator plus it adds one more feature, i.e., decrement operator(--). We can move backward by decrementing an iterator. Operators used for a Bidirectional iterator are: Increment operator(++), Assignment operator(=), Equal operator(=), Not equal operator(!=), Decrement operator(--). Random Access Iterator: A Random Access iterator is an iterator provides random access of an element at an arbitrary location. It has all the features of a bidirectional iterator plus it adds one more feature, i.e., pointer addition and pointer subtraction to provide random access to an element. Following are the disadvantages of an iterator: • If we want to move from one data structure to another at the same time, iterators won't work. • If we want to update the structure which is being iterated, an iterator won?t allow us to do because of the way it stores the position. • If we want to backtrack while processing through a list, the iterator will not work in this case. Following are the advantages of an iterator: • Ease in programming: It is convenient to use iterators rather than using a subscript operator[] to access the elements of a container. If we use subscript operator[] to access the elements, then we need to keep the track of the number of elements added at the runtime, but this would not happen in the case of an iterator. • Code Reusability: A code can be reused if we use iterators. In the above example, if we replace vector with the list, and then the subscript operator[] would not work to access the elements as the list does not support the random access. However, we use iterators to access the elements, then we can also access the list elements. • Dynamic Processing: C++ iterators provide the facility to add or delete the data dynamically.

Test whether container is empty. Returns whether the stack is empty: i.e. whether its size is zero. stack::empty() function is an inbuilt function in C++ STL, which is defined in <stack>header file. empty() is used to check whether the associated container is empty or not and return true or false accordingly. This member function effectively calls member empty of the underlying container object. No parameter passed. Function returns true if the underlying container's size is 0, false otherwise. Constant (calling empty on the underlying container). The container is accessed Provides the same level of guarantees as the operation performed on the container (no-throw guarantee for standard container types).

Remove top element. Removes the element on top of the stack, effectively reducing its size by one. The C++ function std::stack::pop() removes top element from the stack and reduces size of stack by one. This function calls destructor on removed element. The element removed is the latest element inserted into the stack, whose value can be retrieved by calling member stack::top. This calls the removed element's destructor. This member function effectively calls the member function pop_back of the underlying container object. The function takes no parameter and is used only for the deletion of the top element. Also since the stack follows LIFO principle we do not need to specify which element is to be deleted as it is by default understood that the top most element will be removed first. The function is used only for the removal of elements from the stack and has no return value. Hence we can say that the return type of the function is void. Constant (calling pop_back on the underlying container). The container and up to all its contained elements are modified. Provides the same level of guarantees as the operation performed on the underlying container object.

Access next element. Returns a reference to the top element in the stack. stack::top() function is an inbuilt function in C++ STL, which is defined in <stack> header file. top() is used to access the element at the top of the stack container. In a stack, the top element is the element that is inserted at the last or most recently inserted element. Since stacks are last-in first-out containers, the top element is the last element inserted into the stack. This member function effectively calls member back of the underlying container object. No parameter is required. Function returns a reference to the top element in the stack. Constant (calling back on the underlying container). The container is accessed (neither the const nor the non-const versions modify the container). The reference returned can be used to access or modify the top element. Provides the same level of guarantees as the operation performed on the container (no-throw guarantee for standard non-empty containers).

Return iterator to end. Returns an iterator referring to the past-the-end element in the list container. The past-the-end element is the theoretical element that would follow the last element in the list container. It does not point to any element, and thus shall not be dereferenced. Because the ranges used by functions of the standard library do not include the element pointed by their closing iterator, this function is often used in combination with list::begin to specify a range including all the elements in the container. If the container is empty, this function returns the same as list::begin. This function does not accept any parameter. Function returns an iterator to the element past the end of the sequence. If the list object is const-qualified, the function returns a const_iterator. Otherwise, it returns an iterator. Member types iterator and const_iterator are bidirectional iterator types (pointing to an element and to a const element, respectively). The list::end() is a built-in function in C++ STL which is used to get an iterator to past the last element. By past the last element it is meant that the iterator returned by the end() function return an iterator to an element which follows the last element in the list container. It can not be used to modify the element or the list container. Constant No changes The container is accessed (neither the const nor the non-const versions modify the container). No contained elements are accessed by the call, but the iterator returned can be used to access or modify elements. Concurrently accessing or modifying different elements is safe. No-throw guarantee: this member function never throws exceptions. The copy construction or assignment of the returned iterator is also guaranteed to never throw.

In computer programming, loops are used to repeat a block of code. For example, when you are displaying number from 1 to 100 you may want set the value of a variable to 1 and display it 100 times, increasing its value by 1 on each loop iteration. When you know exactly how many times you want to loop through a block of code, use the for loop instead of a while loop. A for loop is a repetition control structure that allows you to efficiently write a loop that needs to execute a specific number of times. initializes variables and is executed only once. if true, the body of for loop is executed, if false, the for loop is terminated. updates the value of initialized variables and again checks the condition. A new range-based for loop was introduced to work with collections such as arrays and vectors.

In while loop, condition is evaluated first and if it returns true then the statements inside while loop execute, this happens repeatedly until the condition returns false. When condition returns false, the control comes out of loop and jumps to the next statement in the program after while loop. The important point to note when using while loop is that we need to use increment or decrement statement inside while loop so that the loop variable gets changed on each iteration, and at some point condition returns false. This way we can end the execution of while loop otherwise the loop would execute indefinitely. A while loop that never stops is said to be the infinite while loop, when we give the condition in such a way so that it never returns false, then the loops becomes infinite and repeats itself indefinitely. • A while loop evaluates the condition • If the condition evaluates to true, the code inside the while loop is executed. • The condition is evaluated again. • This process continues until the condition is false. • When the condition evaluates to false, the loop terminates. Do not forget to increase the variable used in the condition, otherwise the loop will never end!

#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.

Every object in C++ has access to its own address through an important pointer called this pointer. The this pointer is an implicit parameter to all member functions. Therefore, inside a member function, this may be used to refer to the invoking object. Friend functions do not have a this pointer, because friends are not members of a class. Only member functions have a this pointer. In C++ programming, this is a keyword that refers to the current instance of the class. There can be 3 main usage of this keyword in C++: • It can be used to pass current object as a parameter to another method. • It can be used to refer current class instance variable. • It can be used to declare indexers. To understand 'this' pointer, it is important to know how objects look at functions and data members of a class. • Each object gets its own copy of the data member. • All-access the same function definition as present in the code segment. Meaning each object gets its own copy of data members and all objects share a single copy of member functions. Then now question is that if only one copy of each member function exists and is used by multiple objects, how are the proper data members are accessed and updated? The compiler supplies an implicit pointer along with the names of the functions as 'this'. The 'this' pointer is passed as a hidden argument to all nonstatic member function calls and is available as a local variable within the body of all nonstatic functions. 'this' pointer is not available in static member functions as static member functions can be called without any object (with class name). For a class X, the type of this pointer is 'X* '. Also, if a member function of X is declared as const, then the type of this pointer is 'const X *'