C++ Programming Code Examples

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).

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 return statement ends the processing of the current function and returns control to the caller of the function. A value-returning function should include a return statement, containing an expression. If an expression is not given on a return statement in a function declared with a non-void return type, the compiler issues an error message. If the data type of the expression is different from the function return type, conversion of the return value takes place as if the value of the expression were assigned to an object with the same function return type. For a function of return type void, a return statement is not strictly necessary. If the end of such a function is reached without encountering a return statement, control is passed to the caller as if a return statement without an expression were encountered. In other words, an implicit return takes place upon completion of the final statement, and control automatically returns to the calling function. If a return statement is used, it must not contain an expression. The following are examples of return statements:

As the name already suggests, these operators help in assigning values to variables. These operators help us in allocating a particular value to the operands. The main simple assignment operator is '='. We have to be sure that both the left and right sides of the operator must have the same data type. We have different levels of operators. Assignment operators are used to assign the value, variable and function to another variable. Assignment operators in C are some of the C Programming Operator, which are useful to assign the values to the declared variables. Let's discuss the various types of the assignment operators such as =, +=, -=, /=, *= and %=. The following table lists the assignment operators supported by the C language: Simple assignment operator. Assigns values from right side operands to left side operand Add AND assignment operator. It adds the right operand to the left operand and assign the result to the left operand. Subtract AND assignment operator. It subtracts the right operand from the left operand and assigns the result to the left operand. Multiply AND assignment operator. It multiplies the right operand with the left operand and assigns the result to the left operand. Divide AND assignment operator. It divides the left operand with the right operand and assigns the result to the left operand. Modulus AND assignment operator. It takes modulus using two operands and assigns the result to the left operand. Left shift AND assignment operator. Right shift AND assignment operator. Bitwise AND assignment operator. Bitwise exclusive OR and assignment operator. Bitwise inclusive OR and assignment operator.

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.

The cin object is used to accept input from the standard input device i.e. keyboard. It is defined in the iostream header file. C++ cin statement is the instance of the class istream and is used to read input from the standard input device which is usually a keyboard. The extraction operator(>>) is used along with the object cin for reading inputs. The extraction operator extracts the data from the object cin which is entered using the keyboard. is the extraction operator. is usually a variable, but can also be an element of containers like arrays, vectors, lists, etc. The "c" in cin refers to "character" and "in" means "input". Hence cin means "character input". The cin object is used along with the extraction operator >> in order to receive a stream of characters. The >> operator can also be used more than once in the same statement to accept multiple inputs. The cin object can also be used with other member functions such as getline(), read(), etc. Some of the commonly used member functions are: • cin.get(char &ch): Reads an input character and stores it in ch. • cin.getline(char *buffer, int length): Reads a stream of characters into the string buffer, It stops when: it has read length-1 characters or when it finds an end-of-line character '\n' or the end of the file eof. • cin.read(char *buffer, int n): Reads n bytes (or until the end of the file) from the stream into the buffer. • cin.ignore(int n): Ignores the next n characters from the input stream. • cin.eof(): Returns a non-zero value if the end of file (eof) is reached. The prototype of cin as defined in the iostream header file is: extern istream cin; The cin object in C++ is an object of class istream. It is associated with the standard C input stream stdin. The cin object is ensured to be initialized during or before the first time an object of type ios_base::Init is constructed. After the cin object is constructed, cin.tie() returns &cout. This means that any formatted input operation on cin forces a call to cout.flush() if any characters are pending for output.

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.

#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.

Arithmetic Operator is used to performing mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, modulus, etc., on the given operands. For example: 6 + 3 = 9, 5 - 3 = 2, 3 * 4 = 12, etc. are the examples of arithmetic operators. Let's discuss the different types of Arithmetic Operators in the C programming. Plus Operator is a simple Plus (+) Operator used to add two given operands. We can use Plus Operator with different data types such as integer, float, long, double, enumerated and string type data to add the given operand. The minus operator is denoted by the minus (-) symbol. It is used to return the subtraction of the first number from the second number. The data type of the given number can be different types, such as int, float, double, long double, etc., in the programing language. The multiplication operator is represented as an asterisk (*) symbol, and it is used to return the product of n1 and n2 numbers. The data type of the given number can be different types such as int, float, and double in the C programing language. The division operator is an arithmetic operator that divides the first (n1) by the second (n2) number. Using division operator (/), we can divide the int, float, double and long data types variables. The modulus operator is represented by the percentage sign (%), and it is used to return the remainder by dividing the first number by the second number. Increment Operator is the type of Arithmetic operator, which is denoted by double plus (++) operator. It is used to increase the integer value by 1. Decrement Operator is denoted by the double minus (--) symbol, which decreases the operand value by 1.