Basic Structure & Syntax
Programming in C++ involves following a basic structure throughout. To understand
that basic structure, the first program we learned writing in C++ will be referred
to.
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
std::cout << "Hello World";
return 0;
}
Here’s what it can be broken down to.
Pre-processor commands/ Header files
It is common for C++ programs to include many built-in elements from the standard
C++ library, including classes, keywords, constants, operators, etc. It is
necessary to include an appropriate header file in a program in order to use such
pre-defined elements.
In the above program, #include <iostream> was the line put to include the header
file iostream. The iostream library helps us to get input data and show output
data. The iostream library also has many more uses and error facilities; it is not
only limited to input and output.
Header files are both system defined and user defined. To know more about header
files, go to the documentary here, https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/header.
Definition Section
Here, all the variables, or other user-defined data types are declared. These
variables are used throughout the program and all the functions.
Function Declaration
After the definition of all the other entities, here we declare all the functions a
program needs. These are generally user-defined.
Every program contains one main parent function which tells the compiler where to
start the execution of the program.
All the statements that are to be executed are written in the main function.
Only the instructions enclosed in curly braces {} are considered for execution by
the compiler.
After all instructions in the main function have been executed, control leaves the
main function and the program ends.
A C++ program is made up of different tokens combined. These tokens include:
Keywords
Identifiers
Constants
String Literal
Symbols & Operators
Keywords
Keywords are reserved words that can not be used elsewhere in the program for
naming a variable or a function. They have a specific function or task and they are
solely used for that. Their functionalities are pre-defined.
One such example of a keyword could be return which is used to build return
statements for functions. Other examples are auto, if, default, etc.
There is a list of reserved keywords which cannot be reused by the programmer or
overloaded. One can find the list here, https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/keyword.
Identifiers
Identifiers are names given to variables or functions to differentiate them from
one another. Their definitions are solely based on our choice but there are a few
rules that we have to follow while naming identifiers. One such rule says that the
name can not contain special symbols such as @, -, *, <, etc.
C++ is a case-sensitive language so an identifier containing a capital letter and
another one containing a small letter in the same place will be different. For
example, the three words: Code, code, and cOde can be used as three different
identifiers.
Constants
Constants are very similar to a variable and they can also be of any data type. The
only difference between a constant and a variable is that a constant’s value never
changes. We will see constants in more detail in the upcoming tutorials.
String Literal
String literals or string constants are a sequence of characters enclosed in double
quotation marks. Escape sequences are also string literals.
Symbols and Operators
Symbols are special characters reserved to perform certain actions. Using them lets
the compiler know what specific tasks should be performed on the given data.
Several examples of symbols are arithmetical operators such as +, *, or bitwise
operators such as ^, &.
