C++ Interview Questions

A list of top frequently asked C++ interview questions and answers are given below.

1) What is C++?
C++ is an object-oriented programming language created by Bjarne Stroustrup. It was
released in 1985.

C++ is a superset of C with the major addition of classes in C language.

Initially, Stroustrup called the new language "C with classes". However, after sometime
the name was changed to C++. The idea of C++ comes from the C increment operator
++.

2) What are the advantages of C++?

C++ doesn't only maintains all aspects from C language, it also simplifies memory
management and adds several features like:

o C++ is a highly portable language means that the software developed using C++
language can run on any platform.
o C++ is an object-oriented programming language which includes the concepts
such as classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction.
o C++ has the concept of inheritance. Through inheritance, one can eliminate the
redundant code and can reuse the existing classes.
o Data hiding helps the programmer to build secure programs so that the program
cannot be attacked by the invaders.
o Message passing is a technique used for communication between the objects.
o C++ contains a rich function library.

3) What is the difference between C and C++?

Following are the differences between C and C++:

C C++

C language was developed by Dennis Ritchie. C++ language was developed

 C is a structured programming language. C++ supports both structural
language.

C is a subset of C++. C++ is a superset of C.

In C language, data and functions are the free entities. In the C++ language, both da
together in the form of a proj

C does not support the data hiding. Therefore, the data can be C++ supports data hiding. Th
used by the outside world. the outside world.

C supports neither function nor operator overloading. C++ supports both function a

In C, the function cannot be implemented inside the structures. In the C++, the function can

Reference variables are not supported in C language. C++ supports the reference v

C language does not support the virtual and friend functions. C++ supports both virtual an

In C, scanf() and printf() are mainly used for input/output. C++ mainly uses stream cin a
operations.

4) What is the difference between reference and pointer?

Following are the differences between reference and pointer:

Reference Pointer

Reference behaves like an alias for an existing variable, i.e., it is a The pointer is a va
temporary variable. variable.

Reference variable does not require any indirection operator to access the Pointer variable req
value. A reference variable can be used directly to access the value. the value of a varia

Once the reference variable is assigned, then it cannot be reassigned with The pointer variabl
different address values. it can be reassigne

A null value cannot be assigned to the reference variable. A null value can be

It is necessary to initialize the variable at the time of declaration. It is not necessary

declaration.
 5) What is a class?
The class is a user-defined data type. The class is declared with the keyword class. The
class contains the data members, and member functions whose access is defined by the
three modifiers are private, public and protected. The class defines the type definition of
the category of things. It defines a datatype, but it does not define the data it just
specifies the structure of data.

You can create N number of objects from a class.

6) What are the various OOPs concepts in C++?

The various OOPS concepts in C++ are:

o Class:

The class is a user-defined data type which defines its properties and its functions. For
example, Human being is a class. The body parts of a human being are its properties,
and the actions performed by the body parts are known as functions. The class does not
occupy any memory space. Therefore, we can say that the class is the only logical
representation of the data.

The syntax of declaring the class:

1. class student
2. {
3. //data members;
4. //Member functions
5. }
 o Object:

An object is a run-time entity. An object is the instance of the class. An object can
represent a person, place or any other item. An object can operate on both data
members and member functions. The class does not occupy any memory space. When
an object is created using a new keyword, then space is allocated for the variable in a
heap, and the starting address is stored in the stack memory. When an object is created
without a new keyword, then space is not allocated in the heap memory, and the object
contains the null value in the stack.

1. class Student
2. {
3. //data members;
4. //Member functions
5. }

The syntax for declaring the object:

1. Student s = new Student();

o Inheritance:

Inheritance provides reusability. Reusability means that one can use the functionalities
of the existing class. It eliminates the redundancy of code. Inheritance is a technique of
deriving a new class from the old class. The old class is known as the base class, and the
new class is known as derived class.

Syntax

1. class derived_class :: visibility-mode base_class;

Note: The visibility-mode can be public, private, protected.

o Encapsulation:

Encapsulation is a technique of wrapping the data members and member functions in a

single unit. It binds the data within a class, and no outside method can access the data.
If the data member is private, then the member function can only access the data.

o Abstraction:

Abstraction is a technique of showing only essential details without representing the

implementation details. If the members are defined with a public keyword, then the
members are accessible outside also. If the members are defined with a private
keyword, then the members are not accessible by the outside methods.

o Data binding:
 Data binding is a process of binding the application UI and business logic. Any change
made in the business logic will reflect directly to the application UI.

o Polymorphism:

Polymorphism means multiple forms. Polymorphism means having more than one
function with the same name but with different functionalities. Polymorphism is of two
types:

1. Static polymorphism is also known as early binding.

2. Dynamic polymorphism is also known as late binding.

7) What are the different types of polymorphism in C++?

Polymorphism: Polymorphism means multiple forms. It means having more than one
function with the same function name but with different functionalities.

Polymorphism is of two types:

o Runtime polymorphism

Runtime polymorphism is also known as dynamic polymorphism. Function overriding is

an example of runtime polymorphism. Function overriding means when the child class
contains the method which is already present in the parent class. Hence, the child class
overrides the method of the parent class. In case of function overriding, parent and child
class both contains the same function with the different definition. The call to the
function is determined at runtime is known as runtime polymorphism.

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. class Base
4. {
5. public:
6. virtual void show()
7. {
8. cout<<"javaTpoint";
9. }
10. };
11. class Derived:public Base
12. {
13. public:
14. void show()
15. {
16. cout<<"javaTpoint tutorial";
17. }
18. };
19.
20. int main()
21. {
22. Base* b;
23. Derived d;
24. b=&d;
25. b->show();
26. return 0;
27. }

Output:

javaTpoint tutorial
o Compile time polymorphism

Compile-time polymorphism is also known as static polymorphism. The polymorphism

which is implemented at the compile time is known as compile-time polymorphism.
Method overloading is an example of compile-time polymorphism.

Method overloading: Method overloading is a technique which allows you to have more
than one function with the same function name but with different functionality.

Method overloading can be possible on the following basis:

o The return type of the overloaded function.

o The type of the parameters passed to the function.
o The number of parameters passed to the function.

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. class Multiply
4. {
5. public:
6. int mul(int a,int b)
7. {
8. return(a*b);
9. }
10. int mul(int a,int b,int c)
11. {
12. return(a*b*c);
13. }
14. };
15. int main()
16. {
17. Multiply multi;
18. int res1,res2;
19. res1=multi.mul(2,3);
20. res2=multi.mul(2,3,4);
21. cout<<"\n";
22. cout<<res1;
23. cout<<"\n";
24. cout<<res2;
25. return 0;
26. }

Output:

6
24
o In the above example, mul() is an overloaded function with the different number
of parameters.

8) Define namespace in C++.

o The namespace is a logical division of the code which is designed to stop the
naming conflict.
o The namespace defines the scope where the identifiers such as variables, class,
functions are declared.
o The main purpose of using namespace in C++ is to remove the ambiguity.
Ambiquity occurs when the different task occurs with the same name.
 o For example: if there are two functions exist with the same name such as add().
In order to prevent this ambiguity, the namespace is used. Functions are declared
in different namespaces.
o C++ consists of a standard namespace, i.e., std which contains inbuilt classes
and functions. So, by using the statement "using namespace std;" includes the
namespace "std" in our program.
o Syntax of namespace:

1. namespace namespace_name
2. {
3. //body of namespace;
4. }

Syntax of accessing the namespace variable:

1. namespace_name::member_name;

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. namespace addition
4. {
5. int a=5;
6. int b=5;
7. int add()
8. {
9. return(a+b);
10. }
11. }
12.
13. int main() {
14. int result;
15. result=addition::add();
16. cout<<result;
17. return 0;
18. }

Output:

10

9) Define token in C++.

A token in C++ can be a keyword, identifier, literal, constant and symbol.
 10) Who was the creator of C++?
Bjarne Stroustrup.

11) Which operations are permitted on pointers?

Following are the operations that can be performed on pointers:

o Incrementing or decrementing a pointer: Incrementing a pointer means that

we can increment the pointer by the size of a data type to which it points.

There are two types of increment pointers:

1. Pre-increment pointer: The pre-increment operator increments the operand by 1,

and the value of the expression becomes the resulting value of the incremented.
Suppose ptr is a pointer then pre-increment pointer is represented as ++ptr.

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. int main()
4. {
5. int a[5]={1,2,3,4,5};
6. int *ptr;
7. ptr=&a[0];
8. cout<<"Value of *ptr is : "<<*ptr<<"\n";
9. cout<<"Value of *++ptr : "<<*++ptr;
10. return 0;
11. }

Output:

Value of *ptr is : 1
Value of *++ptr : 2

2. Post-increment pointer: The post-increment operator increments the operand by 1,

but the value of the expression will be the value of the operand prior to the incremented
value of the operand. Suppose ptr is a pointer then post-increment pointer is
represented as ptr++.

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. int main()
4. {
5. int a[5]={1,2,3,4,5};
6. int *ptr;
7. ptr=&a[0];
8. cout<<"Value of *ptr is : "<<*ptr<<"\n";
9. cout<<"Value of *ptr++ : "<<*ptr++;
10. return 0;
11. }

Output:

Value of *ptr is : 1
Value of *ptr++ : 1
o Subtracting a pointer from another pointer: When two pointers pointing to
the members of an array are subtracted, then the number of elements present
between the two members are returned.

12) Define 'std'.

Std is the default namespace standard used in C++.

13) Which programming language's unsatisfactory performance

led to the discovery of C++?
C++was discovered in order to cope with the disadvantages of C.

14) How delete [] is different from delete?

Delete is used to release a unit of memory, delete[] is used to release an array.

15) What is the full form of STL in C++?

STL stands for Standard Template Library.

16) What is an object?

The Object is the instance of a class. A class provides a blueprint for objects. So you can
create an object from a class. The objects of a class are declared with the same sort of
declaration that we declare variables of basic types.

17) What are the C++ access specifiers?

The access specifiers are used to define how to functions and variables can be accessed
outside the class.

There are three types of access specifiers:

o Private: Functions and variables declared as private can be accessed only within
the same class, and they cannot be accessed outside the class they are declared.
o Public: Functions and variables declared under public can be accessed from
anywhere.
o Protected: Functions and variables declared as protected cannot be accessed
outside the class except a child class. This specifier is generally used in
inheritance.

18) What is Object Oriented Programming (OOP)?

OOP is a methodology or paradigm that provides many concepts. The basic concepts of
Object Oriented Programming are given below:

Classes and Objects: Classes are used to specify the structure of the data. They define
the data type. You can create any number of objects from a class. Objects are the
instances of classes.

Encapsulation: Encapsulation is a mechanism which binds the data and associated

operations together and thus hides the data from the outside world. Encapsulation is
also known as data hiding. In C++, It is achieved using the access specifiers, i.e., public,
private and protected.

Abstraction: Abstraction is used to hide the internal implementations and show only the
necessary details to the outer world. Data abstraction is implemented using interfaces
and abstract classes in C++.

Some people confused about Encapsulation and abstraction, but they both are different.

Inheritance: Inheritance is used to inherit the property of one class into another class.
It facilitates you to define one class in term of another class.

19) What is the difference between an array and a list?

 o An Array is a collection of homogeneous elements while a list is a collection of
heterogeneous elements.
o Array memory allocation is static and continuous while List memory allocation is
dynamic and random.
o In Array, users don't need to keep in track of next memory allocation while In the
list, the user has to keep in track of next location where memory is allocated.

20) What is the difference between new() and malloc()?

o new() is a preprocessor while malloc() is a function.
o There is no need to allocate the memory while using "new" but in malloc() you
have to use sizeof().
o "new" initializes the new memory to 0 while malloc() gives random value in the
newly allotted memory location.
o The new() operator allocates the memory and calls the constructor for the object
initialization and malloc() function allocates the memory but does not call the
constructor for the object initialization.
o The new() operator is faster than the malloc() function as operator is faster than
the function.

21) What are the methods of exporting a function from a DLL?

There are two ways:

o By using the DLL's type library.

o Taking a reference to the function from the DLL instance.

22) Define friend function.

Friend function acts as a friend of the class. It can access the private and protected
members of the class. The friend function is not a member of the class, but it must be
listed in the class definition. The non-member function cannot access the private data of
the class. Sometimes, it is necessary for the non-member function to access the data.
The friend function is a non-member function and has the ability to access the private
data of the class.

To make an outside function friendly to the class, we need to declare the

function as a friend of the class as shown below:

1. class sample
2. {
3. // data members;
4. public:
5. friend void abc(void);
6. };

Following are the characteristics of a friend function:

o The friend function is not in the scope of the class in which it has been declared.
o Since it is not in the scope of the class, so it cannot be called by using the object
of the class. Therefore, friend function can be invoked like a normal function.
o A friend function cannot access the private members directly, it has to use an
object name and dot operator with each member name.
o Friend function uses objects as arguments.

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. class Addition
4. {
5. int a=5;
6. int b=6;
7. public:
8. friend int add(Addition a1)
9. {
10. return(a1.a+a1.b);
11. }
12. };
13. int main()
14. {
15. int result;
16. Addition a1;
17. result=add(a1);
18. cout<<result;
19. return 0;
20. }

Output:

11

23) What is a virtual function?

 o A virtual function is used to replace the implementation provided by the base
class. The replacement is always called whenever the object in question is
actually of the derived class, even if the object is accessed by a base pointer
rather than a derived pointer.
o A virtual function is a member function which is present in the base class and
redefined by the derived class.
o When we use the same function name in both base and derived class, the
function in base class is declared with a keyword virtual.
o When the function is made virtual, then C++ determines at run-time which
function is to be called based on the type of the object pointed by the base class
pointer. Thus, by making the base class pointer to point different objects, we can
execute different versions of the virtual functions.

Rules of a virtual function:

o The virtual functions should be a member of some class.

o The virtual function cannot be a static member.
o Virtual functions are called by using the object pointer.
o It can be a friend of another class.
o C++ does not contain virtual constructors but can have a virtual destructor.

24) When should we use multiple inheritance?

You can answer this question in three manners:

1. Never
2. Rarely
3. If you find that the problem domain cannot be accurately modeled any other way.

25) What is a destructor?

A Destructor is used to delete any extra resources allocated by the object. A destructor
function is called automatically once the object goes out of the scope.

Rules of destructor:

o Destructors have the same name as class name and it is preceded by tilde.
o It does not contain any argument and no return type.
 26) What is an overflow error?
It is a type of arithmetical error. It happens when the result of an arithmetical operation
been greater than the actual space provided by the system.

27) What is overloading?

o When a single object behaves in many ways is known as overloading. A single
object has the same name, but it provides different versions of the same
function.
o C++ facilitates you to specify more than one definition for a function name or an
operator in the same scope. It is called function overloading and operator
overloading respectively.
o Overloading is of two types:

1. Operator overloading: Operator overloading is a compile-time polymorphism in

which a standard operator is overloaded to provide a user-defined definition to it. For
example, '+' operator is overloaded to perform the addition operation on data types such
as int, float, etc.

Operator overloading can be implemented in the following functions:

o Member function
o Non-member function
o Friend function

Syntax of Operator overloading:

1. Return_type classname :: Operator Operator_symbol(argument_list)

2. {
3. // body_statements;
4. }

2. Function overloading: Function overloading is also a type of compile-time

polymorphism which can define a family of functions with the same name. The function
would perform different operations based on the argument list in the function call. The
function to be invoked depends on the number of arguments and the type of the
arguments in the argument list.

28) What is function overriding?

If you inherit a class into a derived class and provide a definition for one of the base
class's function again inside the derived class, then this function is called overridden
function, and this mechanism is known as function overriding.

29) What is virtual inheritance?

Virtual inheritance facilitates you to create only one copy of each object even if the
object appears more than one in the hierarchy.

30) What is a constructor?

A Constructor is a special method that initializes an object. Its name must be same as
class name.

31) What is the purpose of the "delete" operator?

The "delete" operator is used to release the dynamic memory created by "new" operator.

32) Explain this pointer?

This pointer holds the address of the current object.

33) What does Scope Resolution operator do?

A scope resolution operator(::) is used to define the member function outside the class.

34) What is the difference between delete and delete[]?

 Delete [] is used to release the array of allocated memory which was allocated using
new[] whereas delete is used to release one chunk of memory which was allocated using
new.

35) What is a pure virtual function?

The pure virtual function is a virtual function which does not contain any definition. The
normal function is preceded with a keyword virtual. The pure virtual function ends with
0.

Syntax of a pure virtual function:

1. virtual void abc()=0; //pure virtual function.

Let's understand this through an example:

1. #include<iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. class Base
4. {
5. public:
6. virtual void show()=0;
7. };
8.
9. class Derived:public Base
10. {
11. public:
12. void show()
13. {
14. cout<<"javaTpoint";
15. }
16. };
17. int main()
18. {
19. Base* b;
20. Derived d;
21. b=&d;
22. b->show();
23. return 0;
24. }

Output:

javaTpoint
 36) What is the difference between struct and class?

Structures class

A structure is a user-defined data type which contains variables of The class is a user-defined
dissimilar data types. variables and member fun

The variables of a structure are stored in the stack memory. The variables of a class ar

We cannot initialize the variables directly. We can initialize the mem

If access specifier is not specified, then by default the access If access specifier is not s
specifier of the variable is "public". specifier of a variable is "p

The instance of a structure is a "structure variable".

Declaration of a structure: Declaration of class:

struct structure_name class class_name
{ {
// body of structure; // body of class;
} ; }

A structure is declared by using a struct keyword. The class is declared by u

The structure does not support the inheritance. The class supports the con

The type of a structure is a value type. The type of a class is a re

37) What is a class template?

A class template is used to create a family of classes and functions. For example, we can
create a template of an array class which will enable us to create an array of various
types such as int, float, char, etc. Similarly, we can create a template for a function,
suppose we have a function add(), then we can create multiple versions of add().

The syntax of a class template:

1. template<class T>
2. class classname
3. {
4. // body of class;
5. };

Syntax of a object of a template class:

1. classname<type> objectname(arglist);

38) What is the difference between function overloading and

operator overloading?
Function overloading: Function overloading is defined as we can have more than one
version of the same function. The versions of a function will have different signature
means that they have a different set of parameters.

Operator overloading: Operator overloading is defined as the standard operator can

be redefined so that it has a different meaning when applied to the instances of a class.

39) What is a virtual destructor?

A virtual destructor in C++ is used in the base class so that the derived class object can
also be destroyed. A virtual destructor is declared by using the ~ tilde operator and then
virtual keyword before the constructor.

Note: Constructor cannot be virtual, but destructor can be virtual.

Let's understand this through an example

o Example without using virtual destructor

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. class Base
4. {
5. public:
6. Base()
7. {
8. cout<<"Base constructor is called"<<"\n";
9. }
10. ~Base()
11. {
12. cout<<"Base class object is destroyed"<<"\n";
13. }
14. };
15. class Derived:public Base
16. {
17. public:
18. Derived()
19. {
20. cout<<"Derived class constructor is called"<<"\n";
21. }
22. ~Derived()
23. {
24. cout<<"Derived class object is destroyed"<<"\n";
25. }
26. };
27. int main()
28. {
29. Base* b= new Derived;
30. delete b;
31. return 0;
32.
33. }

Output:

Base constructor is called

Derived class constructor is called
Base class object is destroyed

In the above example, delete b will only call the base class destructor due to which
derived class destructor remains undestroyed. This leads to the memory leak.

o Example with a virtual destructor

1. #include <iostream>
2. using namespace std;
3. class Base
4. {
5. public:
6. Base()
7. {
8. cout<<"Base constructor is called"<<"\n";
9. }
10. virtual ~Base()
11. {
12. cout<<"Base class object is destroyed"<<"\n";
13. }
14. };
15. class Derived:public Base
16. {
17. public:
18. Derived()
19. {
20. cout<<"Derived class constructor is called"<<"\n";
21. }
22. ~Derived()
23. {
24. cout<<"Derived class object is destroyed"<<"\n";
25. }
26. };
27. int main()
28. {
29. Base* b= new Derived;
30. delete b;
31. return 0;
32.
33. }

Output:

Base constructor is called

Derived class constructor is called
Derived class object is destroyed
Base class object is destroyed

When we use the virtual destructor, then the derived class destructor is called first, and
then the base class destructor is called.