vi ■ PREFACE

Each double-page spread in the book is organized to provide a description of the lan-
guage elements on the right-hand page while illustrating them by means of graphics and
sample programs on the left-hand page. This type of visual representation offered by each
spread will provide students and professionals with an unmatched guide throughout the
text. The sample programs were chosen to illustrate a typical application for each lan-
guage element. In addition, filter programs and case studies introduce the reader to a
wide range of application scenarios.
To gain command over a programming language, students need a lot of experience in
developing programs. Thus, each chapter includes exercises followed by sample solu-
tions, allowing the reader to test and enhance his or her performance and understanding
of C++.
The appendix provides further useful information, such as binary number representa-
tion, pre-processor directives, and operator precedence tables, making this book a well-
structured and intelligible reference guide for C++ programmers.
In order to test and expand your acquired knowledge, you can download sample pro-
grams and solutions to the exercises at:
http://completecpp.jbpub.com

Content Organization
Chapter 1 gives a thorough description of the fundamental characteristics of the object-
oriented C++ programming language. In addition, students are introduced to the steps
necessary for creating a fully functional C++ program. Many examples are provided to
help enforce these steps and to demonstrate the basic structure of a C++ program.
Chapter 2 provides a complete introduction to the basic types and objects used by
C++ programs. Integral types and constants, fundamental types, and Boolean constants
are just a few of the topics discussed.
Chapter 3 describes how to declare and call standard functions. This chapter also
teaches students to use standard classes, including standard header files. In addition, stu-
dents work with string variables for the first time in this chapter.
Chapter 4 explains the use of streams for input and output, with a focus on formatting
techniques. Formatting flags and manipulators are discussed, as are field width, fill char-
acters, and alignment.
Chapter 5 introduces operators needed for calculations and selections. Binary, unary,
relational, and logical operators are all examined in detail.
Chapter 6 describes the statements needed to control the flow of a program. These
include loops with while, do-while, and for; selections with if-else, switch, and the condi-
tional operator; and jumps with goto, continue, and break.
Chapter 7 provides a thorough introduction to the definition of symbolic constants
and macros, illustrating their significance and use. Furthermore, a comprehensive exami-
nation of standard macros for character handling is included.
Chapter 8 introduces implicit type conversions, which are performed in C++ when-
ever different arithmetic types occur in expressions. Additionally, the chapter explores
an operator for explicit type conversion.
 PREFACE ■ vii

Chapter 9 takes an in-depth look at the standard class string, which is used to repre-
sent strings. In addition to defining strings, the chapter looks at the various methods of
string manipulation. These include inserting and erasing, searching and replacing, com-
paring, and concatenating strings.
Chapter 10 describes how to write functions of your own. The basic rules are covered,
as are passing arguments, the definition of inline functions, overloading functions and
default arguments, and the principle of recursion.
Chapter 11 gives a thorough explanation of storage classes for objects and functions.
Object lifetime and scope are discussed, along with global, static, and auto objects.
Namespaces and external and static functions are also included in the discussion.
Chapter 12 explains how to define references and pointers and how to use them as
parameters and/or return values of functions. In this context, passing by reference and
read-only access to arguments are introduced.
Chapter 13 provides a complete description of how classes are defined and how
instances of classes, or objects, are used. In addition, structs and unions are introduced as
examples of special classes.
Chapter 14 describes how constructors and destructors are defined to create and
destroy objects. Also discussed are how inline methods, access methods, and read-only
methods can be used. Furthermore, the chapter explains the pointer this, which is avail-
able for all methods, and what you need to pay attention to when passing objects as argu-
ments or returning objects.
Chapter 15 gives a complete explanation of member objects and how they are initial-
ized, and of data members that are created only once for all the objects in a class. In addi-
tion, this chapter describes constant members and enumerated types.
Chapter 16 takes an in-depth look at how to define and use arrays. Of particular inter-
est are one-dimensional and multidimensional arrays, C strings, and class arrays.
Chapter 17 describes the relationship between pointers and arrays. This includes
pointer arithmetic, pointer versions of functions, pointers as return values and read-only
pointers, and pointer arrays. Students learn that operations that use C strings illustrate
how to use pointers for efficient programming, and that string access via the command
line of an application program is used to illustrate pointer arrays.
Chapter 18 explains sequential file access using file streams. Students will develop an
understanding of how file streams provide simple and portable file handling techniques.
Chapter 19 provides a complete description of the various uses of overloaded opera-
tors. Arithmetic operators, comparisons, the subscript operator, and the shift operators
for input and output are overloaded to illustrate the appropriate techniques. In addition,
the concept of friend functions, which is introduced in this context, is particularly
important for overloading operators. Students learn how overloading operators allows
them to apply existing operators to objects of class type.
Chapter 20 discusses how implicit type conversion occurs in C++ when an expression
cannot be compiled directly but can be compiled after applying a conversion rule. The
programmer can stipulate how the compiler will perform implicit type conversion for
classes by defining conversion constructors and functions. Finally, the chapter discusses
ambiguity that occurs due to type conversion and how to avoid it.