Programming in C++ Review

An introductory tutorial/review of the C++ programming language

Goals

We understand that there is an existing level of programming expertise by the reader. You are familiar with other languages like C#, Rust, Java and Python. This tutorial series attempts to broach the topic of “How do I write code in C++” as well as touch on other aspects of the development cycle like debugging, improving the build process, and so on.

Source Materials

Source code, as well as this documentation, can be found in Github in the ProgrammingInCPP repo Feel free to fork, change and send up a Pull request with changes/additions. This will always be a ‘work in progress’ as long as there is interest.

The source code will either be made available in Visual Studio 2015 (or later). You can get the Community edition of the IDE from Microsoft at Visual Studio Community as well as on other web based compilers like C++ Shell or the Compiler Explorer

Syllabus

Review

• Setting up the your build environment.

• Simple language tutorial.

  • Language Basics.
  • Gotchas.

• The process of actually building a console application.

  • Different build types (Debug, Release, Release with Debug symbols).

Memory

• Pointer definition
• Stack vs Heap allocations
• Layout of classes in memory
• Finding memory leaks

Intermediate C++

• Templates

• Serialization

• Lambdas

• RTTI/Exceptions

• New data types (auto)

• Threading

• Some Libraries

• More stuff as I find it.

  • STL and STL-like libraries
  • Header only vs. Static Libs vs. DLLs

Contents:

• Review 01 - Where we talk about the Generating code
  • Summary
  • The C++ Preprocessor
  • Compiler
  • Linker
  • Examining an incredibly simple program
  • To Summarize
  • What we haven’t reviewed
• Review 02 - Where we talk about some of the tools
  • Overview
  • Next
• Review 03 - Where we start coding
  • Summary
  • Allegro setup
  • The C/C++ Language - Essentials
  • To Summarize
• Review 04 - Where we discuss structs, classes and other stuff
  • Overview
  • The struct keyword and our first example (example01.h/cpp)
  • Counting bytes and a knock to our sanity (example02.h/cpp)
  • Where we add functionality to our types (example03.h/cpp)
  • Additional references
• Review 05 - Where we talk about memory
  • Summary
  • Previously ...
  • Scoping points
  • More Scoping
  • MEMORY!!!
• Pointers in C++
  • Summary
  • Why are we looking at pointers?
  • More stuff to watch out for.
  • Class layout in memory
  • Finding memory leaks
  • Summary
  • Some references:
• Intermediate C++ 01 - Templates
  • Summary
  • What are Templates in C++