C++ Language

C++ Language Summary

Version 2.2 (ANSI/ISO Standard Version)

Last updated 10/14/99
Portions copyright Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

This document provides neither a complete nor rigorous description of the C++ language. It
does, however, describe the features of the language that are most useful to engineers and
scientists. These frequently used aspects of the language are described below:

Program Structure Built in Types and Identifiers

Common Operators Control Constructs
Stream I/O Stream Manipulators
Stream Member Functions IOS Format Flags
IOS File Access Flags Character Escape Sequences
String Class Member Functions and Vector Class Member Functions and
Operators Operators
Suffixes for Numerical Constants Class and Structure Definitions
Operator Precedence and Associativity
Reserved Words
Chart
Standard Libraries Bibliographic References

Program Structure

Statements can appear in any column.

Any text on a line after a // symbol is ignored (used for comments). Long (multiline
comments can be placed between /* and */ symbols.

Functions must be declared before use but can be defined after use. Modern C/C++ style is
to put all function definitions after main() with all declarations before main() as prototypes.
An alternate style eliminates the need for separate function declarations by placing all
definitions before main() and their first use. Function definitions can not be nested.

Use consistent indentation to indicate intended program structure.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types and References

Identifiers (names) are case sensitive and can be of any length but typically only the first 31
characters are significant. They must start with a letter (including _) and may contain letters
and numbers. Objects names are generally all lower case. Class names generally start with an
upper case letter. Constants are generally in all upper case.

Variables can be declared anywhere before they are used use. I usually collect all
declarations at the top of each function so that they are easy to find. Some C++ programmers
declare variables just before they are used. At any rate comments should be included with all
non-trivial variable declarations describing significance, use and units (if any).

Use square brackets to indicate arrays. Arrays are declared with the number of storage
locations indicated, but array element references start at zero. Modern C++ compilers
support the string and vector container classes (declared in the and include files,
respectively). These container classes provide significant advantages over the use of arrays.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types -

void A generic "nontype."

bool Boolean type (usually 1 byte), i.e., true (usually non-zero) or false (usually 0).
char Characters (usually 1 byte).
int Integers (2 or 4 byte).
float
Single precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 4 bytes and not typically
used.
double Double precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 8 bytes and typically used.

Type Modifiers -

unsigned Doesn’t use sign bit (assumes int if base type is omitted).
long May have twice as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
short May have half as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
const Constant (values can’t be changed during execution).

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Common Operators

Assignment: =
Increment and decrement: ++ (pre or post fix) and -- (pre or post fix)
Arithmetic: +, -, *, / and % (integer remainder)
Relational: == (equality), != (inequality), <, >, <= and >=
Boolean: && (and), || (or) and ! (not)
Bitwise: & (and), | (or), ^ (xor), ~ (not), << (shift left) and >> (shift right)

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Control Constructs

Zero is considered false and nonzero is considered true in conditions.

Statements end with semicolons, i.e. ;’s. A block is a statement or two or more statements
enclosed in braces, i.e. { and }. A block can be used anywhere a statement can be used.
Statements and blocks can be spread across multiple lines.

Selection (if and switch constructs):

conditional expression ? expression1 : expression2

if (condition) block1 [else block2]

if (condition) block1 else if (condition) block2 ... [else block3]

switch (expression)
{ case value1: [block1 [break;]]
...
case valuen: [blockn [break;]]
default: [blockn+1 [break;]]
}

Repetition (while and for constructs):

while (condition) block

do (block) while (condition);

for (initialize; test; update) block;

which is equivalent to:

initialize;
while (test)
{ block;
update;
}

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Standard Libraries

Many commonly used features of C and C++ are defined in the standard libraries. There is
massive overlap between the C libraries (declared in include files with names
like <libname.h> and C++ libraries (declared in include files with names like <libname>). The
C++ libraries generally contain the same functions as the corresponding C libraries but with
these functions placed in the std namespace. As a result, the following line generally should
be placed immediately following the inclusion of the C++ libraries:
using namespace std;

The following table lists the new C++ names, the old C/C++ names and some commonly
used functions of the most popular standard libraries.

New C++ Name Old C/C++ Name Use and functions

iostream iostream.h Defines insertion (<<) and extraction (>>) operators and creates the global stream
objects like cin and cout. See also, Stream Member Functions
iomanip iomanip.h Provides a variety of steam formatting and manipulation tools. See also, Stream
Manipulators section.
fstream fstream.h Required for file I/O operations. See also, Stream Member Functions.
cmath math.h Provides a wide range of special math functions. These include the trigonometri
functions (with angles expressed in
radians), exp(double x),log(double x), log10(double x), pow(double ba
double power), sqrt(double x), fabs(double x) and fmod(doublenumera
double denominator).
cstdlib stdlib.h Miscellaneous stuff. Including the void srand(int seed) and int
rand() pseudo-random random number functions and the int system(const
char command[]) system command function. The exit(int exit_code) does not s
to be supported in the MSVC++ 6.0 version of
cassert assert.h Provides the assert error handling mechanism. This has largely been replace by t
exception mechanism in bigger programs, but is still useful in smaller ones.
string None Provides the string class. Note that <string> is completely different than the
old <string.h> library (now <cstring.h>. See also, String Class Member Funct
and Operators
vector vector.h Provides the Standard Template Library (STL) implementation of a 1-dimension
random access sequence of items. Generally replaces the use of 1-dimensional C
+ arrays. See also, Vector Class Member Functions and Operators and the MSV
6.0 <valarray>> include file.
ctime time.h Types and functions associated with calendar and time operations. Includes both
processor and actual time and date functions.
complex None Provides a template class for storing and manipulating complex numbers.

Return to Table of Contents

String Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected String Functions -

string(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note lower
case s.
int .length() Returns the length of the string.
string .substr(int start, Returns the substring starting at location start of length size.
int size)
string& .insert(int n, Inserts a copy of s into string starting at position n. The rest of the
string s)
original string is shifted right.
string& .erase(int from, Removes characters from position from to through position to from the
int to)
string. Moves the rest of the string to the left. Returns the modified
string.
int .find(string ss) Returns the starting position of the first occurrence of substring ss.
getline(istream is, Places next line from is into s. The string extractor (>>) only gets
string s)
"words". Not actually a member function.

String operators include: [], =, >>, <<, +, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

String elements are numbered starting at 0. Constructor/assignment example: string name =

"John Doe";

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Vector Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected Vector Functions -

vector(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note
lower case v.
int .size() Returns the number of elements in the vector.
bool .empty() Returns true only if there are no elements in the vector.
void Puts value into a new storage location created at the end of the
.push_back(Vector_type value)
vector.
void .pop_back() Removes the last element from the vector and discards it.
void .resize(int newsize, Resizes the vector. If newsize is less than the current size the vector
Vector_type value)
is truncated. If newsize is larger than the current size the vector is
enlarged by adding new elements after the last existing elements.
These new elements are set to value if one is provided.
iterator .begin() Returns an iterator that points to the first element of the vector.
iterator .end() Returns an iterator that points immediately beyond the last element
of the vector.
int Inserts value into the vector at the specified location and returns the
.insert(iterator location,
location.
Vector_typevalue)
int .erase(iterator location) Removes the element at location from the vector and returns the
position of the removal.
void .clear() Removes all elements from a vector.
void .swap(vector v) Interchanges the elements of the current vector and v. This
operation is generally more efficient than an individual swapping of
elements.
Vector operators include: [], =, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

Vector elements are numbered starting at 0. Iterators can be created by adding element
numbers to the result of the .begin() member function. Constructor example: vector<double>
a(MAX_SIZE, 0.0);

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Steam I/O

Stream Operators (defined in <iostream>)

ostream& << const object Stream insertion.
istream& >> object& Stream extraction.

Stream Objects Created and Opened Automatically

istream& cin Standard console input (keyboard).
ostream& cout Standard console output (screen).
ostream& cprn Standard printer (LPT1?).
ostream& cerr Standard error output (screen?).
ostream& clog Standard log (screen?).
ostream& caux Standard auxiliary (screen?).

Stream Classes (requires <fstream> and/or <strstream>)

fstream File I/O class.
ifstream Input file class.
istrstream Input string class.
ofstream Output file class.
ostrstream Output string class.
strstream String I/O class.

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Stream Manipulators (defined in <iomanip>)

dec Sets base 10 integers.
endl Sends a new line character.
ends Sends a null (end of string) character.
flush Flushes an output stream.
fixed Sets fixed real number notation.
hex Sets base 16 integers.
oct Sets base 8 integers.
ws Discard white space on input.
setbase(int) Sets integer conversion base (0, 8, 10 or 16 where 0 sets
 base 10).
setfill(int) Sets fill character.
setprecision(int) Sets precision.
setw(int) Sets field width.
resetiosflags(long) Clears format state as specified by argument.
setiosflags(long) Sets format state as specified by argument.

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Stream Member Functions

void .close() Closes the I/O object.
int .eof() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the end of the stream has been
reached. Use after fail() returns true.
char .fill(char fill_ch | void) Sets or returns the fill character.
int .fail() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the last I/O operation on the
stream failed.
istream& .get(int ch) Gets a character as an int so EOF (-1) is a possible value.
istream& Get a line into the ch_string buffer with maximum length
.getline(char* ch_string,
of maxsize and ending with delimiter delimit.
int maxsize, chardelimit)
istream& .ignore(int length[, Reads and discards the number of characters specified
int delimit])
by length from the stream or until the character specified
by delimit(default EOF) is found.
iostream& .open(char* filename, Opens the filename file in the specified mode.
int mode)
int .peek(); Returns the next character in the stream without removing it from
the stream.
int .precision(int prec | void) Sets or returns the floating point precision.
ostream& .put(char ch) Puts the specified character into the stream.
istream& .putback(char ch) Puts the specified character back into the stream.
istream& .read(char* buf, Sends size raw bytes from the buf buffer to the stream.
int size)
long .setf(long flags [, Sets (and returns) the specified ios flag(s).
long mask])
long .unsetf(long flags) Clears the specified ios flag(s).
int .width(int width | void) Sets or returns the current output field width.
ostream& .write(const Sends size raw bytes from buf to the stream.
char* buf, int size)

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IOS Format Flags (ios::x)

dec Use base 10.
fixed Output float values in fixed point format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield)
manipulator or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
hex Use base 16.
internal Distribute fill character between sign and value.
left Align left.
oct Use base 8.
right Align right.
scientific Outputs float values in scientific format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield) manipulator
or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
showbase Encodes base on integer output.
showpoint Include decimal point in output.
showpos Include positive (+) sign in output.
skipws Skip white space (spaces and tabs).
uppercase Forces upper case output.

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IOS File Access Flags (ios::x)

app Open in append mode.
ate Open and seek to end of file.
in Open in input mode.
nocreate Fail if file doesn't already exist.
noreplace Fail if file already exists.
out Open in output mode.
trunc Open and truncate to zero length.
binary Open as a binary stream.

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Class and Structure Definitions

class Name
{
public:
member_function1 declaration [const];
member_function2 declaration;
...
private:
data_member1;
data_member2;
...
};

[inline] type Class_name::member_function_name(arguments) [const]

{
// code
};
The inclusion of the const modifier indicates that the function does not modify the object on
which it operates. This restriction is enforced by the compiler.

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Suffixes for Numerical Constants

Integer constants default to the smallest integer type that can hold their value. Otherwise, the
following suffixes can be used (alone or together):
u Unsigned
l or L Long

Floating point constants default to type double. Otherwise, the following suffixes can be
used:
f Float
l or L Long double

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Character Escape Sequences

\n Newline.
\t Horizontal tab.
\r Carriage return.
\a Alert sound (bell).
\\ Outputs a backslash character.
\" Outputs a double quote character.

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Reserved Words

These words can not be used for programmer defined symbols (names).

asm
auto
break
case
catch
char
class
const
continue
default
delete
do
double
else
enum
extern
float
for
friend
goto
if
inlineint
long
new
operator
private
protected
public
register
return
short
signed
sizeof
static
struct
switch
template
this
throw
try
typedef
union
unsigned
virtual
void
volatile
wchar_t
while

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Operator Precedence Chart

This table lists all the C++ operators in order of non-increasing precedence. An expression
involving operators of equal precedence is evaluated according to the associativity of the
operators.

Operator(s) Description(s) Associativity

:: Class scope resolution (binary) left to right

:: Global scope (unary) right to left

() Function call left to right

() Value construction left to right
[] Array element reference left to right
-> Pointer to class member reference left to right
. Class member reference left to right

-, + Unary minus and plus right to left

>++, -- Increment and decrement right to left
!, ~ Logical negation and one's complement right to left
*, & Pointer dereference (indirection) and address right to left
sizeof Size of an object right to left
(type) Type cast (coercion) right to left
new, delete Create free store object and destroy free store object right to left

>* Pointer to member selector left to right

* Pointer to member selector left to right

*, /, % Multiplication, division and modulus (remainder) left to right

+, - Addition and subtraction left to right

<<, >> Shift left and shift right left to right

<, <=, >, >= Less than, less than or equal, greater than, greater than or left to right
equal

==, != Equality and inequality left to right

& Bitwise AND left to right

^ Bitwise XOR left to right

| Bitwise OR left to right

&& Logical AND left to right

|| Logical OR left to right

? : Conditional expression right to left

=, *=, /=, %=, +=, =, &=, Assignment right to left

^=, |=, >>=, <<=

, Comma left to right

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C++ References

Horstmann, C. S. Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons,
1999.

Cohoon, J. P. and J. W. Davidson. C++ Program Design; An Introduction to Programming

and Object-Oriented Design, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Deitel, H. M. and P. J. Deitel. C++ How to Program. Prentice Hall, 1994.

Perry, J. E. and H. D. Levin. An Introduction to Object-Oriented Design in C++. Addison-

Wesley, 1996.

Barclay, K. A. and B. J. Gordon. C++ Problem Solving and Programming. Prentice Hall,
1994.

Johnsonbaugh, R. and M. Kalin. Object-Oriented Programming in C++. Prentice-Hall, 1995.

Horstmann, C. S. Mastering Object-Oriented Design in C++. John Wiley & Sons, 1995.

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Send comments and suggestions to: Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

 C++ Language Summary

Version 2.2 (ANSI/ISO Standard Version)

Last updated 10/14/99
Portions copyright Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

This document provides neither a complete nor rigorous description of the C++ language. It
does, however, describe the features of the language that are most useful to engineers and
scientists. These frequently used aspects of the language are described below:

Program Structure Built in Types and Identifiers

Common Operators Control Constructs
Stream I/O Stream Manipulators
Stream Member Functions IOS Format Flags
IOS File Access Flags Character Escape Sequences
String Class Member Functions and Vector Class Member Functions and
Operators Operators
Suffixes for Numerical Constants Class and Structure Definitions
Operator Precedence and Associativity
Reserved Words
Chart
Standard Libraries Bibliographic References

Program Structure

Statements can appear in any column.

Any text on a line after a // symbol is ignored (used for comments). Long (multiline
comments can be placed between /* and */ symbols.

Functions must be declared before use but can be defined after use. Modern C/C++ style is
to put all function definitions after main() with all declarations before main() as prototypes.
An alternate style eliminates the need for separate function declarations by placing all
definitions before main() and their first use. Function definitions can not be nested.

Use consistent indentation to indicate intended program structure.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types and References

Identifiers (names) are case sensitive and can be of any length but typically only the first 31
characters are significant. They must start with a letter (including _) and may contain letters
and numbers. Objects names are generally all lower case. Class names generally start with an
upper case letter. Constants are generally in all upper case.

Variables can be declared anywhere before they are used use. I usually collect all
declarations at the top of each function so that they are easy to find. Some C++ programmers
declare variables just before they are used. At any rate comments should be included with all
non-trivial variable declarations describing significance, use and units (if any).

Use square brackets to indicate arrays. Arrays are declared with the number of storage
locations indicated, but array element references start at zero. Modern C++ compilers
support the string and vector container classes (declared in the and include files,
respectively). These container classes provide significant advantages over the use of arrays.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types -

void A generic "nontype."

bool Boolean type (usually 1 byte), i.e., true (usually non-zero) or false (usually 0).
char Characters (usually 1 byte).
int Integers (2 or 4 byte).
float
Single precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 4 bytes and not typically
used.
double Double precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 8 bytes and typically used.

Type Modifiers -

unsigned Doesn’t use sign bit (assumes int if base type is omitted).
long May have twice as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
short May have half as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
const Constant (values can’t be changed during execution).

Return to Table of Contents

Common Operators

Assignment: =
Increment and decrement: ++ (pre or post fix) and -- (pre or post fix)
Arithmetic: +, -, *, / and % (integer remainder)
Relational: == (equality), != (inequality), <, >, <= and >=
Boolean: && (and), || (or) and ! (not)
Bitwise: & (and), | (or), ^ (xor), ~ (not), << (shift left) and >> (shift right)

Return to Table of Contents

Control Constructs

Zero is considered false and nonzero is considered true in conditions.

Statements end with semicolons, i.e. ;’s. A block is a statement or two or more statements
enclosed in braces, i.e. { and }. A block can be used anywhere a statement can be used.
Statements and blocks can be spread across multiple lines.

Selection (if and switch constructs):

conditional expression ? expression1 : expression2

if (condition) block1 [else block2]

if (condition) block1 else if (condition) block2 ... [else block3]

switch (expression)
{ case value1: [block1 [break;]]
...
case valuen: [blockn [break;]]
default: [blockn+1 [break;]]
}

Repetition (while and for constructs):

while (condition) block

do (block) while (condition);

for (initialize; test; update) block;

which is equivalent to:

initialize;
while (test)
{ block;
update;
}

Return to Table of Contents

Standard Libraries

Many commonly used features of C and C++ are defined in the standard libraries. There is
massive overlap between the C libraries (declared in include files with names
like <libname.h> and C++ libraries (declared in include files with names like <libname>). The
C++ libraries generally contain the same functions as the corresponding C libraries but with
these functions placed in the std namespace. As a result, the following line generally should
be placed immediately following the inclusion of the C++ libraries:
using namespace std;

The following table lists the new C++ names, the old C/C++ names and some commonly
used functions of the most popular standard libraries.

New C++ Name Old C/C++ Name Use and functions

iostream iostream.h Defines insertion (<<) and extraction (>>) operators and creates the global stream
objects like cin and cout. See also, Stream Member Functions
iomanip iomanip.h Provides a variety of steam formatting and manipulation tools. See also, Stream
Manipulators section.
fstream fstream.h Required for file I/O operations. See also, Stream Member Functions.
cmath math.h Provides a wide range of special math functions. These include the trigonometri
functions (with angles expressed in
radians), exp(double x),log(double x), log10(double x), pow(double base
double power), sqrt(double x), fabs(double x) and fmod(doublenumerato
double denominator).
cstdlib stdlib.h Miscellaneous stuff. Including the void srand(int seed) and int
rand() pseudo-random random number functions and the int system(const
char command[]) system command function. The exit(int exit_code) does not
seem to be supported in the MSVC++ 6.0 version of
cassert assert.h Provides the assert error handling mechanism. This has largely been replace by t
exception mechanism in bigger programs, but is still useful in smaller ones.
string None Provides the string class. Note that <string> is completely different than the
old <string.h> library (now <cstring.h>. See also, String Class Member
Functions and Operators
vector vector.h Provides the Standard Template Library (STL) implementation of a 1-dimension
random access sequence of items. Generally replaces the use of 1-dimensional
C/C++ arrays. See also, Vector Class Member Functions and Operators and the
MSVC++ 6.0 <valarray>> include file.
ctime time.h Types and functions associated with calendar and time operations. Includes both
processor and actual time and date functions.
complex None Provides a template class for storing and manipulating complex numbers.

Return to Table of Contents

String Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected String Functions -

string(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note lower
case s.
int .length() Returns the length of the string.
string .substr(int start, Returns the substring starting at location start of length size.
int size)
string& .insert(int n, Inserts a copy of s into string starting at position n. The rest of the
string s) original string is shifted right.
string& .erase(int from, Removes characters from position from to through position to from the
int to) string. Moves the rest of the string to the left. Returns the modified
string.
int .find(string ss) Returns the starting position of the first occurrence of substring ss.
getline(istream is, Places next line from is into s. The string extractor (>>) only gets
string s) "words". Not actually a member function.

String operators include: [], =, >>, <<, +, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

String elements are numbered starting at 0. Constructor/assignment example: string name =

"John Doe";

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Vector Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected Vector Functions -

vector(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note

lower case v.
int .size() Returns the number of elements in the vector.
bool .empty() Returns true only if there are no elements in the vector.
void Puts value into a new storage location created at the end of the
.push_back(Vector_type value) vector.
void .pop_back() Removes the last element from the vector and discards it.
void .resize(int newsize, Resizes the vector. If newsize is less than the current size the vector
Vector_type value) is truncated. If newsize is larger than the current size the vector is
enlarged by adding new elements after the last existing elements.
These new elements are set to value if one is provided.
iterator .begin() Returns an iterator that points to the first element of the vector.
iterator .end() Returns an iterator that points immediately beyond the last element
of the vector.
int Inserts value into the vector at the specified location and returns the
.insert(iterator location, location.
Vector_typevalue)
int .erase(iterator location) Removes the element at location from the vector and returns the
position of the removal.
void .clear() Removes all elements from a vector.
void .swap(vector v) Interchanges the elements of the current vector and v. This operation
is generally more efficient than an individual swapping of elements.
Vector operators include: [], =, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

Vector elements are numbered starting at 0. Iterators can be created by adding element
numbers to the result of the .begin() member function. Constructor example: vector<double>
a(MAX_SIZE, 0.0);

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Steam I/O

Stream Operators (defined in <iostream>)

ostream& << const object Stream insertion.
istream& >> object& Stream extraction.

Stream Objects Created and Opened Automatically

istream& cin Standard console input (keyboard).
ostream& cout Standard console output (screen).
ostream& cprn Standard printer (LPT1?).
ostream& cerr Standard error output (screen?).
ostream& clog Standard log (screen?).
ostream& caux Standard auxiliary (screen?).

Stream Classes (requires <fstream> and/or <strstream>)

fstream File I/O class.
ifstream Input file class.
istrstream Input string class.
ofstream Output file class.
ostrstream Output string class.
strstream String I/O class.

Return to Table of Contents

Stream Manipulators (defined in <iomanip>)

dec Sets base 10 integers.
endl Sends a new line character.
ends Sends a null (end of string) character.
flush Flushes an output stream.
fixed Sets fixed real number notation.
hex Sets base 16 integers.
oct Sets base 8 integers.
ws Discard white space on input.
setbase(int) Sets integer conversion base (0, 8, 10 or 16 where 0 sets
 base 10).
setfill(int) Sets fill character.
setprecision(int) Sets precision.
setw(int) Sets field width.
resetiosflags(long) Clears format state as specified by argument.
setiosflags(long) Sets format state as specified by argument.

Return to Table of Contents

Stream Member Functions

void .close() Closes the I/O object.
int .eof() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the end of the stream has been
reached. Use after fail() returns true.
char .fill(char fill_ch | void) Sets or returns the fill character.
int .fail() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the last I/O operation on the
stream failed.
istream& .get(int ch) Gets a character as an int so EOF (-1) is a possible value.
istream& Get a line into the ch_string buffer with maximum length
.getline(char* ch_string, of maxsize and ending with delimiter delimit.
int maxsize, chardelimit)
istream& .ignore(int length[, Reads and discards the number of characters specified
int delimit]) by length from the stream or until the character specified
by delimit(default EOF) is found.
iostream& .open(char* filename, Opens the filename file in the specified mode.
int mode)
int .peek(); Returns the next character in the stream without removing it from
the stream.
int .precision(int prec | void) Sets or returns the floating point precision.
ostream& .put(char ch) Puts the specified character into the stream.
istream& .putback(char ch) Puts the specified character back into the stream.
istream& .read(char* buf, Sends size raw bytes from the buf buffer to the stream.
int size)
long .setf(long flags [, Sets (and returns) the specified ios flag(s).
long mask])
long .unsetf(long flags) Clears the specified ios flag(s).
int .width(int width | void) Sets or returns the current output field width.
ostream& .write(const Sends size raw bytes from buf to the stream.
char* buf, int size)

Return to Table of Contents

IOS Format Flags (ios::x)

dec Use base 10.
fixed Output float values in fixed point format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield)
manipulator or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
hex Use base 16.
internal Distribute fill character between sign and value.
left Align left.
oct Use base 8.
right Align right.
scientific Outputs float values in scientific format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield) manipulator
or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
showbase Encodes base on integer output.
showpoint Include decimal point in output.
showpos Include positive (+) sign in output.
skipws Skip white space (spaces and tabs).
uppercase Forces upper case output.

Return to Table of Contents

IOS File Access Flags (ios::x)

app Open in append mode.
ate Open and seek to end of file.
in Open in input mode.
nocreate Fail if file doesn't already exist.
noreplace Fail if file already exists.
out Open in output mode.
trunc Open and truncate to zero length.
binary Open as a binary stream.

Return to Table of Contents

Class and Structure Definitions

class Name
{
public:
member_function1 declaration [const];
member_function2 declaration;
...
private:
data_member1;
data_member2;
...
};

[inline] type Class_name::member_function_name(arguments) [const]

{
// code
};

The inclusion of the const modifier indicates that the function does not modify the object on
which it operates. This restriction is enforced by the compiler.

Return to Table of Contents

Suffixes for Numerical Constants

Integer constants default to the smallest integer type that can hold their value. Otherwise, the
following suffixes can be used (alone or together):
u Unsigned
l or L Long

Floating point constants default to type double. Otherwise, the following suffixes can be
used:
f Float
l or L Long double

Return to Table of Contents

Character Escape Sequences

\n Newline.
\t Horizontal tab.
\r Carriage return.
\a Alert sound (bell).
\\ Outputs a backslash character.
\" Outputs a double quote character.

Return to Table of Contents

Reserved Words

These words can not be used for programmer defined symbols (names).

asm
auto
break
case
catch
char
class
const
continue
default
delete
do
double
else
enum
extern
float
for
friend
goto
if
inlineint
long
new
operator
private
protected
public
register
return
short
signed
sizeof
static
struct
switch
template
this
throw
try
typedef
union
unsigned
virtual
void
volatile
wchar_t
while

Return to Table of Contents

Operator Precedence Chart

This table lists all the C++ operators in order of non-increasing precedence. An expression
involving operators of equal precedence is evaluated according to the associativity of the
operators.

Operator(s) Description(s) Associativity

:: Class scope resolution (binary) left to right

:: Global scope (unary) right to left

() Function call left to right

() Value construction left to right
[] Array element reference left to right
-> Pointer to class member reference left to right
. Class member reference left to right

-, + Unary minus and plus right to left

>++, -- Increment and decrement right to left
!, ~ Logical negation and one's complement right to left
*, & Pointer dereference (indirection) and address right to left
sizeof Size of an object right to left
(type) Type cast (coercion) right to left
new, delete Create free store object and destroy free store object right to left

>* Pointer to member selector left to right

* Pointer to member selector left to right

*, /, % Multiplication, division and modulus (remainder) left to right

+, - Addition and subtraction left to right

<<, >> Shift left and shift right left to right

<, <=, >, >= Less than, less than or equal, greater than, greater than or left to right
equal

==, != Equality and inequality left to right

& Bitwise AND left to right

^ Bitwise XOR left to right

| Bitwise OR left to right

&& Logical AND left to right

|| Logical OR left to right

? : Conditional expression right to left

=, *=, /=, %=, +=, =, &=, Assignment right to left

^=, |=, >>=, <<=

, Comma left to right

Return to Table of Contents

C++ References

Horstmann, C. S. Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons,
1999.

Cohoon, J. P. and J. W. Davidson. C++ Program Design; An Introduction to Programming

and Object-Oriented Design, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Deitel, H. M. and P. J. Deitel. C++ How to Program. Prentice Hall, 1994.

Perry, J. E. and H. D. Levin. An Introduction to Object-Oriented Design in C++. Addison-

Wesley, 1996.

Barclay, K. A. and B. J. Gordon. C++ Problem Solving and Programming. Prentice Hall,
1994.

Johnsonbaugh, R. and M. Kalin. Object-Oriented Programming in C++. Prentice-Hall, 1995.

Horstmann, C. S. Mastering Object-Oriented Design in C++. John Wiley & Sons, 1995.

Return to Table of Contents

Send comments and suggestions to: Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

 C++ Language Summary

Version 2.2 (ANSI/ISO Standard Version)

Last updated 10/14/99
Portions copyright Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

This document provides neither a complete nor rigorous description of the C++ language. It
does, however, describe the features of the language that are most useful to engineers and
scientists. These frequently used aspects of the language are described below:

Program Structure Built in Types and Identifiers

Common Operators Control Constructs
Stream I/O Stream Manipulators
Stream Member Functions IOS Format Flags
IOS File Access Flags Character Escape Sequences
String Class Member Functions and Vector Class Member Functions and
Operators Operators
Suffixes for Numerical Constants Class and Structure Definitions
Operator Precedence and Associativity
Reserved Words
Chart
Standard Libraries Bibliographic References

Program Structure

Statements can appear in any column.

Any text on a line after a // symbol is ignored (used for comments). Long (multiline
comments can be placed between /* and */ symbols.

Functions must be declared before use but can be defined after use. Modern C/C++ style is
to put all function definitions after main() with all declarations before main() as prototypes.
An alternate style eliminates the need for separate function declarations by placing all
definitions before main() and their first use. Function definitions can not be nested.

Use consistent indentation to indicate intended program structure.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types and References

Identifiers (names) are case sensitive and can be of any length but typically only the first 31
characters are significant. They must start with a letter (including _) and may contain letters
and numbers. Objects names are generally all lower case. Class names generally start with an
upper case letter. Constants are generally in all upper case.

Variables can be declared anywhere before they are used use. I usually collect all
declarations at the top of each function so that they are easy to find. Some C++ programmers
declare variables just before they are used. At any rate comments should be included with all
non-trivial variable declarations describing significance, use and units (if any).

Use square brackets to indicate arrays. Arrays are declared with the number of storage
locations indicated, but array element references start at zero. Modern C++ compilers
support the string and vector container classes (declared in the and include files,
respectively). These container classes provide significant advantages over the use of arrays.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types -

void A generic "nontype."

bool Boolean type (usually 1 byte), i.e., true (usually non-zero) or false (usually 0).
char Characters (usually 1 byte).
int Integers (2 or 4 byte).
float
Single precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 4 bytes and not typically
used.
double Double precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 8 bytes and typically used.

Type Modifiers -

unsigned Doesn’t use sign bit (assumes int if base type is omitted).
long May have twice as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
short May have half as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
const Constant (values can’t be changed during execution).

Return to Table of Contents

Common Operators

Assignment: =
Increment and decrement: ++ (pre or post fix) and -- (pre or post fix)
Arithmetic: +, -, *, / and % (integer remainder)
Relational: == (equality), != (inequality), <, >, <= and >=
Boolean: && (and), || (or) and ! (not)
Bitwise: & (and), | (or), ^ (xor), ~ (not), << (shift left) and >> (shift right)

Return to Table of Contents

Control Constructs

Zero is considered false and nonzero is considered true in conditions.

Statements end with semicolons, i.e. ;’s. A block is a statement or two or more statements
enclosed in braces, i.e. { and }. A block can be used anywhere a statement can be used.
Statements and blocks can be spread across multiple lines.

Selection (if and switch constructs):

conditional expression ? expression1 : expression2

if (condition) block1 [else block2]

if (condition) block1 else if (condition) block2 ... [else block3]

switch (expression)
{ case value1: [block1 [break;]]
...
case valuen: [blockn [break;]]
default: [blockn+1 [break;]]
}

Repetition (while and for constructs):

while (condition) block

do (block) while (condition);

for (initialize; test; update) block;

which is equivalent to:

initialize;
while (test)
{ block;
update;
}

Return to Table of Contents

Standard Libraries

Many commonly used features of C and C++ are defined in the standard libraries. There is
massive overlap between the C libraries (declared in include files with names
like <libname.h> and C++ libraries (declared in include files with names like <libname>). The
C++ libraries generally contain the same functions as the corresponding C libraries but with
these functions placed in the std namespace. As a result, the following line generally should
be placed immediately following the inclusion of the C++ libraries:
using namespace std;

The following table lists the new C++ names, the old C/C++ names and some commonly
used functions of the most popular standard libraries.

New C++ Name Old C/C++ Name Use and functions

iostream iostream.h Defines insertion (<<) and extraction (>>) operators and creates the global stream
objects like cin and cout. See also, Stream Member Functions
iomanip iomanip.h Provides a variety of steam formatting and manipulation tools. See also, Stream
Manipulators section.
fstream fstream.h Required for file I/O operations. See also, Stream Member Functions.
cmath math.h Provides a wide range of special math functions. These include the trigonometri
functions (with angles expressed in
radians), exp(double x),log(double x), log10(double x), pow(double base
double power), sqrt(double x), fabs(double x) and fmod(doublenumerato
double denominator).
cstdlib stdlib.h Miscellaneous stuff. Including the void srand(int seed) and int
rand() pseudo-random random number functions and the int system(const
char command[]) system command function. The exit(int exit_code) does not
seem to be supported in the MSVC++ 6.0 version of
cassert assert.h Provides the assert error handling mechanism. This has largely been replace by t
exception mechanism in bigger programs, but is still useful in smaller ones.
string None Provides the string class. Note that <string> is completely different than the
old <string.h> library (now <cstring.h>. See also, String Class Member
Functions and Operators
vector vector.h Provides the Standard Template Library (STL) implementation of a 1-dimension
random access sequence of items. Generally replaces the use of 1-dimensional
C/C++ arrays. See also, Vector Class Member Functions and Operators and the
MSVC++ 6.0 <valarray>> include file.
ctime time.h Types and functions associated with calendar and time operations. Includes both
processor and actual time and date functions.
complex None Provides a template class for storing and manipulating complex numbers.

Return to Table of Contents

String Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected String Functions -

string(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note lower
case s.
int .length() Returns the length of the string.
string .substr(int start, Returns the substring starting at location start of length size.
int size)
string& .insert(int n, Inserts a copy of s into string starting at position n. The rest of the
string s) original string is shifted right.
string& .erase(int from, Removes characters from position from to through position to from the
int to) string. Moves the rest of the string to the left. Returns the modified
string.
int .find(string ss) Returns the starting position of the first occurrence of substring ss.
getline(istream is, Places next line from is into s. The string extractor (>>) only gets
string s) "words". Not actually a member function.

String operators include: [], =, >>, <<, +, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

String elements are numbered starting at 0. Constructor/assignment example: string name =

"John Doe";

Return to Table of Contents

Vector Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected Vector Functions -

vector(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note

lower case v.
int .size() Returns the number of elements in the vector.
bool .empty() Returns true only if there are no elements in the vector.
void Puts value into a new storage location created at the end of the
.push_back(Vector_type value) vector.
void .pop_back() Removes the last element from the vector and discards it.
void .resize(int newsize, Resizes the vector. If newsize is less than the current size the vector
Vector_type value) is truncated. If newsize is larger than the current size the vector is
enlarged by adding new elements after the last existing elements.
These new elements are set to value if one is provided.
iterator .begin() Returns an iterator that points to the first element of the vector.
iterator .end() Returns an iterator that points immediately beyond the last element
of the vector.
int Inserts value into the vector at the specified location and returns the
.insert(iterator location, location.
Vector_typevalue)
int .erase(iterator location) Removes the element at location from the vector and returns the
position of the removal.
void .clear() Removes all elements from a vector.
void .swap(vector v) Interchanges the elements of the current vector and v. This operation
is generally more efficient than an individual swapping of elements.
Vector operators include: [], =, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

Vector elements are numbered starting at 0. Iterators can be created by adding element
numbers to the result of the .begin() member function. Constructor example: vector<double>
a(MAX_SIZE, 0.0);

Return to Table of Contents

Steam I/O

Stream Operators (defined in <iostream>)

ostream& << const object Stream insertion.
istream& >> object& Stream extraction.

Stream Objects Created and Opened Automatically

istream& cin Standard console input (keyboard).
ostream& cout Standard console output (screen).
ostream& cprn Standard printer (LPT1?).
ostream& cerr Standard error output (screen?).
ostream& clog Standard log (screen?).
ostream& caux Standard auxiliary (screen?).

Stream Classes (requires <fstream> and/or <strstream>)

fstream File I/O class.
ifstream Input file class.
istrstream Input string class.
ofstream Output file class.
ostrstream Output string class.
strstream String I/O class.

Return to Table of Contents

Stream Manipulators (defined in <iomanip>)

dec Sets base 10 integers.
endl Sends a new line character.
ends Sends a null (end of string) character.
flush Flushes an output stream.
fixed Sets fixed real number notation.
hex Sets base 16 integers.
oct Sets base 8 integers.
ws Discard white space on input.
setbase(int) Sets integer conversion base (0, 8, 10 or 16 where 0 sets
 base 10).
setfill(int) Sets fill character.
setprecision(int) Sets precision.
setw(int) Sets field width.
resetiosflags(long) Clears format state as specified by argument.
setiosflags(long) Sets format state as specified by argument.

Return to Table of Contents

Stream Member Functions

void .close() Closes the I/O object.
int .eof() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the end of the stream has been
reached. Use after fail() returns true.
char .fill(char fill_ch | void) Sets or returns the fill character.
int .fail() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the last I/O operation on the
stream failed.
istream& .get(int ch) Gets a character as an int so EOF (-1) is a possible value.
istream& Get a line into the ch_string buffer with maximum length
.getline(char* ch_string, of maxsize and ending with delimiter delimit.
int maxsize, chardelimit)
istream& .ignore(int length[, Reads and discards the number of characters specified
int delimit]) by length from the stream or until the character specified
by delimit(default EOF) is found.
iostream& .open(char* filename, Opens the filename file in the specified mode.
int mode)
int .peek(); Returns the next character in the stream without removing it from
the stream.
int .precision(int prec | void) Sets or returns the floating point precision.
ostream& .put(char ch) Puts the specified character into the stream.
istream& .putback(char ch) Puts the specified character back into the stream.
istream& .read(char* buf, Sends size raw bytes from the buf buffer to the stream.
int size)
long .setf(long flags [, Sets (and returns) the specified ios flag(s).
long mask])
long .unsetf(long flags) Clears the specified ios flag(s).
int .width(int width | void) Sets or returns the current output field width.
ostream& .write(const Sends size raw bytes from buf to the stream.
char* buf, int size)

Return to Table of Contents

IOS Format Flags (ios::x)

dec Use base 10.
fixed Output float values in fixed point format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield)
manipulator or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
hex Use base 16.
internal Distribute fill character between sign and value.
left Align left.
oct Use base 8.
right Align right.
scientific Outputs float values in scientific format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield) manipulator
or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
showbase Encodes base on integer output.
showpoint Include decimal point in output.
showpos Include positive (+) sign in output.
skipws Skip white space (spaces and tabs).
uppercase Forces upper case output.

Return to Table of Contents

IOS File Access Flags (ios::x)

app Open in append mode.
ate Open and seek to end of file.
in Open in input mode.
nocreate Fail if file doesn't already exist.
noreplace Fail if file already exists.
out Open in output mode.
trunc Open and truncate to zero length.
binary Open as a binary stream.

Return to Table of Contents

Class and Structure Definitions

class Name
{
public:
member_function1 declaration [const];
member_function2 declaration;
...
private:
data_member1;
data_member2;
...
};

[inline] type Class_name::member_function_name(arguments) [const]

{
// code
};

The inclusion of the const modifier indicates that the function does not modify the object on
which it operates. This restriction is enforced by the compiler.

Return to Table of Contents

Suffixes for Numerical Constants

Integer constants default to the smallest integer type that can hold their value. Otherwise, the
following suffixes can be used (alone or together):
u Unsigned
l or L Long

Floating point constants default to type double. Otherwise, the following suffixes can be
used:
f Float
l or L Long double

Return to Table of Contents

Character Escape Sequences

\n Newline.
\t Horizontal tab.
\r Carriage return.
\a Alert sound (bell).
\\ Outputs a backslash character.
\" Outputs a double quote character.

Return to Table of Contents

Reserved Words

These words can not be used for programmer defined symbols (names).

asm
auto
break
case
catch
char
class
const
continue
default
delete
do
double
else
enum
extern
float
for
friend
goto
if
inlineint
long
new
operator
private
protected
public
register
return
short
signed
sizeof
static
struct
switch
template
this
throw
try
typedef
union
unsigned
virtual
void
volatile
wchar_t
while

Return to Table of Contents

Operator Precedence Chart

This table lists all the C++ operators in order of non-increasing precedence. An expression
involving operators of equal precedence is evaluated according to the associativity of the
operators.

Operator(s) Description(s) Associativity

:: Class scope resolution (binary) left to right

:: Global scope (unary) right to left

() Function call left to right

() Value construction left to right
[] Array element reference left to right
-> Pointer to class member reference left to right
. Class member reference left to right

-, + Unary minus and plus right to left

>++, -- Increment and decrement right to left
!, ~ Logical negation and one's complement right to left
*, & Pointer dereference (indirection) and address right to left
sizeof Size of an object right to left
(type) Type cast (coercion) right to left
new, delete Create free store object and destroy free store object right to left

>* Pointer to member selector left to right

* Pointer to member selector left to right

*, /, % Multiplication, division and modulus (remainder) left to right

+, - Addition and subtraction left to right

<<, >> Shift left and shift right left to right

<, <=, >, >= Less than, less than or equal, greater than, greater than or left to right
equal

==, != Equality and inequality left to right

& Bitwise AND left to right

^ Bitwise XOR left to right

| Bitwise OR left to right

&& Logical AND left to right

|| Logical OR left to right

? : Conditional expression right to left

=, *=, /=, %=, +=, =, &=, Assignment right to left

^=, |=, >>=, <<=

, Comma left to right

Return to Table of Contents

C++ References

Horstmann, C. S. Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons,
1999.

Cohoon, J. P. and J. W. Davidson. C++ Program Design; An Introduction to Programming

and Object-Oriented Design, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Deitel, H. M. and P. J. Deitel. C++ How to Program. Prentice Hall, 1994.

Perry, J. E. and H. D. Levin. An Introduction to Object-Oriented Design in C++. Addison-

Wesley, 1996.

Barclay, K. A. and B. J. Gordon. C++ Problem Solving and Programming. Prentice Hall,
1994.

Johnsonbaugh, R. and M. Kalin. Object-Oriented Programming in C++. Prentice-Hall, 1995.

Horstmann, C. S. Mastering Object-Oriented Design in C++. John Wiley & Sons, 1995.

Return to Table of Contents

Send comments and suggestions to: Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

 C++ Language Summary

Version 2.2 (ANSI/ISO Standard Version)

Last updated 10/14/99
Portions copyright Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.

This document provides neither a complete nor rigorous description of the C++ language. It
does, however, describe the features of the language that are most useful to engineers and
scientists. These frequently used aspects of the language are described below:

Program Structure Built in Types and Identifiers

Common Operators Control Constructs
Stream I/O Stream Manipulators
Stream Member Functions IOS Format Flags
IOS File Access Flags Character Escape Sequences
String Class Member Functions and Vector Class Member Functions and
Operators Operators
Suffixes for Numerical Constants Class and Structure Definitions
Operator Precedence and Associativity
Reserved Words
Chart
Standard Libraries Bibliographic References

Program Structure

Statements can appear in any column.

Any text on a line after a // symbol is ignored (used for comments). Long (multiline
comments can be placed between /* and */ symbols.

Functions must be declared before use but can be defined after use. Modern C/C++ style is
to put all function definitions after main() with all declarations before main() as prototypes.
An alternate style eliminates the need for separate function declarations by placing all
definitions before main() and their first use. Function definitions can not be nested.

Use consistent indentation to indicate intended program structure.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types and References

Identifiers (names) are case sensitive and can be of any length but typically only the first 31
characters are significant. They must start with a letter (including _) and may contain letters
and numbers. Objects names are generally all lower case. Class names generally start with an
upper case letter. Constants are generally in all upper case.

Variables can be declared anywhere before they are used use. I usually collect all
declarations at the top of each function so that they are easy to find. Some C++ programmers
declare variables just before they are used. At any rate comments should be included with all
non-trivial variable declarations describing significance, use and units (if any).

Use square brackets to indicate arrays. Arrays are declared with the number of storage
locations indicated, but array element references start at zero. Modern C++ compilers
support the string and vector container classes (declared in the and include files,
respectively). These container classes provide significant advantages over the use of arrays.

Return to Table of Contents

Built in Types -

void A generic "nontype."

bool Boolean type (usually 1 byte), i.e., true (usually non-zero) or false (usually 0).
char Characters (usually 1 byte).
int Integers (2 or 4 byte).
float
Single precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 4 bytes and not typically
used.
double Double precision real (floating point) numbers. Usually 8 bytes and typically used.

Type Modifiers -

unsigned Doesn’t use sign bit (assumes int if base type is omitted).
long May have twice as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
short May have half as many bytes as base type (assumes int if base type is omitted).
const Constant (values can’t be changed during execution).

Return to Table of Contents

Common Operators

Assignment: =
Increment and decrement: ++ (pre or post fix) and -- (pre or post fix)
Arithmetic: +, -, *, / and % (integer remainder)
Relational: == (equality), != (inequality), <, >, <= and >=
Boolean: && (and), || (or) and ! (not)
Bitwise: & (and), | (or), ^ (xor), ~ (not), << (shift left) and >> (shift right)

Return to Table of Contents

Control Constructs

Zero is considered false and nonzero is considered true in conditions.

Statements end with semicolons, i.e. ;’s. A block is a statement or two or more statements
enclosed in braces, i.e. { and }. A block can be used anywhere a statement can be used.
Statements and blocks can be spread across multiple lines.

Selection (if and switch constructs):

conditional expression ? expression1 : expression2

if (condition) block1 [else block2]

if (condition) block1 else if (condition) block2 ... [else block3]

switch (expression)
{ case value1: [block1 [break;]]
...
case valuen: [blockn [break;]]
default: [blockn+1 [break;]]
}

Repetition (while and for constructs):

while (condition) block

do (block) while (condition);

for (initialize; test; update) block;

which is equivalent to:

initialize;
while (test)
{ block;
update;
}

Return to Table of Contents

Standard Libraries

Many commonly used features of C and C++ are defined in the standard libraries. There is
massive overlap between the C libraries (declared in include files with names
like <libname.h> and C++ libraries (declared in include files with names like <libname>). The
C++ libraries generally contain the same functions as the corresponding C libraries but with
these functions placed in the std namespace. As a result, the following line generally should
be placed immediately following the inclusion of the C++ libraries:
using namespace std;

The following table lists the new C++ names, the old C/C++ names and some commonly
used functions of the most popular standard libraries.

New C++ Name Old C/C++ Name Use and functions

iostream iostream.h Defines insertion (<<) and extraction (>>) operators and creates the global stream
objects like cin and cout. See also, Stream Member Functions
iomanip iomanip.h Provides a variety of steam formatting and manipulation tools. See also, Stream
Manipulators section.
fstream fstream.h Required for file I/O operations. See also, Stream Member Functions.
cmath math.h Provides a wide range of special math functions. These include the trigonometri
functions (with angles expressed in
radians), exp(double x),log(double x), log10(double x), pow(double base
double power), sqrt(double x), fabs(double x) and fmod(doublenumerato
double denominator).
cstdlib stdlib.h Miscellaneous stuff. Including the void srand(int seed) and int
rand() pseudo-random random number functions and the int system(const
char command[]) system command function. The exit(int exit_code) does not
seem to be supported in the MSVC++ 6.0 version of
cassert assert.h Provides the assert error handling mechanism. This has largely been replace by t
exception mechanism in bigger programs, but is still useful in smaller ones.
string None Provides the string class. Note that <string> is completely different than the
old <string.h> library (now <cstring.h>. See also, String Class Member
Functions and Operators
vector vector.h Provides the Standard Template Library (STL) implementation of a 1-dimension
random access sequence of items. Generally replaces the use of 1-dimensional
C/C++ arrays. See also, Vector Class Member Functions and Operators and the
MSVC++ 6.0 <valarray>> include file.
ctime time.h Types and functions associated with calendar and time operations. Includes both
processor and actual time and date functions.
complex None Provides a template class for storing and manipulating complex numbers.

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String Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected String Functions -

string(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note lower
case s.
int .length() Returns the length of the string.
string .substr(int start, Returns the substring starting at location start of length size.
int size)
string& .insert(int n, Inserts a copy of s into string starting at position n. The rest of the
string s) original string is shifted right.
string& .erase(int from, Removes characters from position from to through position to from the
int to) string. Moves the rest of the string to the left. Returns the modified
string.
int .find(string ss) Returns the starting position of the first occurrence of substring ss.
getline(istream is, Places next line from is into s. The string extractor (>>) only gets
string s) "words". Not actually a member function.

String operators include: [], =, >>, <<, +, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

String elements are numbered starting at 0. Constructor/assignment example: string name =

"John Doe";

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Vector Class Member Functions and Operators

Selected Vector Functions -

vector(int size) Constructor. Argument size is optional but recommended. Note

lower case v.
int .size() Returns the number of elements in the vector.
bool .empty() Returns true only if there are no elements in the vector.
void Puts value into a new storage location created at the end of the
.push_back(Vector_type value) vector.
void .pop_back() Removes the last element from the vector and discards it.
void .resize(int newsize, Resizes the vector. If newsize is less than the current size the vector
Vector_type value) is truncated. If newsize is larger than the current size the vector is
enlarged by adding new elements after the last existing elements.
These new elements are set to value if one is provided.
iterator .begin() Returns an iterator that points to the first element of the vector.
iterator .end() Returns an iterator that points immediately beyond the last element
of the vector.
int Inserts value into the vector at the specified location and returns the
.insert(iterator location, location.
Vector_typevalue)
int .erase(iterator location) Removes the element at location from the vector and returns the
position of the removal.
void .clear() Removes all elements from a vector.
void .swap(vector v) Interchanges the elements of the current vector and v. This operation
is generally more efficient than an individual swapping of elements.
Vector operators include: [], =, ==, !=, <, <=, > and >=.

Vector elements are numbered starting at 0. Iterators can be created by adding element
numbers to the result of the .begin() member function. Constructor example: vector<double>
a(MAX_SIZE, 0.0);

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Steam I/O

Stream Operators (defined in <iostream>)

ostream& << const object Stream insertion.
istream& >> object& Stream extraction.

Stream Objects Created and Opened Automatically

istream& cin Standard console input (keyboard).
ostream& cout Standard console output (screen).
ostream& cprn Standard printer (LPT1?).
ostream& cerr Standard error output (screen?).
ostream& clog Standard log (screen?).
ostream& caux Standard auxiliary (screen?).

Stream Classes (requires <fstream> and/or <strstream>)

fstream File I/O class.
ifstream Input file class.
istrstream Input string class.
ofstream Output file class.
ostrstream Output string class.
strstream String I/O class.

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Stream Manipulators (defined in <iomanip>)

dec Sets base 10 integers.
endl Sends a new line character.
ends Sends a null (end of string) character.
flush Flushes an output stream.
fixed Sets fixed real number notation.
hex Sets base 16 integers.
oct Sets base 8 integers.
ws Discard white space on input.
setbase(int) Sets integer conversion base (0, 8, 10 or 16 where 0 sets
 base 10).
setfill(int) Sets fill character.
setprecision(int) Sets precision.
setw(int) Sets field width.
resetiosflags(long) Clears format state as specified by argument.
setiosflags(long) Sets format state as specified by argument.

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Stream Member Functions

void .close() Closes the I/O object.
int .eof() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the end of the stream has been
reached. Use after fail() returns true.
char .fill(char fill_ch | void) Sets or returns the fill character.
int .fail() Returns a nonzero value (true) if the last I/O operation on the
stream failed.
istream& .get(int ch) Gets a character as an int so EOF (-1) is a possible value.
istream& Get a line into the ch_string buffer with maximum length
.getline(char* ch_string, of maxsize and ending with delimiter delimit.
int maxsize, chardelimit)
istream& .ignore(int length[, Reads and discards the number of characters specified
int delimit]) by length from the stream or until the character specified
by delimit(default EOF) is found.
iostream& .open(char* filename, Opens the filename file in the specified mode.
int mode)
int .peek(); Returns the next character in the stream without removing it from
the stream.
int .precision(int prec | void) Sets or returns the floating point precision.
ostream& .put(char ch) Puts the specified character into the stream.
istream& .putback(char ch) Puts the specified character back into the stream.
istream& .read(char* buf, Sends size raw bytes from the buf buffer to the stream.
int size)
long .setf(long flags [, Sets (and returns) the specified ios flag(s).
long mask])
long .unsetf(long flags) Clears the specified ios flag(s).
int .width(int width | void) Sets or returns the current output field width.
ostream& .write(const Sends size raw bytes from buf to the stream.
char* buf, int size)

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IOS Format Flags (ios::x)

dec Use base 10.
fixed Output float values in fixed point format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield)
manipulator or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
hex Use base 16.
internal Distribute fill character between sign and value.
left Align left.
oct Use base 8.
right Align right.
scientific Outputs float values in scientific format (use the resetiosflags(ios::floatfield) manipulator
or the unsetf(ios::floatfield) function to reset to default format).
showbase Encodes base on integer output.
showpoint Include decimal point in output.
showpos Include positive (+) sign in output.
skipws Skip white space (spaces and tabs).
uppercase Forces upper case output.

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IOS File Access Flags (ios::x)

app Open in append mode.
ate Open and seek to end of file.
in Open in input mode.
nocreate Fail if file doesn't already exist.
noreplace Fail if file already exists.
out Open in output mode.
trunc Open and truncate to zero length.
binary Open as a binary stream.

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Class and Structure Definitions

class Name
{
public:
member_function1 declaration [const];
member_function2 declaration;
...
private:
data_member1;
data_member2;
...
};

[inline] type Class_name::member_function_name(arguments) [const]

{
// code
};

The inclusion of the const modifier indicates that the function does not modify the object on
which it operates. This restriction is enforced by the compiler.

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Suffixes for Numerical Constants

Integer constants default to the smallest integer type that can hold their value. Otherwise, the
following suffixes can be used (alone or together):
u Unsigned
l or L Long

Floating point constants default to type double. Otherwise, the following suffixes can be
used:
f Float
l or L Long double

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Character Escape Sequences

\n Newline.
\t Horizontal tab.
\r Carriage return.
\a Alert sound (bell).
\\ Outputs a backslash character.
\" Outputs a double quote character.

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Reserved Words

These words can not be used for programmer defined symbols (names).

asm
auto
break
case
catch
char
class
const
continue
default
delete
do
double
else
enum
extern
float
for
friend
goto
if
inlineint
long
new
operator
private
protected
public
register
return
short
signed
sizeof
static
struct
switch
template
this
throw
try
typedef
union
unsigned
virtual
void
volatile
wchar_t
while

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Operator Precedence Chart

This table lists all the C++ operators in order of non-increasing precedence. An expression
involving operators of equal precedence is evaluated according to the associativity of the
operators.

Operator(s) Description(s) Associativity

:: Class scope resolution (binary) left to right

:: Global scope (unary) right to left

() Function call left to right

() Value construction left to right
[] Array element reference left to right
-> Pointer to class member reference left to right
. Class member reference left to right

-, + Unary minus and plus right to left

>++, -- Increment and decrement right to left
!, ~ Logical negation and one's complement right to left
*, & Pointer dereference (indirection) and address right to left
sizeof Size of an object right to left
(type) Type cast (coercion) right to left
new, delete Create free store object and destroy free store object right to left

>* Pointer to member selector left to right

* Pointer to member selector left to right

*, /, % Multiplication, division and modulus (remainder) left to right

+, - Addition and subtraction left to right

<<, >> Shift left and shift right left to right

<, <=, >, >= Less than, less than or equal, greater than, greater than or left to right
equal

==, != Equality and inequality left to right

& Bitwise AND left to right

^ Bitwise XOR left to right

| Bitwise OR left to right

&& Logical AND left to right

|| Logical OR left to right

? : Conditional expression right to left

=, *=, /=, %=, +=, =, &=, Assignment right to left

^=, |=, >>=, <<=

, Comma left to right

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C++ References

Horstmann, C. S. Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons,
1999.

Cohoon, J. P. and J. W. Davidson. C++ Program Design; An Introduction to Programming

and Object-Oriented Design, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Deitel, H. M. and P. J. Deitel. C++ How to Program. Prentice Hall, 1994.

Perry, J. E. and H. D. Levin. An Introduction to Object-Oriented Design in C++. Addison-

Wesley, 1996.

Barclay, K. A. and B. J. Gordon. C++ Problem Solving and Programming. Prentice Hall,
1994.

Johnsonbaugh, R. and M. Kalin. Object-Oriented Programming in C++. Prentice-Hall, 1995.

Horstmann, C. S. Mastering Object-Oriented Design in C++. John Wiley & Sons, 1995.

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Send comments and suggestions to: Charles S. Tritt, Ph.D.