Slides

Section :Literals and

constants
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 Literals and Constants :
Introduction

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 Data that is directly represented in
Literal code without going through some
other variable stored in memory

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 They are literally stored in the
Literal program executable file, hence the
name literal!

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 A read only variable. Can’t assign
const
data to it

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 A constant that has the POTENTIAL to
constexpr
be evaluated at compile time

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 A variable that should be initialized
constinit
with a constant or literal at compile
time

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 Literals

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 Data that is directly represented in
Literal code without going through some
other variable stored in memory

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The C++ 20 Masterclass : From Fundamentals to Advanced © Daniel Gakwaya
 They are literally stored in the
Literal program executable file, hence the
name literal!

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 a= 10 (int)
CPU
b = 5 (int)
c (int)
print(“Statement1”)
Program print(“Statement2”)
c = f_add(a,b)
area print(“Statement3”)
print(“Statement4”)
end

Hard Drive

10 a
5 b

param1
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param2
Param1 + param2
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The C++ 20 Masterclass : From Fundamentals to Advanced © Daniel Gakwaya
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The C++ 20 Masterclass : From Fundamentals to Advanced © Daniel Gakwaya
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The C++ 20 Masterclass : From Fundamentals to Advanced © Daniel Gakwaya
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 Constants

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 A variable you can initialize, but
Constant
can’t change afterwards

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 The const qualifier applies to the variable name you
are using to manipulate data in memory. It doesn’t
apply to the 0’s and 1’s in memory themselves

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 Why const ?

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 Guarantee that the variable will never change
throughout the lifetime of your program

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 int const int

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 When to use const ?

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• Using const where it makes sense in your code makes it self documenting in that when
someone sees your variable declaration, they instantly know that it is a read only piece of data

• You also get the compiler protection when you try to modify the read only variable by mistake

• It is recommended to make your variables const where possible

• I personally declare most of my variables const and then take the const out when I need the
variable to be modified.

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 Constant Expressions

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 IDE

Compile Time
Compiler

Run Time Executable binary file

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 constexpr Constant that may be evaluated at compile time or runtime

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 • If possible, move the potentially heavy computations at compile time

• The heavy computation is done once by the developer and users running the
application can benefit from the results of the computation done at compile
time

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 Compiler

Executable binary file

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 Initialization

Constexpr
Executable binary file
Computation

Runtime
computations

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 Initialization Initialization Initialization Initialization

Constexpr Constexpr Constexpr Constexpr

Computation Computation Computation Computation

Runtime Runtime Runtime Runtime

computations computations computations computations

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 Constexpr
Compiler Computation

Executable binary file

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 Initialization

Executable binary file

Runtime
computations

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 Initialization Initialization Initialization Initialization

Runtime Runtime Runtime Runtime

computations computations computations computations

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 Constant expressions have been introduced in C++11
Before that, everything was done at runtime
With every new iteration of the C++ standard, we see the range of things we can
do at compile time increase.

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 Runtime computations

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 Compile time computations

Runtime computations

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 Compile time computations

Runtime computations

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 Compile time computations

Runtime computations

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 Compile time computations

Runtime computations

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 Compile time computations

Runtime computations

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 Checks at compile time

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 Constant expressions are also constants, so
you can’t reassign values to them

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 constinit

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 Section Summary

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 Literals and constants

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 Data that is directly represented in
Literal code without going through some
other variable stored in memory

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 A variable you can initialize, but
Constant
can’t change afterwards

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 constexpr static_assert()

constinit

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