2
User-Defined Types
Don’t Panic!
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2.1 Introduction
We call the types that can be built from the fundamental types (§1.4), the const
modifier (§1.6), and the declarator operators (§1.7) built-in types. C++’s set of built-in types and operations is rich, but deliberately low-level. They directly and efficiently reflect the capabilities of conventional computer hardware. However, they don’t provide the programmer with high-level facilities to conveniently write advanced applications. Instead, C++ augments the built-in types and operations with a sophisticated set of abstraction mechanisms out of which programmers can build such high-level facilities.
The C++ abstraction ...
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