C++ All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition

Introduction

There are many general-purpose programming languages today, but few can claim to be the language of the millennium. C++ can make that claim, and for good reason:

• It’s powerful. You can write almost any program in it.
• It’s fast, and it’s fully compiled. That’s a good thing.
• It’s easy to use — if you have this book.
• It’s object oriented. If you’re not sure what that is, don’t worry. You can find out about it by reading this very book you’re holding.
• It supports functional programming techniques, which makes modeling math problems considerably easier and makes parallel processing easier. This book covers functional programming techniques, too.
• It’s portable. Versions are available for nearly every computer.
• It’s standardized. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) both approve an official version.
• It’s continually updated to meet the changing challenges of the computer community.
• It’s popular. More people are using C++ because so many other people use it.

Sure, some people criticize C++. But most of these people don’t truly understand C++ or are just having a bad day. Or both.

About This Book

This book is a hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves experience that gives you the opportunity to truly learn C++. This edition starts out by helping you get a great C++ installation in place. A lot of readers wrote to tell me that they simply couldn’t get C++ to work for them, and I listened by adding configuration instructions ...