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

Chapter 1

Working with Arrays, Pointers, and References

IN THIS CHAPTER

Working with arrays and multidimensional arrays

Understanding the connection between arrays and pointers

Dealing with pointers in all their forms

Using reference variables

When the C programming language, predecessor to C++, came out in the early 1970s, it was a breakthrough because it was small. C had only a few keywords. Tasks like printing to the console were handled not by built-in keywords but by functions. Technically, C++ still has few keywords, so it’s still small. So what makes C++ big?

• Its libraries are huge.
• It’s extremely sophisticated, resulting in millions of things you can do with the language.

In this chapter, you encounter the full rundown of topics that lay the foundation for C++: arrays, pointers, and references. In C++, these items come up again and again.

This chapter assumes that you have a basic understanding of C++ — that you understand the material in Books 1 and 2. You know the basics of pointers and arrays (and maybe just a teeny bit about references) and you’re ready to grasp them ...