C++ Primer, Fifth Edition

1.5. Introducing Classes

The only remaining feature we need to understand before solving our bookstore problem is how to define a data structure to represent our transaction data. In C++ we define our own data structures by defining a class. A class defines a type along with a collection of operations that are related to that type. The class mechanism is one of the most important features in C++. In fact, a primary focus of the design of C++ is to make it possible to define class types that behave as naturally as the built-in types.

In this section, we’ll describe a simple class that we can use in writing our bookstore program. We’ll implement this class in later chapters as we learn more about types, expressions, statements, and functions. ...