Exploring C++20: The Programmer's Introduction to C++

© Ray Lischner 2020

R. LischnerExploring C++20https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5961-0_41

41. Declarations and Definitions

Ray Lischner¹ 

(1)

Ellicott City, MD, USA

 

Exploration 20 introduced the distinction between declarations and definitions. This is a good time to remind you of the difference and to explore declarations and definitions of classes and their members.

Declaration vs. Definition

Recall that a declaration furnishes the compiler with the basic information it needs, so that you can use a name in a program. In particular, a function declaration tells the compiler about the function’s name, return type, parameter types, and modifiers, such as const and override.

A definition is a particular kind of declaration that also provides the full ...