1A Crash Course in C++ and the Standard Library
The goal of this chapter is to cover briefly the most important parts of C++ so that you have a foundation of knowledge before embarking on the rest of this book. This chapter is not a comprehensive lesson in the C++ programming language or the Standard Library. Certain basic points, such as what a program is and what recursion is, are not covered. Esoteric points, such as the definition of a union, or the volatile keyword, are also omitted. Certain parts of the C language that are less relevant in C++ are also left out, as are parts of C++ that get in-depth coverage in later chapters.
This chapter aims to cover the parts of C++ that programmers encounter every day. For example, if you're fairly new to C++ and don't understand what a reference variable is, you'll learn about that kind of variable here. You'll also learn the basics of how to use the functionality available in ...