The C++ Programming Language, Fourth Edition

8. Structures, Unions, and Enumerations

Form a more perfect Union.

– The people

• Introduction

• Structures

struct Layout; struct Names; Structures and Classes; Structures and Arrays; Type Equivalence; Plain Old Data; Fields

• Unions

Unions and Classes; Anonymous unions

• Enumerations

enum classes; Plain enums; Unnamed enums

• Advice

8.1. Introduction

The key to effective use of C++ is the definition and use of user-defined types. This chapter introduces the three most primitive variants of the notion of a user-defined type:

• A struct (a structure) is a sequence of elements (called members) of arbitrary types.

• A union is a struct that holds the value of just one of its elements at any one time.

• An enum (an enumeration) is a type with a ...