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1. A simple C++ program 2. A slightly more complex C++ program 3. Getting Organized

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Getting Organized

• Acquire one or more quality programming textbooks. Don't expect to learn C++ just by reading these pages and compiling the examples. This tutorial can only be one part of several parallel activities, including reading quality textbooks.
• Get into the habit of copying examples from these pages, pasting them into your programming editor (with Arachnophilia, always use Edit ... Paste Plain Text), and compiling them.
• If there is something you don't understand about a program, or if there is an experiment you would like to try, simply make the changes you want and compile again. Later on, with advanced programs that interact with the file system, you will need to be much more careful about experimental program changes, but with these early, simple, console-only programs, trying out alternatives is a quick way to learn a lot.
• Arrange your tutorial activity efficiently. If possible, run your browser and programming editor at once, and make your editor launch the compiler directly (Arachnophilia can do this — read how here ).
• Don't waltz past something you don't understand at all. Stop and examine it, run experiments, consult other resources.

• Avoid racing forward. If the compiler indicates an error, or if your program doesn't do what you expect, learn why this happened — don't just fix it without understanding the problem or the solution. And if a program compiles and runs uneventfully, take the time to study each line and its purpose anyway.
• Avoid writing many lines of code without compiling intermediate results. After a certain number of errors builds up in your program, it becomes nearly impossible to sort them all out. Get used to compiling frequently to check your work.
• Again, be willing to experiment with the simpler programs. If you think something is not necessary or could be done differently, don't assume -- experiment. Most compiler errors are quite harmless, and most runtime errors are also harmess. Each of these errors has educational potential.

• Each C++ program must have a main() function.
• The main() function cannot be written any old way. In particular, it must return an integer. Many textbooks show main() as returning void — these books are now out-of-date. This is not a reason to avoid a particular book if the other content is accurate.
• You can write any number of functions that are called by main() or by each other.
• Standard library routines are accessed by way of header files.
• Header files are included in your program by using the #include statement.
• A program is a series of statements, each usually ending in a semicolon, and normally grouped together with braces ("{","}"):

  void DayInTheLife(Time now)
  {
  	if(isDaytime(now)) {
  		GoToBeach();
  		GetSuntan();
  	}
  	else if(isEvening(now)) {
  		VisitFriends(John, Mary, Bill);
  		ReadBook();
  	}
  	else {
  		Sleep();
  	}
  }
        

• If possible, use a programming editor that will indent you code as shown above. I cannot overemphasize the advantages for code readability and quick error detection that such an indenting routine (usually called a "beautifier") produces. My free Windows program Arachnophilia has this feature built in.

Home |

C++ Tutorial |

3. First Program |

1. A simple C++ program 2. A slightly more complex C++ program 3. Getting Organized

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