What This Book Covers

◀ Introduction▶ Terminology and Symbols Amazon First the book alerts readers to different aspects of C++, including programming conventions, common misconceptions, and tips and pitfalls involving the use of a class and a function. Then it covers a mini-tutorial on highly useful tools that C++ standard libraries provide, including the Standard Template Library and the string class, to make sure programmers are familiar with them. The following chapters are the jewels of the book—how to program efficiently and finitely. The next big section is to have readers brush their programming teeth by working through a series of exercises. Below is a list of short descriptions of what each chapter covers:

Chapter 1 – why naming conventions are important and how adopting one can avoid potential bugs

Chapter 2 – general misconceptions in programming

Chapter 3 – traps and tips involving the use of a class

Chapter 4 – traps and tips involving the use of a function

Chapter 5 – introduction of debugging and how to debug efficiently

Chapter 6 – differences between arrays and pointers and how to dynamically allocate memory

Chapter 7 – how to use the Standard Template Library

Chapter 8 – how to use C++ string class

Chapter 9 – introduction of segmentation fault and how to avoid it

Chapter 10 – layout of a typical program

Chapter 11 – characteristics of a good program and the 4-step model of writing a good program

Chapter 12 – characteristics of a good function and the 4-step model of writing a good function

Chapter 13 – importance of documentation

Chapter 14 – a collection of debugging exercises

Chapter 15 – a collection of programming exercises

Chapter 16 – a list of big traps and tips

Appendix A – C++ keywords so that readers will be careful not to use them for any other purpose

Appendix B – operator precedence so that readers know the order of evaluations in an expression

Appendix C – useful functions that perform common tasks such as showing the running time of a program and tokenizing a string

Appendix D – a list of small traps and tips

Appendix E – online resources for readers’ reference

Conclusion – final word of advice to readers

◀ Introduction▶ Terminology and Symbols