12/19/2016
This series of tutorials is the general learning plan for C++. I presume you have Visual Studio installed. If you are working on Mac/Linux, use a text editor like Emacs and compile via the command line:
$ g++ -o OUTPUT_FILE INPUT_FILES -std=c++11 && ./OUTPUT_FILE
Make a project if using Visual Studio and open a file of
the name first.cpp. This file will
be INPUT_FILES for the command line
compilers.
Hello world:
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
using namespace std;
int main() {
cout << "Hello World!\n";
// If you are using Visual Studio, add the following line to keep
// the terminal open until you input a key.
getchar();
return 0;
}
Try printing out your name by changing the text inside the
double quotes to Czipperz or something of
the like.
Try printing out a number, removing the quotes entirely doing so.
Let's look at the structure of our program. The first two lines tell the compiler to look up information related to input and output on the terminal with the user.
The third line tells the computer to use the standard
library (std).
The fourth line tells the computer we are writing a
function, one named main that will return an integer
(int). Since there is
nothing inside the parenthesis, the function takes no
arguments from its caller. The open curly bracket
({) indicates a function
body: the code that will run when the function is called.
Running our program will automatically
call main().
The fifth line instructs the computer to print the string
"Hello World!\n" to the terminal.
The "\n" instructs it to
print a new line.
The sixth and optional line instructs the compiler to get a character from the user, keeping the program alive until so.
The seventh line instructs the compiler to signal successful
completion of the program. Returning a non-zero number
from main() signifies an error.
The eighth and final line closes the function and ends the program.