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A Complete Guide To Programming In C++ – Basics

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C++ is one of the most powerful programming languages as well as being one of the World’s most popular. Using a fast, efficient and reliable C++ IDE is very important for beginners and professionals since it helps C++ developers in remembering which language features exist, how to use them, and even detect errors when we get it wrong. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’re going to release a series of articles which will take you from your very first steps with C++, through the basics, to more advanced topics. We’ll be using RAD Studio and C++ Builder as our C++ IDE and you’re going to learn how to create C++ programs for all platforms including Windows desktop as well as mobile apps.

Complete Guide To Programming Basics In C++

In general most program code is in the form of lines of text. That means you can read code in any editors i.e. with Notepad, Word, etc. on Windows. C and C++ Compilers, compiles (converts) these lines to machine code that directly runs in that operating system and links as a executable (*.exe) file. A Compiler (C or C++ Compiler, etc.) is a computer program that converts one programming language into executable machine code with a linker. Such code may not be as fast as assembler code, but the difference in speed is very small because both machine code and compiler-based code in text form are much more compatible with other CPU/GPUs and/or with other Operating Systems when you compile them on a machine. This is one reason why C++ is the fastest and most powerful programming language. Interpreted programming languages run inside executable applications like Java, Python or Visual Basic. This is why they are slower when executing operations, as they need to use compiled libraries for faster operations. Again, they mostly they use C/C++ compilers to build these libraries. Using an interpreted programming language is like being carried by a runner, while a compiled (non-interpreted) programming language is like running itself. This subtle difference turns into a huge gap when you run the same routine (i.e. for face recognition) millions of times a millisecond.

In this section, we list methods and features that shapes the structure of C++ Programming Language. It is very important for beginners to understand how code lines work in C++.

  1. Easily Learn Powerful C++ Programming Language Structure
  2. What is the std namespace in C++?
  3. What is The Difference Between #include And #include “…”?
  4. Learn About Constants And Literals In The C++ Programming Language
  5. Easily Learn About Using Input And Output In C++ Programming
  6. Quickly Learn About Data Types And Size Of Variables In The C++ Programming Language
  7. How To: Use Variables In C++ Programming
  8. Quickly Learn To Use Variables Between Units In C++ Builder
  9. Learn How To Use Comments In C++
  10. Learn How To Use Booleans In C++
  11. Learn How To Use Operators In C++
  12. This Is How To Use Bitwise Operators in C++ Software
  13. What Does & (the ampersand) Mean In A C++ App?
  14. Learn To Use For Loops In C++
  15. Learn to Use While and Do-While Loops in C++
  16. Learn To Use Break And Continue In Loops With C++
  17. Discover If Statements and Conditions in C++
  18. Discover Switch Statements in C++
  19. Learn To Define And Use Arrays In C++
  20. Discover Goto and Labels in C++
  21. Learn To Use Mathematical And Trigonometric Functions In C++
  22. Discover Function Overloading in C++
  23. Learn About Parameters Passed by Reference in Functions
  24. Learn to Use Constant References in C++ Functions
  25. Learn about Data Structures in C & C++
  26. This Is How To Use Exception Handling In C++ Software
  27. What Is The Purpose Of Local Variables In C++?
  28. What Is The Right Way To Use const_cast In C++?
  29. How To Use static_cast In C++ Software
  30. This Is How to Use dynamic_cast in C++
  31. What Is The Right Way To Use reinterpret_cast In C++?
  32. Learn To Use Windows DOS Commands In A C++ App
  33. What You Need To Learn About Using Bits In C++ Software
  34. This Is How To Use Bit Shifting In Your C++ App

Complete Guide To Programming Numbers In C++

The Fundamental Data Types are listed officially hereCharshort,  int, and long, together with their unsigned variants, are all considered integer data types. The following table shows the integer type specifiers, with synonyms listed on the same line. Here are the posts about how to use to some of Fundamental Integer Data Types.

How to manipulate and represent numbers in C++?

  1. Learn To Use The Multi-Talented Printf() Function In C++
  2. What Is The sscanf Function In C++ And How Can I Use It?
  3. How To Use fscanf In Your Own C++ Software
  4. How To Use The All-Powerful swscanf function In Your C++ App
  5. Learn To Display Numbers With Formatting In C++ Software
  6. Learn to Display Formatted Floating Numbers in C++ Builder
  7. What Is The –> Or ++> Decrement/Increment Operator In C++?
  8. How To Convert An Integer To A String In A C++ App

Complete Guide To Programming Strings In C++

The basic_string (std::basic_string and std::pmr::basic_string) is a class template that stores and manipulates sequences of alpha numeric string objects (char,w_char,…). For example, str::string and std::wstring are the data types defined by the std::basic_string<char>. In other words, basic_string is used to define different data_types which means a basic_string is not a string only, it is a namespace for a general string format. A basic string can be used to define string, wstring, u8string, u16string and u32string data types. Let’s see how we can use them in different operations.

How to use the C++ string class?

  1. What You Need To Know About std::basic_string In Modern C++
  2. Learn to Use Strings in C++
  3. Learn to Use Strings (string) in C++ – All You Need To Know
  4. How To Use Methods To Copy One String to Another String
  5. How To Get A Substring Of A String In A C++ App
  6. How Do I Add Characters to Strings in C++ The Right Way?
  7. What You Need To Append One String To Another In A C++ App
  8. You Need To Know How To Correctly Remove Characters From C++ Strings
  9. How To Access Individual Character Elements Of A C++ String
  10. This Is How To Swap One String With Another In A C++ App
  11. This Is How To Print A Pointer String In A C++ App
  12. What Is The Modern Way To Read Formatted Strings In A C++ App?
  13. This Is How To Convert A String To A Char Array In C++ Software
  14. How To Convert A Float To A String In A C++ App
  15. How To Erase/Delete Part Of A String In C++ Software
  16. How To Use The find() String Method In A Modern C++ App
  17. How To Use The rfind() Search Method in C++ Software
  18. How To Use find_first_of() And find_last_of() In C++ Apps
  19. How To find_first_not_of() Or find_last_not_of() In C++ Apps
  20. What You Need To Know About Clear Methods In C++ Software
  21. How To Make A Comparison Between Strings In A C++ App
  22. This Is How String Capacity And Lengths Work In A C++ App
  23. How To Make A Comparison Between Strings In A C++ App
  24. How To Replace A String Into Another String In A C++ App
  25. How To Convert A String to a Wide String In A Modern C++ App
  26. Using Iterators of String in C++ Software
  27. How To Insert A String Into Another String In A C++ App

What is the wstring class in C++?

  1. Learn To Use Wide Strings (wstring) In C++
  2. How To Make Use Of Wide String Properties In C++ Software
  3. How To Replace A Wide String Into Another In A C++ App
  4. Convert A Char Array To A Wide String In Modern C++ Software
  5. How To Swap One Wide String With Another Wide String
  6. This Is How To Add Characters to Wide Strings in Modern C++
  7. The Right Way To Access Character Elements Of A Wide String
  8. This Is How To Get A Substring of a Wide String in C++
  9. Learn How To Use Wide String Clear Methods in C++
  10. The Modern Way To Read Formatted Wide Strings In A C++ App
  11. How To Use Wide String Iterators In Modern C++ Software
  12. What Is The Erase WString Method In A Modern C++ App
  13. This Is How To Join Two Wide Strings In Modern C++ Software
  14. 3 Ways To Remove Characters From WString In A Modern C++ App
  15. How To Copy A Wide String to Wide Char Array In A C++ App
  16. What Is The find() Wide String Method In A Modern C++ App?
  17. Inserting A String Into A Wide String In A Modern C++ App
  18. How To Use WString find_first_of() In A Modern C++ App
  19. How To Make find_first_not_of() String Searches In A C++ App

What is u16string in C++?

  1. This Is How To Convert u16string To A wstring In C++

What is u32string in C++?

  1. This Is How To Use std::u32string In C++ Software

How to use UnicodeString in C++?

  1. Unicode Strings in C++ On Windows
  2. How To Operate On The Words In A String In C++
  3. Learn About Delimiters (Tokens) in Modern C++ On Windows

The complete guide to file operations in C++

C++ is a great programming language that can reach every part of your device or operating system. The ability to manipulate the file system of an operating system is very important and it will help you when coding to understand the file system features of the target Operating System and the corresponding features of C++.

In this section, you’ll learn how to use DOS commands to operate on files, as well as how to use system commands in C++ to list, copy, rename, delete, and move files and set file permissions using the C++ system commands.

How to work with files in C++?

  1. Quickly Learn To Search And Count Words From A Text File In Modern C++
  2. Tutorial: Learn To Sort A Text File On Windows With C++
  3. Handle Based File Operations In C++ Builder
  4. Windows File Operations in Modern C++
  5. This Is How To Use File Operations In C++
  6. How To Get A File Name Without Extension In C++ Software
  7. How To Get The Attributes Of A Given File For Windows App Development
  8. How To Check If A File Exists or Not on Windows
  9. How To Change A File Extension On Windows Using C+
  10. How to use SameFileName method on Windows
  11. How To Generate A Random File Name on Windows
  12. How To Delete A File On Windows In C++ Builder
  13. Everything You Need To Set File Attributes In Your Apps
  14. How To Read And Write Text Files In A Modern C++ App
  15. How To Use GetFileName On A Path String In A C++ App
  16. How To Use The ExtractFileName Method In Your C++ Software
  17. This Is How To Extract A File Extension in A Windows C++ App
  18. How To Get A File Extension From A Windows Path In A C++ App

How to manipulate file paths in C++?

  1. How To Understand File And Folder Paths In Programming
  2. Extract A File Path For C++ App Development On Windows
  3. How To Extract the Short Path Name From The File Path
  4. How To Extract A Relative Path From Path Strings on Windows
  5. How To Extract The File Directory Name From A File Path In C++
  6. How to Combine Two Path Strings in C++ Builder
  7. How To Get A Full Path From A String On Windows?
  8. This Is How To Change A File Path In A String On Windows
  9. How To Use GetTempPath Method In C++ Builder?
  10. How to Use GetHomePath Method in C++ Builder
  11. How To Check Characters of File Names and Paths on Windows
  12. How To Include Or Exclude Trailing Backslashes On Windows
  13. How To Include And Exclude Path Delimiters On Windows
  14. How To Get Windows Environment Variables In C++ Builder

How to create, check, delete and force directories in C++?

  1. Learn To Use Directory Operations In Your C++ App
  2. How To Check If a Directory Really Exists on Windows
  3. How To Use C++ To Get And Set Current Directory On Windows
  4. The Easy Way To Create A Windows Directory In C++
  5. How To Use ForceDirectories Method To Create Folders In C++
  6. How To Check If A Directory On Windows Is Empty In C++?
  7. How To Delete A Directory In C++ Builder On Windows
  8. How To Get A Directory Name From A Path String

How to work with Drives in C++?

  1. How to Get Disk Information in C++ on Windows?
  2. How To Extract The Drive Name From A Path In A C++ App

What is the complete guide to programming time and date in C++?

When we write programs, it’s very common to come across two important data structures, which are the Date and Time properties. The Date and Time property is obtained from a time module which is a physical device on the hardware you are using.

  1. How To Make A Millisecond Timer In C And C++
  2. Learn to Use Date and Its Properties in Your C++ App
  3. Learn To Use Time And Its Properties In Your C++ App
  4. This Is How To Use Time And Its Properties In C++ Software
  5. Everything You Need To Use Dates Properly In C++ Software

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C++ Builder is the easiest and fastest C and C++ IDE for building simple or professional applications on the Windows, MacOS, iOS & Android operating systems. It is also easy for beginners to learn with its wide range of samples, tutorials, help files, and LSP support for code. RAD Studio’s C++ Builder version comes with the award-winning VCL framework for high-performance native Windows apps and the powerful FireMonkey (FMX) framework for cross-platform UIs.

You can download the free C++ Builder Community Edition here: https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder/starter.

Professional developers can use the Professional, Architect or Enterprise versions of C++ Builder. Please visit https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder.


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About author

Dr. Yilmaz Yoru has 35+ years of coding with more than 30+ programming languages, mostly C++ on Windows, Android, Mac-OS, iOS, Linux, and some other operating systems. He graduated and received his MSc and PhD degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Eskisehir Osmangazi University. He is the founder and CEO of ESENJA LLC Company. His interests are Programming, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Artificial Intelligence, 2D & 3D Designs, and high-end innovations.

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