C++: A General Purpose Language and Library

1. C++: A General Purpose Language and Library Kate Gregory | Gregory Consulting James McNellis| Senior Engineer, Visual C++

2. Meet Kate Gregory | ‏@gregcons • Consultant (mentor), author, developer • All about community • MVP, RD, user groups, conferences • StackOverflow • Twitter, blog, Facebook… • Over 35 years of industry experience • Using C++ since before Microsoft had a C++ compiler

3. Meet James McNellis | @JamesMcNellis • Senior Software Development Engineer at Microsoft • Currently a member of the Visual C++ Libraries team • One of the top C++ contributors on StackOverflow • Using C++ since Microsoft released Visual C++ 6.0 • Usually has absolutely no idea what he is doing

4. Course Topics

5. Setting Expectations • Target Audience • Has done some development in any other programming language • Familiar with concepts like looping, conditional expressions • No need for any C++ background or any C-related language • Suggested Prerequisites/Supporting Material • Book: C++ Primer, 5th Ed., by Lippman, Lajoie, and Moo • Software and Tools • Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop • Free download • Sample Code available • http://aka.ms/CodeCPlusPlusJS

6. Join the MVA Community! • Microsoft Virtual Academy • Free online learning tailored for IT Pros and Developers • Over 1M registered users • Up-to-date, relevant training on variety of Microsoft products • “Earn while you learn!” • Get 50 MVA Points for this event! • Visit http://aka.ms/MVA-Voucher • Enter this code: CPlusPlus (expires 12/20/2013)

7. 01 | {Getting Started} Kate Gregory | Gregory Consulting James McNellis | Senior Engineer, Visual C++

8. Module Overview • Development Environment • How to write, build, and run code • Quick History of C++ • Variables and Types

9. Lesson 1 – Development Environment • Development Environment

10. Development Environment • Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop • It’s free and it’s all you need to follow along • Not using Windows? • C++ works on other platforms too • http://isocpp.org/get-started has links to compilers • Our sample code is available • LINK TBA

11. Hello, World!

12. Lesson 2: How to Write, Build and Run Code • How code is built • Structure of a C++ program • Debugging

13. The Compilation Process

14. Structure of a C++ program #include <iostream> int main() { std::cout << "Hello, World!" << std::endl; return 0; } Use a library Special function name that the OS calls to run your program std::cout represents console output<< means send the next thing to it

15. Building

16. Debugging • Normally a console application • Starts • Executes the code in main() • Might print to the console (or read from the keyboard) • Terminates (quits) • Under a debugger, you can pause execution • Inspect values • Watch execution proceed • Slower, but vital to understanding

17. Debugging

18. Lesson 3: Quick History of C++ • Born in 1979 as C with Classes • Retains backward compatibility with C • Named C++ in 1983 • Ratified as ISO standard in 1998 • Continues to change under stewardship of a standards committee

19. Lesson 1: Types • C++ is strongly typed • Fundamental types • Casting (changing type)

20. Types

21. Fundamental Types • Types you use a lot: • int, unsigned int • double • bool • Types you may see • char, unsigned char • long, unsigned long • short, unsigned short • float • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc953fe1.aspx

22. Casting • Instead of writing code that relies on the compiler to convert one type to another, you can ask for it explicitly • i = static_cast<int>(3.2); • Makes a good “signpost” for others who read your code • Takes away compiler warnings • Always try to build warning free

23. Casting