MESSAGE
| DATE | 2008-07-02 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] C++ Workshop 2 (section 2.1)
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C++ Workshop II
The next chapter of the C++ book gives a whirlwind tour of the basics
of the C++ syntax that are necessary for object oriented programming.
This section is almost like jumping into the pool and hope you get
acclimated to the water. C++ is not a good language for a beginner,
and this section makes it clear why. To really get a handle on this
section without prior programing experience is a very tall order.
In parsing this chapter, keep a few things in mind. Much of the code
snippets given as an example in this section would be written outside of
your main program, as library files and header files. While we discussed
the preprocessor directive previously in both the C and C++ workshops,
we hadn't looked at them in detail. For those not familiar with these
construction, which are core to C programing, a few words are in order
about them.
There are two different external file types that your compiler uses to
build your program, aside from the file that your main program code is
stored in. They are called header files or libraries. Most normally,
there is a header file for each library. They also share part of their
name according to a naming convention. Standardized libraries, such
as iostream have header files. The libraries can be static or shared.
Either type is unlinked C bitcode, or objects files in C language
parlance. A group of object files archived together, usually with the
'ar' program, form these libraries. Thee files normally exist in
/usr/lib or /lib and might have a suffix of '.so'. It is sometimes
necessary to compile a program with the -I option to tell the compiler
to include a library, even though the preprocessor include line is
designating the header file. Usually if the header file is math.h then
the library is libmath.
Declaration of variable types, function names, and preprocessor constants
which apply to the library files are header files. These are what
is referred to within your program, such as or .
In C these are .h files such as /usr/include/strings.h. In C++ they
might not, as in /usr/include/g++/iostream. Take a peek and look at
some of your header files. Becoming familiar with their syntax will
greatly improve your hacking skills.
The reason to discuss this, and we should really talk even more about
this, is that the examples in the C++ text implicitly and explicitly
imply that the code being written is for library objects, and written in
external files. When we discuss making classes, the most logical place to
make a new class is in an external file, compiled to an C object for use
later by someone else's program. Calling class objects is not a problem.
A simple explanation of the “new†keyword and type defining the class
structures puts you on your way. But once we discuss Constructors,
Destructors, data hiding, public interface design, private data and
implementation design, operator overloading, and function overloading
and polymorphism, then we are talking writing modules for others to use,
or even for us to use concurrently to the main code we are writing.
Section 2.1 is a big section which walks through much of the C++ basic
design, and I will go over it piece by piece over the next couple of days.
-- http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff http://www.nylxs.com -
Leadership Development in Free Software
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
RI Safir 1998
http://fairuse.nylxs.com DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS -
RI Safir 2002
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
our own society."
"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be
damned.< You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and
technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in
Ancient Egypt. I guess you missed that one."
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