Understanding C++: An Accelerated Introduction

Series Overview

by Marshall Brain and Kelly Campbell
Interface Technologies, Inc.
1-800-224-4965, http://www.iftech.com
¨ Copyright 1995 by Marshall Brain. All rights reserved.
Version 2.03, 7/1/95


These tutorials come from the C++ appendix of the book Visual C++: Developing Professional Applications in Windows 95 and NT using MFC. For more information on this book, please click here.

The goal of these tutorials is to help you to gain an understanding of the fundamental concepts driving C++ in a quick and painless way. They let you begin thinking in an "object oriented way". Once you understand the fundamentals, the rest of the language is relatively straightforward because you will have a framework on which to attach other details as you need them. Once you understand its underlying themes and vocabulary, C++ turns out to be a remarkable language with quite a bit of expressive power. Used correctly, it can dramatically improve your productivity as a programmer.

The tutorials start with a brief explanation of why C++ exists, and what it is trying to accomplish. C++ is a response to a number of problems that arise in large programming projects, and the language makes a lot more sense if you view it in that light. The next section describes enhancements in C++ that overcome and correct deficiencies in the C language. The remainder of the tutorials introduce the concepts of object oriented programming, and the ways in which C++ handles those ideas:

Tutorials Six and Seven get a little deep into pointer details--if you feel uncomfortable with pointers right now, skip them and move to Tutorial Eight.


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