What is C++ ??

                                    INTRODUCTION

Ø  The C++ Programming language is high level language , it was developed at  AT &T Bell Laboratories in the early 1980s by  Bjarne Stroustrup

Ø  Bjarne Stroustrup  called it “C with classes” originally.

Ø  The name C++(pronounced C plus plus) was coined by Rick Mascitti where “++” is the C increment operator

                                TOKENS(LEXICAL UNITS)

Ø  The smallest individual unit in a program is known as a  Tokens

Ø  C++ has the following tokens:

1.       Keywords

2.       Identifiers

3.       Literals

4.       Punctuators

5.       Operators

Ø  KEYWORDS   : Keywords are the words that convey a special meaning to the language                    compiler. These are reserved for special purpose and must not be used as identifier names.

     Ex:   Int , break, float, long, return, const, class, etc.

Ø  IDENTIFIERS : Identifiers are fundamental building blocks of a program and are used as the general terminology for the names given too different parts of the program.

    Ex: Myfile, data

Ø  LITERALS : Literals (referred as constant )are data items that never change their value during a program run. C++ allows following literals:

1.       Integer-constant                 3.   Character-constant

2.       Floating-constant                4.   String-constant

Ø  PUNCTUATORS:  The following character are used as punctuators:

                                 [   ]   (  )  {  }   ,   ;   :   *   ….   =    #

Ø  OPERATORS :  Operators are token that trigger some computation when applied to variables        and other objects in an expression. The following list gives  a brief description of the operators and their function :

                       &        Address operator

                       *         Indirection operator

                       +         Unary plus

                       -         Unary minus

                     ++         Increment operator

                     __         Decrement operator

                       !          logical negation

The Features of C++ as a Language

Now that all the necessary theory has been covered, now it is possible to explain what C++ has to offer as a programming language. C++...

• ...is an open ISO-standardized language.
  For a time, C++ had no official standard and was maintained by a de-facto standard, however since 1998, C++ is standardized by a committee of the ISO. Their page may be accessed here. 
• ...is a compiled language.
  C++ compiles directly to a machine's native code, allowing it to be one of the fastest languages in the world, if optimized. 
• ...is a strongly-typed unsafe language.
  C++ is a language that expects the programmer to know what he or she is doing, but allows for incredible amounts of control as a result. 
• ...supports both manifest and inferred typing.
  As of the latest C++ standard, C++ supports both manifest and inferred typing, allowing flexibility and a means of avoiding verbosity where desired. 
• ...supports both static and dynamic type checking.
  C++ allows type conversions to be checked either at compile-time or at run-time, again offering another degree of flexibility. Most C++ type checking is, however, static. 
• ...offers many paradigm choices.
  C++ offers remarkable support for procedural, generic, and object-oriented programming paradigms, with many other paradigms being possible as well. 
• ...is portable.
  As one of the most frequently used languages in the world and as an open language, C++ has a wide range of compilers that run on many different platforms that support it. Code that exclusively uses C++'s standard library will run on many platforms with few to no changes. 
• ...is upwards compatible with C
  C++, being a language that directly builds off C, is compatible with almost all C code. C++ can use C libraries with few to no modifications of the libraries' code.