Programming with Mosh
C++ Programming Language
C++ is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It is the language of choice
for building performance-critical applications, such as video games, device drivers, web browsers,
servers, operating systems, and more. That's why it's used by large companies like Adobe, Google,
Microsoft, Netflix, and even government agencies like NASA.
The latest version of C++ is version 20, with the next version coming out next year. The average
salary of a C++ programmer in the US is just over $170,000 a year.
The Two Things to Learn
To master C++, there are two things you need to learn: the language itself (meaning the syntax or
the grammar of this language), and the C++ standard library. You need to be able to learn from the
C++ standard library, but you also need to learn the language itself to master it.
The language itself is a great choice. It has influenced many programming languages like C#, Java,
and so-called "types of JavaScript" like TypeScript, Dart, and more. It's a great investment and
opens a lot of doors for you to land a job as a software engineer.
Many people find C++ a bit intimidating, but in reality, you don't need to learn all of C++ to be
able to write substantial programs. In this course, we'll explore major functionalities in the
standard library, but the library is huge so we'll only scratch the surface. If you want to learn
more, there are books specifically written on this topic.
Using an IDE
We use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is basically an application that
contains an editor for writing code as well as build and debug tools. We'll explore how you can
write some really cool programs as you're learning C++. I'm going to give you plenty of exercises to
help you better understand and remember the concepts. Then you will see that C++ is not really
that difficult.
I recommend using CLion, but you can use any tool you prefer. CLion is cross-platform, so it runs
on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can try it for free for 30 days, but then it requires a license. If
you don't want to pay for a license, you can use the Community Edition, which is free. You can get
it from the app store for Windows, Mac, or Linux.
, Creating Your First C++ Program
We're going to create our first C++ program together in the next lesson. The first time you open
CLion, you're going to see a popup box for activating your license. For now, just select "Start Trial."
You need to log into your Jet Brains account, so either sign in or create a new account. It's really
simple and will only take a minute or two.
Now back to CLion. We can start our trial now. On this page, we're going to click on "New Project."
On the top, we can specify the location of this project. On my Mac, it's going to be on
users/myname/CLionProjects. I'm going to delete all this code because it maintains a file that is
the main file of our program. The next lesson will be written in a file called "main.cpp." If you
accidentally close it, you can easily find it in the project window, so expand this folder and here is
"main.cpp."
Conclusion
C++ is a great programming language to learn, and it has numerous applications. With a little
practice and patience, you can be on your way to building amazing programs. Please try it out and
see for yourself!
C++ is a case-sensitive language, so the uppercase and lowercase letters matter. Make sure to type
the code exactly as shown to avoid errors. We will define a function, and its return value will
indicate whether our code terminated successfully.
The first line of the program should start with #include followed by the angle brackets and the
name of one of the files in the standard library. In this case, we use iostream for input/output
stream. The bottom of the library marks the end of our program.
The code gets compiled into machine code, which is a language that the computer's operating
system understands. Each operating system uses a different machine code, so we have to compile
our program for each OS we want it to run on.
In this video, I will teach you how to run your C++ program and how to use the standard library's
functions to print on the console. Afterwards, we will look at some common expressions and
errors that you may encounter.
Once you understand the basics of C++, you can move on to writing applications with a graphical
user interface if that is what you want. To change the appearance of the C++ editor, we can install
new themes, such as the popular Dracula theme.
In the next lesson, I will show you how to change the code editor's colors to match your personal
preferences. Remember to pay close attention to the code and compare it with your code if you
encounter any errors.