This tutorial was originally written for the beginners at the Lab of cosmology, stellar dynamics and computational astrophysics at fai.kz. It is intended to establish standard terminology and to advance understanding of some aspects of C++ (and C). It is not an introductory course: you should already be familiar with basic syntax and, better yet, have some experience with writing and compiling small programs. Most of the material is relevant for both C and C++, so I often write C/C++, making the distinction where necessary.

• The build process in C/C++
• Memory layout of a running process
• Meet the denizens of C++
  • 1. Types
  • 2. Objects
    • Storage duration
    • Pointers: Twinkle, twinkle, little star...
      • Dereferencing: ...How I wonder what you are!
      • Stars turn into arrows
      • Pointers and storage duration
      • Pointers and const
      • Pointers and arrays
      • Dynamic arrays
  • 3. Functions
    • Parameters vs arguments
  • 4. References
    • Mixing stars and ampersands
    • Pass-by-reference
  • 5. Values
    • Expressions vs Statements
    • Temporary objects
    • lvalues and rvalues
• Declaration vs Definition
  • External and internal linkage
  • Object declarations
  • Type declarations
  • Include guards
  • Headers and libraries

The build process in C/C++

More often than not, a C/C++ project consists of many source files. No matter if you have one or more source files, building a program involves these three steps:

1. Preprocessing: the preprocessor takes each source file and handles the preprocessor directives - those lines that start with # (e.g., it substitutes #includes with the text from included files, etc). The output of this step is called a translation unit - "pure" C/C++ file without preprocessor directives.

2. Compilation: the compiler takes the preprocessor's output (translation units), and compiles them into binary object files.

3. Linking: the linker takes the object file(s) prepared by the compiler and produces a single final product: an executable or a library.

Source files are compiled separately into object files, and this is good for large projects: if you make corrections in only one source file, you need to re-compile only this one file, not all of them (linker will still need all object files to re-link, but linking is much faster than compiling).

Notes:

• Preprocessor directives are commands for the preprocessor for including one file into another (#include), making choices (#ifdef, #ifndef, etc.), defining "variables" and "functions" (#define), etc. In fact, it is an individual programming language by itself, used specifically to manipulate the source code before passing it to C/C++ compiler. You will also see the word macro, but it is not a synonym for directive; it is only one type of directive: #define. Macros might be defined as parameters to g++ from the command line (see -D flag).

• From the point of view of the compiler, header files (*.hpp or *.h) do not exist. They are included into source files (*.cpp) by the preprocessor (so you even never indicate header files when compiling with g++, only source files). Hence, if you modified a header which is included into multiple cpp-files, you will have to re-compile all these files, as if they all have been modified.

• Although g++ is usually called a compiler, by default it performs all steps above. To stop before linking, use -c flag: g++ -c file.cpp. This will only produce file.o object file but no executable. You can also stop after the first step, using -E. This will produce a translation unit: g++ -E file.cpp > file.pure.cpp.

• The described scheme is simplified. The second step is itself split: first, the translation unit is translated into assembly instructions, which are then compiled by assembler into object files. To see the assembler version of your code use g++ -S (this will produce .s file for each .cpp file).

• If you build an executable, and none of the object files contains main function, the linker will report an error. A library differs from executable in that it has no entry point (no main function). Roughly, it is a file that contains, in the form of machine code, functions, type definitions, etc., which might be used from other executables/libraries. Libraries are also created with g++ using special flags.

• GNU's g++ is not the only compiler, it is just de facto standard in the Linux world. A more recent (and probably more efficient) compiler is clang (compatible with most of the g++ options). Other compilers include MSVC (Microsoft Visual C++), Intel C++, Borland C++, etc. They differ in their target platforms, licenses, and in how close they follow the C++ standard.

• In Russian, linker is called компоновщик, and the entire build process is called сборка. Сборка: исходный код -> препроцессинг -> компиляция -> компоновка.

Memory layout of a running process

Roughly, any source code is a mix of two things: instructions and data. E.g., variables you define are data, and statements like for-loops and function calls are instructions. When the source code is compiled into binary file, instructions and data go into different segments in this file, which are called code and data segments (the code segment is also called text segment).

The compiled bodies of all functions will be stored in the code segment. No matter how many times you call a function in your program, it will have only one binary representation in the code segment, but it might process different data in each call.

When you run a program, the operating system loads the executable file into memory (think of computer's memory as a vast one-dimensional array of bytes), and spawns a new process. The code segment becomes read-only, and is pulled through the CPU like a chain, instruction-by-instruction. The data segment just sits in memory, but the values of its variables might change during the program (if instructions from the code segment modify them).

Apart from the code and data segments, two more segments are created in memory for an executable process: stack and heap. The point is that the original data segment is not for storing just any data. It stores only global variables (and constants) of your program which might be evaluated from the source code during the compilation. But it does not store, e.g., local variables of functions, since, in most cases, their values might be determined only when the program already runs (e.g., by reading data from a file). Obviously, such variables cannot be stored in the data segment in the original binary file.

Since code and data segments are loaded from the binary file and then never change their sizes, they are called static segments. Stack and heap are created dynamically when the process is started, and change their contents during the program, so they are called dynamic segments. But why two additional segments? Because stack and heap serve distinct purposes and have different properties.

Stack is a general name for an abstract data structure where adding and removing elements is possible only at one end (usually called the "top"), just like with the stack of dishes ("last in, first out"; adding is called pushing, and removing is popping). The stack memory segment follows the same principle, tracing the flow of the program. Before a function is called, its arguments are pushed onto the stack, then the address of the instruction following the function is pushed (so that the process knows where to continue when the function finishes), and then a block for function's local variables and temporary objects is pushed. The entire pushed structure is called a stack frame. If the function calls another function, a new frame is pushed, and so on, and then these frames are popped in reverse order (this happens also when a function calls itself - a new frame is pushed onto the stack, so variables are not mixed up for distinct recursive calls of the same function). When a function returns, the stack looks the same as before it was called. Since main is a function like any other, you may guess that the stack is used from the very beginning of the program till its end.

The heap, on the other hand, has no constraints on its structure. You may think of it as a "free store". The stack is usually just a few megabytes in size, and if you call hierarchically too many functions or use too many local variables, you will run into stack overflow (an easy way to achieve that is to call a function recursively without control: with each call, a new stack frame is pushed onto the top, until the stack is full). But the heap is limited only by the total amount of free RAM on your computer. It is of course also possible to run out of heap, but in general, such situations might be checked and handled gracefully by the programmer, whereas running out of stack is unrecoverable.

Another difference is that allocating storage on the stack is faster than on the heap. Local variables in C/C++ are created on the stack by default, and you don't need any special functions for that (whereas to allocate storage on the heap, you must use a special malloc function or, in C++, the new operator).

☢️ The described scheme is not specific to C/C++ and Linux. It is similar for many platforms and is independent of the programming language. E.g., even though Python scripts are not compiled into executables, the Python interpreter itself is a binary executable (the standard one is written in C), so its memory layout will be as described above, though it will be hidden from you as a Python programmer (secretely, all user variables defined in Python scripts are allocated in the heap; the stack is used by Python for its internal workings).

Note: In fact, there is one more segment created for a process when it starts: the BSS segment. It's very much like data segment, but is used for variables which are not initialized in the code. As a first approximation, you may think that it's just part of the data segment.

Note: Compared to C, the distinction between data and instructions in C++ is "fuzzier" because structs and classes might have member variables as well as member functions (methods). In other words, C++ objects might consist of both data and instructions (in C there are no classes, and structs cannot have functions). So where will be those objects allocated? Well, member variables will be stored where you create that class instance (e.g., on the heap), but methods will be stored in the code segment anyway. If you create many instances of the same class, new (non-static) member variables will be allocated for each instance, but each method will have only one binary representation in the code segment (the instructions within member functions are the same for all instances of the class, but they might be called with different data).

Note: In multi-threaded programs, the code, data and heap segments are shared among threads, but each thread has its own stack (access to shared variables from different threads is a tricky business which requires using mutexes to prevent race conditions).

Meet the denizens of C++

The C/C++ language operates with distinct entities: types, objects, functions, values, references, templates, namespaces, and others (NB: the last three are not in C; btw, preprocessor directives are not C/C++ entities). In these tutorial we will be concerned with only five of them: types, objects, functions, references, and values.

1. Types

The same sequence of bytes can be interpreted in many ways. Of course, if originally it encoded some meaningful text, you will probably not get a meaningful picture if you interpret it as an image, and vice versa. Nonetheless, nothing prevents you from doing that.

⚠️ Type is an intended interpretation of a particular package of bytes. It determines which operations do and which don't make sense if applied to those bytes.

In C/C++ you indicate types of variables when you declare them. Compiler uses this information and performs type-checks to ensure that variables are used in the source code correctly according to their types (e.g., no division of a number by a string, etc.).

In languages like Python you don't indicate types for variables. This does not mean that there are no types in these languages. This means that types are inferred by the interpreter from the context. In C++ (starting with c++11) you also can ask the compiler to automatically infer types from the initialization values using the auto keyword.

Note: For example, in auto x = 3.14; the x is automatically deduced by the compiler to be double. Why not float? Because the expression 3.14 is a literal double; to indicate a literal float, write 3.14f.

Still, the key difference is that in C/C++ types are inferred (if needed) and checked at compile time, but in Python types are inferred and checked at run time. This is another reason why C/C++ is faster: no type-checking at runtime, as it is already done by the compiler. Languages like C/C++ in which types are checked at compile time are called statically typed, and languages like Python are called dynamically typed.

☢️ There are several ways in C++ to "legally" misinterpret bytes (treating them as if they had different types), e.g., by using unions or reinterpret_cast. Normally, you shouldn't do that, unless you know what you are doing.

Apart from fixing the interpretation of variables, types also fix their sizes. E.g., any int variable occupies 4 bytes (32 bits) of memory on most modern machines, which means that it can hold a value between -2147483648 and 2147483647. Note, however, that C++ standard guarantees only lower limits - e.g. int is guaranteed to be at least 16 bits, but compilers are allowed to use more. In a truly cross-platform program which uses very large numbers, you should check the limits (see std::numeric_limits).

The types in C++ are classified into fundamental (int, char, float, etc.) and compound. The latter are defined in terms of fundamental or other compound types, and include pointer, reference, array, function, and class types. To create your own custom type you define a class or a struct, which are almost synonyms in C++. The fundamental type void is special in that you cannot declare void variables (but you can declare pointers to void and functions which return void).

In C/C++ there are also type modifiers (* and &, which define pointers and references - we'll meet them below) and type qualifiers, with const being the most common. Note that const int x = 1; and int const x = 1; are the same.

2. Objects

Now we are in a position to define an object:

⚠️ An object is a region of storage in data, stack or heap segment, which represents a value of some type.

Note: In C++ the term "object" is also used in the context of object-oriented programming (OOP), where it refers to an instance of a class. The above definition is more general: it includes fundamental types such as int, and is not related to OOP. In this tutorial we will (almost) not consider classes, so there will be no confusion. For a more technical explanation of the notion of an object, see here.

With the definition above, you may think that an object is just another word for a variable. In fact, you should think of variables as names for objects. As we'll see, not all objects have names; besides, references are variables, but not objects.

Each object is characterized by its size (as dictated by its type) and address (roughly - the number of bytes from the "start" of the memory to the first byte of that object). The size is found with the sizeof operator, and the address is found with the & operator:

 int x = 10; // object of type 'int', named 'x'
 cout << sizeof x << endl; // get size of x
 cout << & x << endl;      // get address of x

Storage duration

Apart from size, address and type, objects in C/C++ are also characterized by their storage duration:

• Objects with automatic storage duration live on the stack. They live from the point where they are defined to the end of the block (e.g., the function body), where they are automatically destroyed. All local variables within functions (including main) refer to automatic objects, unless you declare them with static, extern or thread_local specifier (more on these later).

• Objects with dynamic storage duration live on the heap. They live from the point where they are manually created with the new operator (or function malloc in C) to the point where they are manually deleted with the delete operator (function free in C); these two points might be in different functions or even different source files, so dynamic objects can live longer than functions in which they were created. Dynamic objects do not have names and are accessed only through pointers.

• Objects with static storage duration live in the data segment. They are allocated when the program starts, and destroyed when the program ends. In fact, if they are initialized with a constant, they are loaded into memory from the executable file, before the main starts. All objects declared in global scope (with or without static specifier) and all in-function objects declared with static specifier have static storage duration.

• Starting with c++11, we also have thread storage duration. These objects are declared with thread_local specifier. You may think of them as static objects which are copied for each thread (normally, objects in data segment, as well as in heap, are shared between threads). We will not consider threads here, so you may forget about this one for now.

Few examples:

 // global scope
 int x = 10; // static object
 static int y = 11; // static object
 // these two have the same storage duration,
 // but they are different for the linker, as we will see below
 
 void foo()
 {
   // function scope
   int z = 12; // automatic, lives to the end of function
   static int q = 13; // static object, lives during the entire program

   if (true)
   {
     int s = 14; // automatic, lives to the end of block
   }
   // "s" is already dead here

   int *p = new int(15);
   // a dynamic object is created on the heap,
   // and its address is assigned to the pointer p;
   // The pointer 'p' itself is automatic in this case - 
   // it is created on the stack! (more on pointers later)
 }

Note: The new operator does two things: it allocates a region of memory (with the size dictated by the indicated type), and then constructs/initializes the object in that region. By default, it creates a new object in the heap, and returns its address (which might be assigned to a pointer). It is possible to ask new to construct an object at a specified address (this is called "placement-new"). In fact, the specified address might be even on the stack:

 int x;
 new (&x) int(10);
 // I ignore the result of the operator, 
 // since I already know the address: &x

Here, it is just a fancy way to write x = 10 ;) But there are situations where placement-new is useful.

As for in-function static objects - think of them as global objects living outside the function in which they are declared, but visible only from that function. Example:

 void foo()
 {
     static int x = 10;
     x++;
     cout << x << endl;
 }

 int main()
 {
     foo();
     foo();
     foo();
 }

The output:

 11
 12
 13

Here is what happens:

• a region in memory for the object x is allocated in the data segment when the program loads (even before the main starts);
• only the foo function is "informed" about the name x;
• the object x is initialized with the value 10 when the function foo is called for the first time;
• then x keeps values between the calls to foo. When foo is called again, you may pretend that the line static int x = 10; does not even exist. (In fact, this is true even if you write static int x = y;, where y is, say, the function's parameter; this line will be ignored on all calls except the first one.)

☢️ The auto keyword mentioned earlier has its origin in automatic variables in C, where you can use it to declare local variables like auto double x = 3.14;. However, since local variables are automatic by default, this keyword is rarely used in C, and was introduced for compatibility with the B language, a predecessor of C. C++ inherited this "useless" keyword from C, but in c++11 standard it was given a completely new meaning, which is automatic deduction of types from the initialization values: auto x = 3.14;.

Pointers: Twinkle, twinkle, little star...

The star symbol * in C/C++ might have three different meanings, depending on the context:

1. between two expressions of arithmetic types: multiplication
2. after a type name: declaring a pointer
3. in front of the name of an existing pointer: dereferencing a pointer

The first case should be familiar. So let's deal with pointers.

⚠️ A pointer is a type of an object whose value is the address of another object. For brevity, objects of pointer types are also called pointers.

Although locations in memory (addresses) are defined by integer numbers (roughly: the number of bytes from the "beginning" of memory), you cannot assign an integer to a pointer. E.g., compiler will not accept this:

 int *p = 10;

This is because a valid value for a pointer is an address of the first byte of an existing object, not just any integer. To assign the address of an object to a pointer, use the already familiar "address-of" operator &:

 int x = 10;
 int *p = &x; // p stores the address of the object x

or create an object on the heap with the new operator, which returns the address of the created object:

 int *p = new int(10);
 // p stores the address of an unnamed object in the heap

Note: However, assigning a literal zero to a pointer is valid:

int *p = 0; 

This does not make a pointer pointing to the "beginning" of memory. Rather, it defines a null pointer which does not point to any object. However, in C++ there are reasons to prefer nullptr for that.

❓ In the following code zeros are assigned to the pointer, but it will not work. Why?

int a = 0;
int *p1 = a;       // error
int *p2 = 1 - 1;   // error

(Click for the answer)

These are not literal zeros.

Note: Whitespaces in the declaration of a pointer have no effect. These are all the same:

int *p;
int* p;
int * p;
int*p;
int    *  p;

Don't be fooled by the 1st variant: it makes an illusion as if * is part of the name. Instead, it is part of the type, not of the name (technically, * in this context is called type modifier). The name of the object is p, and its type is a "pointer to int". To make things even more confusing, the standard allows this:

int x, *y, z;

Here, in one line, you define two int objects and one pointer to an int object. The * here is decoupled from the type name, making even a stronger illusion that * is part of the object name. Also, don't be fooled by this:

int* x, y, z;

In this declaration, only x is a pointer!

Since a pointer is an object, it has its own address:

 int *p = new int(10);
 cout << &p << endl; // prints address of p itself

So, a pointer can hold address of another pointer ("chain" of pointers):

 int x = 10;
 int * px = &x;       // px is a pointer to int
 int ** ppx = &px;    // ppx is a pointer to int*
 int *** pppx = &ppx; // pppx is a pointer to int**
 // ... and so on

You may regroup the stars, to make it easier to understand:

 int x = 10;
 int *px = &x;       // px is a pointer to int
 int* *ppx = &px;    // ppx is a pointer to int*
 int** *pppx = &ppx; // pppx is a pointer to int**

Also, like all other objects, pointers have size. Since pointers hold addresses, and addresses of objects do not depend on their types, the size of the pointer is independent of its exact type. On a typical modern machine, the size of a pointer is 8 bytes, no matter if it is int*, char*, int***, or MySuperBigStruct*. This size is enough to hold the address of any byte even if you have several exabytes of RAM.

☢️ Now you should not be surprised with this:

std::vector<int> v;
cout << sizeof v << endl; // prints 24
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) v.push_back(i);
cout << sizeof v << endl; // prints 24 again!

Objects of the type std::vector have data members which contribute to its total size of 24 bytes. One of these members is a pointer to the first element of the actual array, and the size of that pointer does not depend neither on the number of elements in the array, nor on their type. To get the number of elements in the vector, use its .size() method.

The same pointer can point to different objects during its lifetime (but objects must be of the same type, of course):

 int x = 10;
 int *p = &x; // p points to x
 int y = 20;
 p = &y; // now p points to y
 p = new int(30); // and now p points to an unnamed object on the heap

Note that in the last lines, there is no * in front of p: the pointer is defined in the second line, and now we simply use its name.

Dereferencing: ...How I wonder what you are!

Good or bad, the same symbol * is used to dereference a pointer, i.e. to access (both for reading and for writing) the value of the object to which the pointer points:

 int *p = new int(10); // create dynamic int object
 *p = 11;              // assign 11 to that object
 int y = *p;           // assign 11 to y

The * in the first line comes after the type name, so it defines a pointer. In the 2nd and 3rd lines, the * is not after type name; it is in front of the object name p; this object already exists (it is defined in the 1st line) and it is a pointer; therefore, here * is used to dereference the pointer. In the 2nd line dereferencing is used to write a value, in the 3rd line - to read a value.

Note the difference:

 int x = 10;
 int *p = &x;
 cout << *p << endl; // prints the value of x (dereferencing)
 cout << p << endl;  // prints the address of x (value of p itself)

Also note that when comparing pointers, you compare addresses, not values:

 int x = 10;
 int y = 10;
 int * px = &x;
 int * py = &y;
 assert( *px == *py ); // true: the values of x and y are equal (10 == 10)
 assert( px == py );   // false: addresses of x and y are different

Note: assert is a useful debugging "function" (in fact, it is a preprocessor macro). If condition passed to assert is false, the program aborts, indicating the failed condition. When you compile your code with g++ -DNDEBUG, all asserts will be excluded by the preprocessor. Thus, you can always switch to debug mode and back, without deleting/inserting code. You have to #include <cassert> to use assert.

☢️ It's fun to repeat the same in Python:

x = 10
y = 10

assert id(x) == id(y) # this assert will very likely pass 
# NB: id() function returns object's address.

y = 11
assert id(x) != id(y) # this assert will definitely pass

If you create two variables with the same value, Python will most likely create only one object, and make the second variable its second name. Only when you assign a different value to any of the variables, it will create the second object and bind that variable to it.

Dereferencing an uninitialized or null pointer is undefined behavior (most likely, segfault):

 int *x;
 *x = 1; // boom!
 int *y = nullptr;
 int z = *y; // boom!

The best practice is to always initialize pointers, at least with nullptr, and check before dereferencing:

 void foo(int *p)
 {
     if (p)
     {
         // safe to dereference
         int x = *p;
     }
     else
     {
         cout << "Null pointer!" << endl;
     }
 }

When you have chained pointers, to get the value of the final object you have to apply as many stars as used in the declaration of the pointer:

 int x = 10;
 int *p = &x;
 int **pp = &p;
 cout << pp << endl;   // value of pp, i.e., the address of p
 cout << *pp << endl;  // value of p, i.e., the address of x
 cout << **pp << endl; // value of x

Stars turn into arrows

As you may know, if you use an object x which is an instance of some class or struct, then to get access to its members (say, y) you use the dot operator, like in x.y. But when you access your object x via a pointer (say, p, which points to x), then you cannot write *p.y - that would mean you dereference y, not p. So you have to put the dereferenced p in parenthesis: (*p).y. There is an alternative syntax for this, which means absolutely the same: p->y. This arrow operator might come only after a pointer to struct/class.

It might happen that a struct member is itself a pointer. Here's how you access the object to which it points:

 struct S
 {
     int *y = nullptr;
 };

 int main()
 {
    S s;             // s is object of type S
    S *sp = &s;      // sp is pointer to object of type S

    int z = 10;

    // using struct object directly
    s.y = &z;        // make the pointer point to z
    *s.y = 11;       // change the value of z;

    // using pointer to struct object
    sp->y = &z;      // make the pointer point to z
    (*sp).y = &z;    // same
    *((*sp).y) = 11; // change the value of z;
    *(*sp).y = 11;   // same
    *sp->y = 11;     // same
 }

❓ What will be the output of this code? Explain why.

int x = 10;
cout << *&x << endl;

(Click for the answer)

It will be 10. &x yields the address of x, i.e., a pointer to x, and putting * in front of it dereferences the pointer, i.e. yields the value of x.

Pointers and storage duration

Like all other objects, pointers also have their own storage duration, which is independent from the storage duration of the objects to which they point. Thus, all combinations are possible: static pointers to dynamic data, automatic pointers to static data, etc:

 // global scope
 int g = 10;                     // static object
 int *ps = nullptr;              // static null pointer

 int main()
 {
    int * pa = &g;               // automatic pointer to static object
    int x = 20;                  // automatic object
    int * xa = &x;               // automatic pointer to automatic object
    ps = &x;                     // static pointer to automatic object       [+]
    int * pd = new int(30);      // automatic pointer to dynamic object
    ps = pd;                     // static pointer to dynamic object
    int ** ppd = new (int*)(&x); // ppd is an automatic pointer              [+] 
                                 // which points to a dynamic pointer, 
                                 // and that dynamic pointer (it has no name)
                                 // points to the automatic object x.
    assert( &x == *ppd );        // true
    assert( x == **ppd );        // true
 }

However, cases marked as [+] are rarely used, because static and dynamic pointers live longer than the stack object to which they point. After function finishes, these pointers will point to garbage.

For the same reason, never return the address of an automatic object from a function. This is a recipe for disaster:

 int* foo()
 {
     int x = 10;
     return &x;
 }

 int main()
 {
     int *p = foo();
     cout << *p << endl; // crash and burn
 }

After function foo returns, its stack frame is destroyed (together with the object x), so the returned pointer points to a stinking dead body...

Returning the address of a dynamic object is Ok:

 int* foo()
 {
    return new int(10);
 }

but you will have to manually delete the dynamic object when it is not needed any more. Returning pointer to static data is also Ok.

Note: The delete operator accepts a pointer, and frees the memory occupied by the object to which the pointer points (note, btw, it will not set the pointer to nullptr automatically). The pointer passed to delete must point to a dynamic object; if you pass a pointer to static or stack object, you will end up with an undefined behavior.

It is common for C/C++ beginners to confuse pointers with dynamic objects. Note that with this statement:

 int *p = new int(10);

you create two objects, not one. The first one (on the right) is created on the heap and it is unnamed, it is of type int and its value is 10. Another object (on the left) is automatic (or static, if the expression is in global scope), its name is p, it is of type "pointer to int" and its value is the address of the first unnamed object.

Note: It's all too easy to forget to delete a dynamic object. E.g.:

void foo()
{
    int *p = new int(10);  
    // do something and return...
    // oops, forgot to delete the dynamic object!
}

Here, the pointer p will be destroyed when the function ends, but the dynamic object to which it pointed will continue to live. Now, you will not be able to delete it anywhere in your program, because its address was stored only in p. So the region of memory which was occupied by that object is lost for your program (imagine if instead of one int you had an array with millions of elements!). This is called a memory leak. In C++ it is always a good idea to abstain from working with raw pointers, and, instead, use "smart" pointers from the standard library (see std::unique_ptr, std::shared_ptr, and std::weak_ptr), which are "wrappers" around raw pointers. They help to avoid memory leaks and other surprises that might happen if you are not careful enough with raw pointers.

Note: Pointers like int* or double* not only keep the address of an object, but also know its type. There is a special pointer void*, which only knows the address, but not the type. You can compare such pointer to other pointers and assign other pointers to it, but it makes no sense to dereference it.

Pointers and const

As with storage duration, the const-ness of pointers is independent from the const-ness of objects to which they point. This is a pointer to const int:

 const int x = 10;
 const int *p = &x;
 *p = 11; // error: cannot change the dereferenced value, it is const
 p = nullptr; // ok: can reassign the pointer itself

And this is a const pointer to int:

 int x = 10;
 int * const p = &x;
 *p = 11;     // ok: can change the dereferenced value
 p = nullptr; // error: cannot change the pointer itself, it is const

You can also have a const pointer to const int:

 const int x = 10;
 const int * const p = &x;
 int const * const pp = &x; // same as p
 *p = 11;                   // error
 p = nullptr;               // error

You can declare a pointer to const int but initialize it with the address of a non-const int:

 int x = 10;
 const int *p = &x;
 *p = 11; // error
 x = 11;  // ok

In this way, although you can modify x directly, you cannot do that through the pointer p. But you cannot initialize a pointer to a non-const with the address of a const object:

 const int x = 10;
 int *p = &x; // error

If you were allowed to do that, you could use a pointer to change a const object. You can't cheat like that.

❓ Knowing that the only fundamental type involved is int, which exact types must the variables a, b and c have so that the following is a valid expression?

*a = **b**c;

(Click for the answer)

One of the stars is multiplication, all other stars are dereferencing:

*a = (**b)*(*c); 

Therefore, a is int*, b is int**, c is int*.

Pointers and arrays

You probably know that arrays and pointers are somehow related. Here we briefly outline this relation.

An array is one of the compound (non-fundamental) types. Objects of this type are declared like this:

 int a[3] = {1, 2, 3}; // you can use the initializer list
 double b[10];         // or leave the object uninitialized

Importantly, the number within square brackets is a part of the type. E.g., in this code

 int a[10];
 int b[11];

objects a and b have different types. sizeof a gives 40, and sizeof b gives 44 (recall that size of one int is typically 4 bytes). Moreover, since those numbers are part of the type, and type-checks are performed by the compiler, those numbers must be known at compile-time, so they cannot be, e.g., returned from a function (because functions work at run-time, not during compilation).

☢️ Some compilers (e.g., g++) use extensions and allow to define arrays with numbers which are not known at compile-time (e.g., int a[get_size()];, where get_size() is some function which returns an integer). Since this is a deviation from the C++ standard, you should not rely on this.

Since elements of arrays are objects themselves, you can declare a pointer to an element like this:

 int a[3] = {2, 3, 5};
 int *p = &a[0]; // pointer to the 1st element

There is one tricky thing with arrays: in most places where you use them, compiler will automatically substitute a pointer to the 1st element instead of the array object (in jargon, an "array decays to pointer"). E.g., this happens with function arguments:

 void foo(int a[10])
 {
     cout << sizeof a << endl;
     // will not output 40!
     // will output 8 (size of a pointer)
 }

So you can even omit the number, since anyway only the pointer is passed:

 void foo(int a[]) { /* same as above */ }

Or, equivalently:

 void foo(int *a) { /* same */ }

So from the point of view of function parameters, pointers and arrays are the same. But this doesn't mean they are the same in general!

Elements of arrays are objects, pointers are also objects, so an array can contain pointers:

 int *x[10]; // x is an array of ten pointers to int

Arrays themselves are also objects, so you can have a pointer to an array:

 int (*x)[10]; // x is a pointer to an array of ten ints

Dynamic arrays

Arrays considered above are "ordinary" arrays; they are allocated on the stack (or in the data segment, if defined in global scope). To declare dynamic arrays, use new with square brackets:

 int *a = new int [10];

This creates an array of ten ints on the heap, and returns a pointer to the first element. Do not forget to delete the entire array with delete [] a; when you don't need it. Note the square brackets. If you forget them, you delete only the first object: congrats with the memory leak!

There is a common misconception that dynamic arrays differ from ordinary arrays in that they are resizable. The truth is - they are not. They are called dynamic not because you can change their size, but because they have dynamic storage duration (they are created with new[]) and because you can set their size at run-time, not at compile-time (and you can do that without looking over your shoulder, because thus spoke the standard). Of course, you can "resize" a dynamic array, but what it actually means is that you create a new array with the new size, copy elements from the old array, and then delete the old array. (In C the situation is different, as you may use realloc to resize an array, although, depending on the situation, it also may perform a copy).

In fact, there are no dynamic arrays at all. In the sense that there is no such type in C/C++ as a dynamic array. An ordinary array is a single object of array type, and it consists of sub-object elements. A dynamic array is not a single object. It is a contiguous sequence of independent objects of the same type.

In general, in C++ you are strongly encouraged to avoid using dynamic arrays. Instead, use standard containers like std::vector - they are more convenient, safer, maybe even faster, and they are resizable. You also may use std::array instead of ordinary (stack-based) arrays (e.g., you can't copy one array into another without using a loop, but you can do that with std::array).

Still, understanding of how arrays work is an advantage, at least because you may find yourself tinkering some day with C code. E.g., I would suggest to look into this SO post about how two-dimensional arrays (such as int[5][3]) are different from chained pointers (int**): https://stackoverflow.com/a/7307699/5707690 .

3. Functions

Although functions also have addresses in the code segment (you can apply the & operator to functions), they are not objects, because they do not live in data, stack or heap segment, and they do not contain a value (they can return a value, but they contain statements). You cannot apply the sizeof operator to them.

☢️ Contrast this with Python, where everything is an object, including functions and modules. Under the hood, this is because all Python types are represented with the same structure (PyObject in C implementation). E.g., numbers and strings are specialized PyObjects; functions are also PyObjects with a special method named __call__ - you can even pass functions as arguments to other functions.

The type of a function is represented by the types of all its input parameters and the type of its return value.

Parameters vs arguments

Do not confuse the terms parameter and argument. Parameters are objects defined within a function, and arguments are expressions passed to the function when it is called. Parameters are just like ordinary local variables, they are just automatically initialized with arguments when the function starts. Consider:

 void foo(int x, float y)
 {
     // function body...
     x = 10;
     // may assign to parameters, like to any other local variable
 }

Schematically, this code might be translated into the following pseudocode, where arg1 and arg2 are the arguments which will be passed to the function:

 // pseudocode! think of <...> as a slot for an argument
 void foo(<arg1>, <arg2>)
 {
     // parameters are defined (secretly from the programmer):
     int x = arg1; // x is parameter, arg1 is argument
     float y = arg2;

     // actual function body starts here...
     x = 10;
     // NOTE: this will change the value of local 'x',
     // but not of the external arg1
 }

As clear from this pseudocode, if you change a parameter, that does not change the corresponding argument. This is called pass-by-value, where argument's value is just assigned to parameter. This is the only regime of function calls in C. In C++, you also have pass-by-reference, as we will see below.

☢️ As a side note, in C++ you also have something called function objects, i.e. objects which might be called like functions. These are lambdas (unnamed function objects) and functors (classes for which the operator () is defined). You see, the power of modern C++ is that it can go to abstraction levels almost like in Python, staying at the same time a low-level and efficient language like C.

4. References

Like in case of the * symbol, the & symbol has several meanings, depending on context:

1. between two expressions of integer types: bitwise logical operator
2. in front of the name of an existing object: the "address-of" operator
3. after a type name: declaring a reference

We shall ignore the first case here. As for the case 2, we have already met it many times. Let's define what a reference is:

⚠️ A reference is another name (an alias) for an existing object.

This code defines a reference y as a second name for the object named x:

 int x = 10;
 int &y = x;       // & comes after type name => reference
 assert( x == y ); // true

 x = 20;
 assert( x == y ); // true again

 y = 30;
 assert( x == y ); // still true!

As you might see, in some sense, references are similar to pointers, as both "refer" to another object. But there is a fundamental difference:

⚠️ References are not objects!

Remember that pointers are objects themselves: they are allocated in memory, they have their own address and size. References do not have their own address and size. Applying & and sizeof operators to a reference will return the address and size of the object to which it refers:

 int x = 10;
 int &r = x;
 assert( &x == &r ); // true

Note: the meaning of & in the second line is defining a reference. The meaning of two & in the third line is the address-of operator. C++ is one of the most confusing programming languages!

Note: As with declaring pointers, spaces have no effect: int &r = x; and int& r = x; are the same.

Other differences between pointers and references are a consequence of the fundamental difference mentioned above:

• The value of a pointer is the address of the object it points to. The value of a reference is the value of the object it refers to.

• References cannot be reassigned:

  int x = 10;
  int &r = x; // r is an alias for x
  int y = 20;
  r = y; // r now is an alias for y? No! r is still an alias for x.
         // What happened is that the value of y was assigned to x:
  assert ( x == 20 ); // true
  
  // You may want to try this:
  &r = y;
  // But this will not be accepted by compiler.
  // In this context & means the address-of, not a reference.
  // (and you cannot change the address of an object)
  
  // This will also fail:
  int &r = y;
  // because a variable with the same name is already defined

• Since you cannot reassign a reference, it must be initialized when you define it:

  int x = 10;
  int &r;      // Error
  int &rr = x; // Ok
  int *p;      // Ok - pointer might be left uninitialized

• There are no null-references: a reference always serves as a name for some object.

• References cannot be chained: you can define a pointer to a pointer, but you cannot define a reference to a reference.

  ☢️ Someday you may encounter a declaration like this (and think that I lied):

  int &&x = ...;

  However, x is not a reference to a reference, it is just a reference of another type. Ordinary references that you will encounter most often are called lvalue references. Since c++11 there are also rvalue references (declared with &&), they are used to extend lifetimes of temporary objects and for move semantics. This is a big separate topic, and we will only touch it a little bit later.

• References are not dereferenced: to access their values, you use them like normal names, no special symbols needed.

In general, working with references is considered less error-prone than with pointers: references cannot be null, and they are always initialized, so you don't have to check them (unlike the case of pointer dereferencing).

Like in case with pointers, declaring a const reference to a non-const object, you cannot modify that object through that reference:

 int x = 10;
 const int &r = x;
 r = 11; // error
 x = 11; // ok

Mixing stars and ampersands

Since pointers are objects, nothing prevents you from declaring a reference to a pointer:

 int x = 10;       // object of int type
 int *p = &x;      // object of type "pointer to int"
 int &rx = x;      // reference to the object x
 int * &rp = p;    // reference to the object p
 int y = 20;
 rp = &y;          // p now points to y
 assert( p == &y ) // true

But since references are not objects, you cannot declare a pointer to a reference:

 int x = 10;
 int & *p = &x; // error

But the address of a reference is the same as of the referenced object, so you can use a reference's address to initialize a pointer:

 int x = 10;
 int &r = x;
 int *p = &r; // same as  int *p = &x

In declarations like these, the easiest way to understand what's going on is to start reading from the variable name and go to the left:

 int **&r = x;

The name is r, then we have &, so this is a reference. Then we have *, so this is a reference to a pointer. Then we again have *, so this is a reference to a pointer to a pointer. Finally, we have int, so this is a reference to a pointer to a pointer to int.

❓ Which type must x have so that the last example is a valid expression?

(Click for the answer)

It should be int**.

You can declare a reference to an unnamed object on the heap, thus giving it a name, but it is rarely used:

 int &r = * new int(10); // note the *: it dereferences the temporary pointer returned by "new"
 r = 11;
 delete &r; // &r is the address of the object (i.e. a pointer to that object)
 // now you cannot do anything with r:
 // accessing it is undefined behavior,
 // and you cannot reassign it to another object (since it is a reference)
 // This is now a "dangling" reference

You also can have a reference to an array:

 int a[10];
 int b[11];
 int (&ra)[10] = a; // ra is a reference to an array of ten ints
 int (&rb)[10] = b; // error: types of b and rb don't match

 int *p[10];
 int *(&rp)[10] = p; // rp is a reference to an array of ten pointers to int

But you cannot have an array of references, because references are not objects.

Pass-by-reference

One of the common uses of references in C++ is with function parameters. Recall the pseudocode for the function definition. Now, if you define a function like this (note the &):

 void foo(int &x)
 {
     // function body
     x = 10;
 }

its equivalent pseudocode might look like this:

 // pseudocode! think of <...> as a slot for an argument
 void foo(<arg>)
 {
     int &x = arg; // x is an alias for the object 'arg'
     // function body
     x = 10; // boom! the external object 'arg' changed
 }

As you see, in this case the situation is different: instead of copying the argument's value to a local object x, now local reference x is created as a second name for the argument object arg. So changing x you change the input object.

There are no references in C, they are the C++ invention. If you want a function to change an external object in C, you use pointers as parameters (you can do pass-by-pointer in C++ as well, of course):

 void foo(int *x)      // pointer parameter
 {
     *x = 10;          // dereference the pointer, and change
                       // the value of the object to which it points
                       // (you should check if pointer is null in real code)
     x = new int(20);  // local pointer is reassigned,
                       // but external is not
 }

 int main()
 {
     int a = 1;
     int *p = &a;
     foo(p);
     // now a is 10, p still points to a 
 }

Though you can change the object to which the pointer points, you cannot change the pointer itself. You can write x = new int(10); in the foo function, but it will reassign the local pointer x. The pointer which was passed to foo will be left unchanged, because its value was copied to x: pass-by-pointer is a particular case of pass-by-value.

But in C++ you can mix stars with ampersands. Watch closely:

 void foo(int * &x)   // parameter is a reference to a pointer to int
 {
     *x = 10;         // change the value of the object to which
                      // the pointer referenced by x points (yak!)
     x = new int(20); // change the value of the pointer itself
                      // since x is a reference, this affects the external pointer
 }

 int main()
 {
     int a = 1;
     int *p = &a;
     foo(p);
     // now a is 10, and p points to a heap object created from 'foo'
 }

In fact, many hardcore C programmers consider pass-by-reference an evil. In C, it is guaranteed that a function will not change the objects passed as arguments. Of course, if a function accepts a pointer, it can change the object to which it points - but you know that, because you know you are passing a pointer: you cannot pass an int to a function which accepts int*. In C++ there is no such guarantee, because you can pass int to a function which accepts int and to a function which accepts int&. So if you use 3rd-party functions and want to be sure they will not change the passed-in objects, you need to check function declarations, to see if they accept objects or references.

Why need pass-by-reference at all? Suppose you have defined a custom type, which is big and heavy, e.g. it contains many data members. You need to define a function which processes objects of that type. You can use pass-by-value, even without pointers: pass the object to the function, and then make the function return the processed object:

 struct MySuperBigStruct {
    // definition of members...
 };

 MySuperBigStruct foo(MySuperBigStruct x)
 {
     // process x
     return x;
 }

 int main()
 {
     MySuperBigStruct a;
     a = foo(a);
 }

The problem is: the larger the object, the more it takes to copy it, and in this case the copy will be performed twice: first, when it is copied as an argument to the local parameter, and then when it is copied back from the return. The solution (the only one in C) is to redefine the foo to make it pass-by-pointer:

 void foo(MySuperBigStruct *x)
 {
     // dereference x and use *x to process the original object.
     // No need to return anything from the function
 }

 int main()
 {
     MySuperBigStruct a;
     foo(&a);
 }

Since the size of a pointer is always small, copying a pointer is more efficient than copying a structure with possibly millions of bytes. Finally, in C++ you can make the function pass-by-reference, and forget about stars and ampersands when calling the function:

 void foo(MySuperBigStruct &x)
 {
     // process x; no need to return anything
 }
 
 int main()
 {
    MySuperBigStruct a; 
    foo(a);
 }

It is a bit tidier, but efficiency is roughly the same as in pass-by-pointer. Of course, this minor syntactic sugar was not the main reason to introduce references in C++ (the main reason was to enable operator overloading and copy constructors, among others).

Pass-by-reference is efficient even if the function accepts objects without modifying them - still, no copy from argument to parameter. But in this case it is wise to mark the parameter as const, so that if someone (maybe yourself) mistakenly tries to change it in the function body, the compiler will signal an error:

 void foo(const MySuperBigStruct &x)
 {
     // x is a reference,
     // but it is read-only
 }

Note: Under the hood, references are implemented with const pointers. As a C++ programmer, you should not care about that. However, there is one consequence worth remembering: passing primitive types like int by reference (or, for that matter, by pointer) might be less efficient than passing them by value. This is because simply copying an int (4 bytes) is faster than creating and copying a (hidden) pointer (8 bytes).

There is another reason for pass-by-reference: in C++ you may have objects that are not allowed to be copied (you can create such objects by marking copy constructors with = delete; in their class/struct definitions). E.g., your pal std::cout is such an object (and yes, it is not an operator, nor a function, nor a type; it is an object of the type std::ostream, for which the operator << is defined). You can't copy it, but you can declare references to it:

 #include <iostream>
 
 int main()
 {
     auto x = std::cout; // error - cout is uncopiable
     auto &y = std::cout; // ok - y now is a second name for std::cout
     y << "World, hello!" << std::endl;
 }

So, if you need to pass an uncopiable object to a function, you have no choice but to use pass-by-reference for it in function definition.

☢️ One of the rules of good design states that "things that have different functions should look differently". In this respect C/C++ fails miserably. Thus, * in front of a pointer means dereferencing. Unless there is also a type name in front, in which case it means pointer declaration. & in front of an object's name means the address of that object. Unless there is also a type name in front, in which case it means reference declaration. On top of that, the term "dereferencing", which comes from C, is applicable to pointers, not references (references need no dereferencing). You will need practice to get accustomed to these rough edges, but you should forgive them - neither C (ca. 1970), nor C++ (ca. 1985) were designed to be the languages easy to learn; they were designed to create efficient software (including operating systems!)

5. Values

Values might seem too obvious notions to define. But there are some aspect about values which are far from obvious to a C/C++ newcomer. You may have noticed that the definition of object involved the notion of value, and yet I've put the discussion of values after the discussion of objects. This is not without a reason!

Expressions vs Statements

To start with, not only objects have values. Values also represent the result of expression evaluation. In fact, the definition of an expression is that

⚠️ An expression is a piece of code which is evaluated to some value.

(note, value and evaluation have the same root). Those parts of code which do something without being evaluated are called statements, i.e., as a whole, a statement does not "return" a value. A simplest statement is ; (empty or null statement). There are different types of statements:

• declaration statements (e.g., int x = 10;)
• selection statements (if/else-blocks, switch-blocks)
• iteration statements (for, do, while loops)
• expression statements - expressions followed by a null statement (;)
• others... (for more details, see https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/statements).

So, a statement is a more global language construct. Typically, a function body is a sequence of statements. Statements might (and usually do) contain expressions, but expressions cannot contain statements (but expressions may contain sub-expressions). By appending a semicolon to an expression you get an expression statement. A primitive way to check if a piece of code is an expression is to try to put it into parenthesis and pass it to cout. If compiler accepts that, it is definitely an expression. E.g., cout << (10) << endl; works, but cout << (10;) << endl doesn't. Hence, 10 is an expression, and 10; is a statement. Examples:

 int main()
 {
     int x = 0;  // declaration statement
     x = 10;     // expression statement
     x++;        // expression statement
     ++x;        // expression statement
     someFunc(); // expression statement
 }

From here you can see that

• int x = 0 is not an expression: it is not evaluated to some value, and cout << (int x = 0) << endl is an error;
• But x = 10 is an expression (with a side-effect). It assigns a value to x (the side effect) and then "returns" that value. So cout << (x = 10) << endl works fine and prints 10. (Note that if you remove parenthesis it will not work, because the << operator has higher precedence than =.) By the way, this is why you may chain assignments like x = y = z = 10; (where x, y and z should be declared earlier). First, the right-most assignment is evaluated and its result is used as a right-hand side for the next assignment, etc. It's the same as x = (y = ( z = 10)));
• x++ and ++x are both expressions with the side-effect of incrementing the object's value by 1. So the side-effect of these two expressions is the same, but they return different values: x++ returns the value of x before incrementing, and ++x returns the value of x after incrementing:

      int x = 10;
      cout << x++ << endl; // prints 10
      x = 10;
      cout << ++x << endl; // prints 11
  

• A function call is always an expression, since functions always return something (even if void; but this is a rare case for which the primitive test with cout will fail).

So, expressions might or might not do something (i.e., they might have side-effects), but they are always evaluated to a value.

As a more complex example, consider this:

 int x = if (some_condition) 10; else 20; // error
 int x = some_condition ? 10 : 20  ;      // ok

Even though if (some_condition) 10; else 20; is a perfectly valid code by itself, you cannot assign it to a variable, because it is a statement (even though it contains expressions). The second variant is legal, since the conditional operator a ? b : c is an expression:

 int x = if ( some_condition ) 10 ; else 20 ;
 //          ^..............^ ^..^      ^..^  <- expressions
 //     ^-----------------------------------^ <- statement

 int x = some_condition ? 10 : 20  ;
 //     ^..............^ ^..^ ^..^  <- sub-expressions
 //     ^------------------------^  <- expression

☢️ The distinction between statements and expressions is by no means specific to C/C++ - it is present in many languages (e.g., you have it in Python). But some languages (e.g., Lisp, Wolfram Language) are designed in such a way that everything is an expression (i.e., expressions with side-effects replace statements).

Note that at global scope (not within functions) it is possible to put only declaration statements. Also note that = in statements int x = 10; and x = 10; have different meanings. In the first case it performs initialization, and in the second case it performs assignment. In modern C++ there are good reasons to always use uniform initialization with curly braces: int x{10}; instead of int x = 10; and int x(10);.

Note: A more official definition of an expression is that it is a sequence of zero or more operators and at least one operand, which all specify a computation of a value. Note that operators may have different precedence, and are insensitive to spaces between them and operands, which sometimes might look confusing. E.g.:

int x = 10;
while ( x --> 0) { /* do smth */ }
// while x goes to zero ??

Here, --> is not a single operator, it is two operators -- and >. This line is equivalent to:

while ( (x--) > 0 ) { /* do smth */ }

Temporary objects

Consider the following snippet of code:

 int ten() { return 10; }
 int sqr(int x) { return x*x; }

 int main()
 {
      int two = 2;
      int x = sqr( two*ten() + sqr(3) ); // x is now 29^2
 }

Now ask yourself what happens inside the computer when the value for x is calculated. The program goes step-by-step, starting with sub-expressions. E.g., first it may evaluate the expression ten() and find that it returns 10, then evaluate the expression two, multiply them together, then pass 3 to sqr, add it to the previous result, and then pass the entire thing into outer sqr. The important thing to realize is that at each step during this process the program has to keep intermediate values of sub-expressions. Of course, like everything else in computer, they are stored in its memory. However, these intermediate values are not stored in ordinary objects, they are stored in temporary objects (or temporaries, for short); as they have no permanent residency, you cannot apply the "address-of" operator to them:

 int two = 2;
 int *p = &(3+two);   // error: (3+two) is a temporary object
 cout << &10 << endl; // same

Note, in the last line I used a simple literal (10) - you also may think of it as a temporary object. Temporaries are created typically on the stack, invisibly to the programmer.

Note: A literal is a value which is not a result of evaluation of some expression, but which you, the programmer, indicate directly in the code. E.g., 10 is a literal of int type, 10L is a literal of long type, 'a' is a literal of char type, "hello" is a literal of const char* type, "hello"s is a literal of std::string type, true is a literal of bool type, etc. Not all types admit literals (e.g., there is no way to create a literal specifically of std::vector<int> type). Starting wih c++11, it is possible to create user-defined literals for custom types (https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/user_literal).

You also cannot assign a value to a temporary object:

 (2 + 2) = 10; // error, you guessed it

For you this looks nonsense a priori, but that's because you don't think like a compiler. In an alternative history of C/C++ such statement could be valid for a compiler, where it could mean "put the value 10 into the temporary object which kept the value 4 obtained from evaluating 2+2". In real C/C++ such assignment is an error not because it doesn't make sense mathematically, but because it doesn't make sense with regard to objects management.

lvalues and rvalues

All in all, values in C/C++ might be divided into two categories:

• lvalues are values which may appear on the left side of the assignment operator (but they also might appear on the right);
• rvalues are values which may appear only on the right side of the assignment operator.

As a first approximation, lvalues are values stored in ordinary objects, and rvalues are values stored in temporaries.

☢️ In fact, in C++ the value categories are quite more complex, as you also have glvalues, prvalues, and xvalues; the distinction is important to know if you deal, e.g., with optimizations using move semantics. We will not consider it here, and the basic division between lvalues and rvalues should suffice to get you started.

If a function's parameter is defined to work in pass-by-value regime, then it can accept both lvalues and rvalues as arguments. But if it is defined as a reference, then it can accept only lvalues:

 void foo(int x)  { /* do smth */ }
 void bar(int &x) { /* do smth */ }

 int main()
 {
     int a = 10;

     foo(a);      // ok (lvalue passed)
     foo(rand()); // ok (rvalue passed)
     foo(10);     // ok (rvalue passed)

     bar(a);      // ok (lvalue passed)
     bar(rand()); // error (rvalue passed)
     bar(10);     // error (rvalue passed)
 }

☢️ Remember I mentioned that && defines rvalue references? If I redefine bar as

void bar(int &&x) { // do smth... }

then the last two examples will be ok, but bar(a); will be an error.

One final example:

 int x = 10; // global object

 int getXsimple()
 {
     return x;
 }

 int& getXref() // note the ampersand - returns a reference!
 {
     return x;
 }

 int main()
 {
     getXsimple() = 11; // error
     getXref() = 11;    // ok
 }

getXsimple() returns a temporary object with the value 10, i.e. an rvalue. getXref() returns a reference to the global object x, i.e., an lvalue, so it can be used on the left side of the assignment.

Declaration vs Definition

Above, I have been using the terms "declare" and "define" interchangeably, since that didn't matter much. In some languages, e.g. Python, there is no distinction (you just assign to a variable and that's it). But due to separate compilation, in C/C++ these are two different things.

• Declarations introduce names of objects and functions and describe their types;

• Definitions introduce names of objects and functions, describe their types, and allocate/implement them.

Any definition is also a declaration. But the converse is not true.

And then you have the One Definition Rule (ODR):

⚠️ Objects and functions might be declared many times within a project (even within a source file), but they must be defined exactly once.

Suppose you have two source files in your project, say, a.cpp and b.cpp. In a.cpp you have defined a function:

 // a.cpp

 int foo(double x)
 {
 // do something and return an int...
 // This function is used in other functions in the same source file
 }

Then it turns out that in b.cpp you also need to use that function foo. Since source files are compiled independently from each other into object files, you cannot call foo in b.cpp: the compiler will say foo is unknown. You also cannot copy/paste the definition of foo from a.cpp into b.cpp: although compiler will produce object files, the linker will see two identical definitions in two different object files, and will report an error about multiple definitions. The solution is to declare the function in b.cpp without defining it:

 // b.cpp

 int foo(double x);
 // you can omit parameter names
 // in function declarations:
 int foo(double);

Now you can use foo in two files, and both compiler and linker will be happy. The declaration tells the compiler:

"This function exists somewhere (in another source file, or maybe in the current file below), and it has the indicated type: it accepts one double and returns an int. Please, compiler, go ahead! You will compile the definition later (or maybe you already have compiled it from another source file); the linker will take care and link the function calls to the definition."

This information is enough for the compiler to perform type-checks in places where this function is called: for that it doesn't need to know what the function actually does.

Now, if you delete the file a.cpp, the compiler will still be able to compile b.cpp into the binary object file (g++ -c b.cpp). However, the linker will not be able to produce the executable and will report an error about undefined reference to foo.

Note: Compiler errors are about bad syntax and type-check inconsistencies, and they are provided with error locations (line numbers). Linker errors have no line numbers (linker knows nothing about source files!), and are typically about violations of the ODR: undefined references (declared but never defined) or duplicate definitions (defined more than once).

So, with functions it is quite simple: if you don't provide a function's body, then that's a declaration; otherwise, that's a definition.

External and internal linkage

If you work in a team, or with a large codebase, it might happen that you accidentally use a name for a function which is already used in another source file for some other function. To prevent such name collisions, you can hide the function definition from the linker. For that, use static keyword:

 static void foo(double x)
 {
     cout << x << " passed to static foo" << endl;
 }

This is a definition of a function which will be visible only within current source file (or, more correctly, within current translation unit). Even if you copy this into another source file of the project, this will not violate the ODR - this will produce two independent local functions invisible to the linker. Such functions are said to have internal linkage.

Note: In modern C++ to prevent name collisions between translation units, it is preferable to use anonymous namespaces instead of static declarations.

There is an "opposite" keyword - extern - which marks functions to have external linkage, so that they are visible to the linker. But since functions are visible to the linker by default, extern is almost never used with functions. Why is this keyword needed then? Because with objects things are different.

Object declarations

You may think that this:

 int x;

is a declaration, similar to the function int foo(); above. In fact, it is a definition. When the compiler sees such statement, it will allocate memory for that object. Moreover, if in global scope, it will initialize the object with the default value of 0. In other words, in global scope the above statement is equivalent to:

 int x = 0;

Note: In local scope (e.g., within functions, including main) the x in int x; is not automatically initialized with 0 - it might contain a random number until you assign to it. The reason is in optimization. Global variables live in the data segment and are initialized only once when the program starts, so no problem here. But a function might be called million times (e.g., in a loop), and it makes no sense to spend time on initialization, if you don't need it (e.g., if you assign some values to the object later, depending on some conditions).

And here is the proper declaration of an object x:

 extern int x; // declaration

This tells the compiler that it should not allocate memory for the object x because it exits somewhere else. But if in this expression you initialize x with some value, it again turns into definition:

 extern int x = 10; // definition!

As in the case of functions, if an object should be used only within the current source file, it should be defined with the static keyword:

 static int x;

Now you know the difference:

 // global scope
 int x;        
 static int y;

Both objects have static storage duration, but only the first one is visible to the linker.

With const objects it is somewhat different. By default, their definitions are invisible to the linker, so you have to mark them as extern explicitly when you want to use them from multiple source files.

To summarize:

// global scope

/* NON-CONST OBJECTS */

int x1;                  // definition, visible to linker
int x2 = 10;             // same
extern int x3 = 10;      // same

static int x5;           // definition, invisible to linker
static int x6 = 10;      // same

extern int x4;           // declaration, visible to linker


/* CONST OBJECTS */ 

const int y1;            // error: definition, but const must be initialized
const int y2 = 10;       // definition, invisible to linker
extern const int y3 = 10;// definition, visible to linker
extern const int y4;     // declaration, visible to linker


/* FUNCTIONS */ 

void foo1();             // declaration, visible to linker
extern void foo2();      // same

void foo3() {}           // definition, visible to linker
                         // note the function body (even if empty)
extern void foo4() {}    // same

static void foo5();      // declaration, invisible to linker
static void foo6() {}    // definition, invisible to linker

So, the keywords static and extern control two distinct properties of objects: linkage type and storage duration:

• For global objects, static affects only the linkage (default linkage is external, static changes it to internal). The storage class of global objects is always static, no matter if they are declared as static int x, extern int x, or just int x.
• For local objects, static affects only the storage class (with or without static, in-function objects are invisible to the linker). By default, it is automatic, static changes it to static. As for extern, you cannot define extern object inside a function, you can only declare it.
• For functions, static affects only the linkage (functions do not have storage class), and extern has no any effect.

Note: Do not confuse the notions of lifetime and scope. Lifetime is the property of an object, and scope is the property of an object's name (i.e. variable), which determines in which parts of the code this name is visible. Consider:

 static int a = 10;        // 1
 extern int b = 10;        // 2
 int c = 10;               // 3

 void foo()
 {
     int d = 10;           // 4
     static int e = 10;    // 5
     extern int f;         // 6
     int* g = new int(10); // 7
 }

case	storage duration	lifetime	scope
1	static	entire program	translation unit
2,3	static	entire program	global*
4	automatic	block	block
5	static	entire program	block
6	static	entire program	global*, but only block in this translation unit
7**	dynamic	controllable	not applicable (has no name)

^* The name is visible in all source files where you declare it with extern in global scope.

^** The object whose address is assigned to g is implied. g itself is the same as case 4.

Type declarations

You can declare (without defining) not only objects and functions, but even types (I kept it separate for simplicity). Of course, there is no need to declare types like int since they are "built-in", but you can declare custom types like this:

    class MyCustomClass;

After this point, the compiler will know that a type named MyCustomClass exists, but is not yet defined, so it is an incomplete type for now. You can use incomplete types in very restricted ways only. E.g., you cannot define objects with this type, since the compiler will not even know how much memory to allocate for that object. But you can declare objects and functions using an incomplete type. Also, you can define pointers to incomplete types: remember that the size of pointers is independent of the type to which they point, so the compiler can always allocate a pointer.

 class MyCustomClass;               // "forward" declaration

 extern MyCustomClass m;            // ok (object declaration)
 MyCustomClass foo(MyCustomClass);  // ok (function declaration)
 MyCustomClass *p;                  // ok (pointer definition)

 MyCustomClass mm;                  // error (object definition)
 MyCustomClass bar(MyCustomClass x) // error (function definition)
 {
     return x;
 }

Types also must obey the One Definition Rule, but only a "softer" version of it. Here is the updated ODR:

⚠️ Types, objects and functions might be declared many times within a project (even within a translation unit). But types must be defined exactly once within a translation unit. Objects and functions must be defined exactly once within the entire project.

Why is forward declaration needed? I will point out at least two reasons:

1. Reducing build time. Say, you have a header file a.h, which contains lots of things, including the definition of type A:

   // a.h
   class A {
    // definition of member variables and functions...
   };

   In another header file b.h you need to declare a function which accepts an object of type A. You could do it like this:

   // b.h
   #include "a.h"
   
   void foo(A a);

   This will work fine, except that now the contents of a.h will be compiled each time the compiler will process all cpp-files which include b.h, even if those cpp-files do not use anything from a.h. To optimize, you can do this:

   // b.h
   class A;
   
   void foo(A a);

   and then #include "a.h" only in one source file in which the function foo is defined. For large projects, the gain in build time might be significant.

2. Defining types with circular dependencies. Say, you need to define type A which has a method that accepts an object of type B, but type B has a method which accepts an object of type A. Forward declaration helps to break the vicious circle:

   class B; // forward declaration of type B
   
   class A { // definition of type A
       void foo(B); // declaration of the method
       // incomplete type might be used in function declaration
   };
   
   class B { // definition of type B
       // type A is complete, so we can define the method:
       void bar(A a)
       {
           // do smth with a...
       }
   };
   
   // now type B is also complete, so we can define its 'foo' method
   void A::foo(B b)
   {
       // do smth with b...
   }

Include guards

As you know, #include directives are replaced with the contents of included files. If a header file contains only declarations, it is not a problem to include it many times. But more often than not, headers contain also class/struct definitions. In this case, including the header (as is) more than once will violate the ODR. You may wonder why would someone include the same header many times, but this happens more often than you think. E.g.:

 // file a.h
 class A {
 // definition of class A...
 };

 // file b.h
 #include "a.h"
 class B {
     A a; // class A is used in B
     // other members...
 };

 // file c.h
 #include "a.h"
 class C {
     A a; // class A is used in C
     // other members...
 };

 // file main.cpp
 #include "b.h"
 #include "c.h"
 // now contents of a.h are included two times 
 // ...

To make this work, put the following three preprocessor directives, called include guards, into a.h (in fact, put them into all header files):

 #ifndef A_H
 #define A_H

 // contents of the header

 #endif

When the preprocessor encounters the line #ifndef SOMENAME and the macro SOMENAME is already defined at this point, it will remove all following lines until the first #endif. Thus, when the contents of a.h first appears in main.cpp through #include "b.h", the macro A_H is not yet defined, and all lines are pasted and processed. The next line, #define A_H tells the preprocessor to define the macro A_H. So when the contents of a.h are pasted for the second time through #include "c.h", this macro is already defined, and the contents between #ifndef and #endif will be ignored. You can use any unique name instead of A_H, but the tradition is to transform the header file name to uppercase and replace . with _.

Note that include guards prevent ODR violation only with respect to type definitions. If you have a function or object definition in a header, and this header is included into multiple source files, you will violate the ODR despite that all headers have include guards. Therefore, typically, headers contain class/struct definitions and function and object declarations. (Also note that a class definition might contain only declarations of its methods; definitions of methods are typically provided in source files).

Note: There is an alternative to include guards:

#pragma once

Put this single preprocessor directive at the top of the header, and that's it. It is not guaranteed by the standard, but all major compilers seem to support it.

Headers and libraries

Now that you know the distinction between declarations and definitions, you should understand how libraries work in C/C++. Say, you need to make numeric integration, and decide to use GSL (GNU Scientific Library). First, you install this library, which means that your package manager (such as apt in Ubuntu) will download 1) header files of the library which contain type definitions and function declarations, and 2) the compiled definitions of those functions in the form of the library libgsl.a (the convention is that file names of libraries always have "lib"-prefix). Headers and libraries will be put to some standard locations that C/C++ compiler knows about. Then in your code you do an #include:

 #include <gsl/gsl_integration.h>

 int main()
 {
     // use some integration functions from GSL...
 }

If you then compile your program as usual, the linker will issue an error about undefined references to the GSL functions you used: the header file contains only declarations. You have to link them against definitions which are stored in the libraries, and you do that with -l flag followed (with or without spaces) by the library name without the "lib"-prefix (and extension): g++ main.cpp -lgsl (in fact, for the GSL library you will also have to indicate -lgslcblas, which is a supporting library).

You may wonder why you don't provide any -l flags when you #include e.g. vector or iostream, and that works fine. That's because these headers are part of the C++ standard library, which is linked automatically.

Note: You may have noted that both angular brackets and double quotes might be used when including files (#include <file.h> and #include "file.h"). The difference is that with brackets, the preprocessor searches for the file in some standard directories, and this form is typically used to include library headers. In case of quotes, the preprocessor will first look into current directory, so this form is used to include your own headers.

There are two types of libraries: static (also known as 'archives', hence the *.a extension) and shared ('shared object', *.so). The distinction is that the binary code which your program uses from static libraries is copied by the linker at compile-time and becomes part of your final executable. Binary code from shared libraries is not copied into your program, but is loaded when your program starts. With static libraries it is easier to distribute applications (users don't have to worry if they have the library), but executables have bigger sizes. With shared libraries the sizes are smaller, because there is only one copy of the library on a computer (many different executables may load it at run-time, even simultaneously), but users need to check if they have the library on their computers, and that its version is the one needed by an application. If you have both versions of the same library when compiling a program, by default, the shared version will be linked (to force linking static version, use -static flag).

☢️ You can check any executable file with the ldd command, to see which shared libraries it depends on (e.g., ldd /bin/ls).

There are also header-only libraries (e.g., cxxopts) which contain all definitions in headers, so you don't use the -l flag for them. Such libraries cannot contain function and object definitions, they might only contain definitions of types, templates and inline functions (I didn't mention the latter two, but, like types, they also obey a "softer" version of the ODR). The advantage of header-only libraries is the ease of use (you just #include and don't have to worry if you have relevant binary libraries for your specific platform), but they result in longer build times (remember that ordinary libraries which you link with -l are already compiled).

☢️ Starting with the c++20 standard, we also have a completely new system of modules. Unlike the traditional system, where you textually #include files, here you will be able to import binary code from modules (note, there is no # in front of import - it is not a business for the preprocessor!). Also, you can mix imports and includes in a single file. As of July 2022, the support for modules in both g++ and clang is not complete.