C++ Programming Course: From Basics to OOP and STL

Set up a C++ compiler and write programs that read input and print output.

• What C++ is used for: games, systems, high-performance software
• Installing g++ (MinGW-w64 on Windows) and setting up VS Code or Code::Blocks
• Compiling and running, and choosing a standard such as C++17
• Input and output with cin and cout
• Reading compiler errors

g++ (GCC)VS CodeCode::BlocksOnlineGDB (optional)

Practice: User info printer · Command-line calculator

Use variables, operators, conditions and loops to solve everyday problems.

• Variables, constants and const
• Data types: int, double, char, bool and modifiers
• Arithmetic, relational, logical and bitwise operators
• Type conversion with static_cast
• if, else, switch and all three loops
• break and continue, nested loops

Practice: BMI calculator · Grading system · Number-guessing game · Multiplication table generator

Write clean, reusable functions and use recursion where it fits.

• Declaring and defining functions
• Pass by value vs pass by reference
• Function overloading and default arguments
• Inline functions
• Recursion: factorial, Fibonacci, power

Practice: Recursive power calculator · Prime number checker · Menu-driven utility app

Store and process collections of numbers and text the modern C++ way.

• 1D and 2D arrays
• C-style strings vs std::string
• std::vector as a growable array
• Searching and sorting

Practice: Palindrome checker · Student marks manager · Contact search system

Model real things as classes with their own data and behaviour.

• Classes and objects
• Constructors and destructors
• Access specifiers and encapsulation
• The this pointer
• Static members

Practice: Bank account management system · Employee record manager

Build class hierarchies and use runtime polymorphism correctly.

• Single, multiple and hierarchical inheritance
• Compile-time vs runtime polymorphism
• Virtual functions, pure virtual functions and the override keyword
• Abstract classes and interfaces
• Virtual destructors

Practice: Shape area calculator · Vehicle inheritance demo · Student and teacher info system

Understand how C++ uses memory and write safer code with modern features.

• Pointers, pointers to pointers, and arrays with pointers
• new and delete, and why C++ code avoids malloc and free
• RAII and smart pointers: unique_ptr and shared_ptr
• nullptr, auto and range-based for loops
• Lambda functions and enum class
• Move semantics (introduction)

Practice: Dynamic array class · Smart pointer use case · Pointer-based string manipulator

Write generic code and use the STL's ready-made data structures and algorithms.

• Operator overloading (+, ==, <<)
• Function templates and class templates
• Containers: vector, list, deque, set, map, unordered_map
• stack, queue and priority_queue
• Iterators, pair and tuple
• Algorithms: sort, find, count, accumulate

Practice: Complex number class with operator overloading · Generic stack using templates · Mini student database with map and set · Top N frequent words with a priority queue

Save data to files and make programs robust and well organised.

• File streams: ifstream, ofstream, fstream
• File modes and reading or writing structured data
• try, catch and throw
• Standard exceptions and custom exception classes
• Namespaces and scope resolution

Practice: Login and registration system with file storage · Calculator that handles divide-by-zero with exceptions · Data logger

Use C++ and the STL to solve coding problems fast and correctly.

• Fast input and output
• Using map, set, multiset and priority_queue in problems
• Sieve of Eratosthenes, two pointers, sliding window and binary search
• Bit manipulation tricks
• Introduction to dynamic programming
• Practising on online judges

LeetCodeCodeforcesHackerRank

Practice: Your own problem-solving template · A 30-day problem-solving challenge