C++ Programming Features

C++ PROGRAMMING FEATURES:

1.     The C++ programming language is based on the C language.

2.     Although C++ is a descendant of the C language, the two languages are not always compatible.

3.     In C++, you can develop new data types that contain functional descriptions (member functions) as well as data representations. These new data types are called classes.

4.     The work of developing such classes is known as data abstraction. You can work with a combination of classes from established class libraries, develop your own classes, or derive new classes from existing classes by adding data descriptions and functions.

5.     New classes can contain (inherit) properties from one or more classes. The classes describe the data types and functions available, but they can hide (encapsulate) the implementation details from the client programs.

6.     You can define a series of functions with different argument types that all use the same function name. This is called function overloading. A function can have the same name and argument types in base and derived classes.

7.     Declaring a class member function in a base class allows you to override its implementation in a derived class. If you use virtual functions, class-dependent behavior may be determined at run time. This ability to select functions at run time, depending on data types, is called polymorphism.

8.     You can redefine the meaning of the basic language operators so that they can perform operations on user-defined classes (new data types), in addition to operations on system-defined data types, such as int, char, and float. Adding properties to operators for new data types is called operator overloading.

9.     The C++ language provides templates and several keywords not found in the C language. Other features include try-catch-throw exception handling, stricter type checking and more versatile access to data and functions compared to the C language.