JavaScript Object Notation, or JSON, is a solution to the problem of how do we move data between systems, especially data between a server and a web client. JSON is an open-standards, data interchange format that uses a serializable string of data to store information. It was initiated in the early 2000’s by Douglas Crockford,…
A constant pointer means that the memory location will not change, not that the value at that memory location will not change. Consider the following code. What do you think will happen? Using const will make sure you always point to the right place. Using const with Pointers in C++ was originally found on Access…
OK, defining a new Datatype might be a bit of a stretch…how about, defining aliases? You can use the typedef keyword to define a new aliase for an existing data type in C++. The general form is: Let’s say you have experience with another language and you want to use a datatype name that they…
A Pointer variable, just called a pointer, holds the memory address of data that is stored. Through the pointer, you can read the address, and thus indirectly access the value of the variable. To access a value, you use the dereference operators (*) to get the value stored at that memory address. To store a…
Traditional procedural programming focuses on actions – functions. Object oriented programming focuses on data (objects) and the operations on objects. You want to look at items that you will be coding, and think, what makes this information up? and, What things can it do, and/or be done to it? Objects in the physical realm are…
C++ has some interesting keywords that allow you to do different things. For example, if you want to make sure that you don’t accidentally change any values in a method, you can use the const keyword. Now this is similar to how you use it on a parameter for a function, but since you don’t…
Something that can happen in larger projects is that a header file for a class is included in multiple files. While this seems trivial, some compilers can run into a problem of thinking it’s multiple classes with the same name. Luckily, C++ gives us a method to prevent this from happening, by using a built…
Everything we’ve looked at so far is what is known as an instance member. That is, each instance of a class – called and object, has it’s own set of properties and methods. This is mostly what is done. So if we look at two Circle objects for example, the radius of one circle is…
