C++ Programming: Visual QuickStart Guide

2. Simple Variables and Data Types

At their root, all applications do the same thing: they process data. Programming, then, is dictating what is done with what data. This perspective is relevant because to learn how to program in C++, you must first understand what the available data types are and how they are represented by variables. In this chapter, the most simple variable and data types are covered. These will be used over subsequent chapters as you begin to understand different ways to process information. In Chapter 6, “Complex Data Types,” and beyond, much more advanced data types and variables are covered.

We start with the basic syntax of variables: how to create them, how to assign them values, and how to print those values. Numeric ...