8. Strings: Analyzing the Text

Most computer programs, at some point in their lives, have to communicate with a human being. The standard way to do this is to use text strings. The word string conjures up an image of a series of characters, closely strung together.

However, there seems to be a paradox: Computer processors only understand numbers. How, then, can they communicate with humans? The answer is: through a special kind of code that associates each letter with a number. That’s the basis for understanding text strings, so this chapter starts by examining that subject.

For years now, C++ compilers have supported a sophisticated string class that makes working with text strings easier. For example, the following line of code concatenates ...

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