The C++Course provides a general introduction to programming in C++. It is based on A.B. Downey's book, How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. Click here for details.


Keywords

A few sections ago, I said that you can make up any name you want for your variables, but that's not quite true. There are certain words that are reserved in C++ because they are used by the compiler to parse the structure of your program, and if you use them as variable names, it will get confused. These words, called keywords, include int, char, void, return and many more.

The complete list of keywords is included in the C++ Standard, which is the official language definition adopted by the the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on September 1, 1998. You can download a copy electronically from

http://www.ansi.org/

Rather than memorize the list, I would suggest that you take advantage of a feature provided in many development environments: code highlighting. As you type, different parts of your program should appear in different colors. For example, keywords might be blue, strings red, and other code black. If you type a variable name and it turns blue, watch out! You might get some strange behavior from the compiler.


Last Update: 2005-11-21