C++ Primer, Fourth Edition, provides a comprehensive introduction to the C++ language. As a primer, it provides a clear tutorial approach to the language, enhanced by numerous examples and other learning aids. Unlike most primers, it also provides a detailed description of the language, with particular emphasis on current and effective programming techniques. Countless programmers have used previous editions of C++ Primer to learn C++. In that time C++ has matured greatly. Over the years, the focus of the language--and of C++ programmers--has grown beyond a concentration on runtime efficiency to focus on ways of making programmers more efficient. With the widespread availability of the standard library, it is possible to use and learn C++ more effectively than in the past. This revision of the C++ Primer reflects these new possiblities. Changes to the Fourth Edition In this edition, we have completely reorganized and rewritten the C++ Primer to highlight modern styles of C++ programming. This edition gives center stage to using the standard library while deemphasizing techniques for low-level programming. We introduce the standard library much earlier in the text and have reformulated the examples to take advantage of library facilities. We have also streamlined and reordered the presentation of language topics. In addition to restructuring the text, we have incorporated several new elements to enhance the reader's understanding. Each chapter concludes with a Chapter Summary and glossary of Defined Terms, which recap the chapter's most important points. Readers should use these sections as a personal checklist: If you do not understand a term, restudy the corresponding part of the chapter. We've also incorporated a number of other learning aids in the body of the text: Important terms are indicated in bold ; important terms that we assume are already familiar to the reader are indicated in bold italics. Each term appears in the chapter's Defined Terms section. Throughout the book, we highlight parts of the text to call attention to important aspects of the language, warn about common pitfalls, suggest good programming practices, and provide general usage tips. We hope that these notes will help readers more quickly digest important concepts and avoid common pitfalls. To make it easier to follow the relationships among features and concepts, we provide extensive forward and backward cross-references. We have provided sidebar discussions that focus on important concepts and supply additional explanations for topics that programmers new to C++ often find most difficult. Learning any programming language requires writing programs. To that end, the primer provides extensive examples throughout the text. Source code for the extended examples is available on the Web at the following URL: [a href="http://www.awprofessional.com/cpp_primer" id="http://www.awprofessional.com/cpp_primer"