Learnings · C++ Programming

C++ Programming tutorials, labs & MCQs.

A C++ curriculum sequenced for engineers, not for feature coverage. It starts with the toolchain and the language core — types and initialization, expressions, control flow, functions, scope and storage, pointers and references, aggregates and strings — then spends its centre of gravity where C++ actually differs from C: dynamic memory and the ownership question new and delete cannot answer, classes and invariants, constructors, destructors and RAII, copy and move semantics through the Rules of Three, Five and Zero, and smart pointers as ownership policies. From there it builds out to inheritance and runtime polymorphism, templates and generic programming, the standard containers, iterators, algorithms and lambdas, the modern type and utility tools, exception safety and diagnostics, streams and data processing, build and project architecture, undefined behaviour and performance discipline, and concurrency fundamentals. It closes on the semiconductor work the language is for: C++ in a verification stack — transaction, reference, golden, register and memory models, stimulus generation and scoreboard comparison — and C/C++ to SystemVerilog DPI end to end, from linkage and extern "C" through scalar, array, open-array and string mapping to integrating a complete C++ reference model with a testbench.

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What C++ Programming is

C++ is a compiled, statically typed language that adds a type and object model on top of C's machine-level control. Its central addition is not classes but the object lifetime: a constructor runs when an object comes into existence, a destructor runs when it goes out, and the language guarantees the pairing — which is what lets a resource be attached to a scope instead of to a programmer's discipline. Around that sit value semantics, references, templates and a standard library of containers and algorithms. In semiconductor work it appears wherever software has to be both fast and structured: reference and golden models a testbench scores against, cycle-accurate and instruction-set simulators, the internals of EDA tools, firmware and bring-up code, and the C++ side of the SystemVerilog DPI boundary. This curriculum teaches C++17 and labels later features where they appear, because 'C++ does X' is an incomplete sentence until you say which C++ and which compiler.

Why it exists

C gives you complete control over memory and no way to express who is responsible for it. That is workable for a few hundred lines and stops being workable for a reference model that lives for the length of a regression, allocating transactions and releasing them across thousands of calls. The failure is not that manual allocation is hard to write — it is that `free` has no owner, so correctness depends on every call site agreeing about a rule written nowhere in the code. C++ exists to put that rule into the type system: a destructor the compiler is obliged to run, ownership expressed in a function's signature, and containers that manage their own storage. The payoff for engineering work is specific rather than general. A model can be structured without becoming slow, a resource can be released on the exception path without a single explicit branch, and an interface can state in its parameter types whether it borrows a thing or takes it.

The part engineers get wrong

Most C++ bugs are not wrong algorithms; they are correct algorithms applied to objects that no longer exist, or that someone else also believes they own. A reference that outlives its referent, a vector that reallocated while an iterator was held, a base-class pointer deleted without a virtual destructor, a copy made where a move was intended and an expensive one where neither was — the shared shape is that all of them read as ordinary code. None reports anything at the point of the mistake. Worse, several are undefined behaviour, which does not mean 'unpredictable result' but 'the standard no longer describes your program' — and this curriculum demonstrates rather than asserts that, with one function, one compiler and two optimisation levels producing two opposite answers from the same source. The practical consequence is that reviewing C++ is not mainly about reading logic. For every object the questions are: who owns it, how long does it live, and is this a value, a reference or a resource — because those three answers decide whether the logic was ever reached with valid data.

Before you start

Programming fundamentals — variables, control flow and functions in some language
Familiarity with C is helpful and not assumed; where C++ differs from C, the difference is stated rather than presumed
Comfort compiling from a terminal, since the build is treated as part of the language rather than an afterthought

What you will be able to do

Say which C++ a claim refers to: the ISO standard, implementation-defined behaviour, or your compiler's extension
Initialise objects deliberately, and explain what each initialisation form actually does
Distinguish lifetime from scope, and predict when a destructor runs
Express ownership in an interface, so a signature states whether it borrows, shares or takes a resource
Apply RAII so that resources are released on the exception path with no explicit cleanup branch
Choose correctly among copy, move and neither, and recognise the Rule of Zero as the target
Use unique_ptr and shared_ptr for their actual ownership meanings rather than as automatic pointers
Avoid object slicing and know when a destructor must be virtual
Select a standard container from its invalidation and complexity behaviour, not its convenience
Write templates and use the standard algorithms instead of hand-rolled loops
Recognise undefined behaviour, and explain why it can change an answer between optimisation levels
Build a reference model for verification, and work across the SystemVerilog DPI boundary

The learning path

The language and its buildWhy C++ appears in semiconductor engineering; compiling, linking and running; which standard you are actually writing; types, variables and initialisation
Expressions, control flow and functionsExpressions and operators; control flow; functions, overloading and inlining; scope, storage duration and namespaces
Memory, objects and lifetimePointers and references; arrays, strings and aggregate data; dynamic memory, object lifetime, and the ownership question new and delete cannot answer
Classes, copying and ownershipClasses and encapsulation; constructors and destructors; RAII; copy and move semantics with the Rules of Three, Five and Zero; smart pointers; operator overloading
Polymorphism, templates and the standard libraryInheritance; runtime polymorphism, virtual destructors and slicing; templates and generic programming; containers; iterators, algorithms and lambdas; modern type and utility tools
Robustness, architecture and semiconductor useError handling and exception safety; files and streams; build and project architecture; debugging, undefined behaviour and performance; concurrency fundamentals; C++ for verification; the SystemVerilog DPI boundary

Core concepts

Which C++ are you writing?The ISO guarantee, the part it declines to pin down, and your compiler's additions are three different things Lifetime and scope differWhere a name is visible and how long the object exists are separate questions with separate answers The question new and delete cannot answerAllocation says what exists; nothing in C says who is responsible for ending it Tying a resource to an objectA destructor the compiler must run is what makes cleanup survive an early return or a thrown exception lvalues and rvaluesThe categories decide whether an expression can be moved from, which is why they stopped being academic The Rule of Zero is the goalWriting none of the five special members usually means ownership was expressed correctly elsewhere unique_ptr means exclusiveA smart pointer is a statement about responsibility, not a convenience wrapper that frees memory for you Deleting through a base pointerWithout the virtual keyword on one destructor, the derived part is never destroyed and nothing complains Containers invalidate what you holdA push_back can move the storage, leaving an iterator or reference pointing at memory that was yours a moment ago Undefined behaviour is not 'unpredictable'The standard stops describing the program, so the same source can answer differently at two optimisation levels

New to C++ Programming? Work through the curriculum in order — each lesson assumes the one before it, and the sequence is what turns the roadmap above into working knowledge.

Already working with it? Use the core-concept links above to jump straight to the topic you need; each one opens the lesson that covers it in most depth.

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Where this leads

CThe layer underneath: the memory model, pointers and build process C++ inherits. Reading it first makes clear which C++ features are conveniences and which exist to fix something C could not express SystemVerilogThe other side of the DPI boundary, and the language the testbench is written in when a C++ reference model is the thing being scored against PythonThe usual companion rather than a competitor: Python coordinates runs and parses the output, C++ is reached for when a model must be fast enough to sit inside the simulation loop

Standards: ISO/IEC 14882 — Programming languages — C++ — The document that defines the language. This curriculum teaches the C++17 edition and labels later features where they appear; working drafts published by WG21 are freely available and are what most engineers actually read, but a draft is not the published standard, and this track says which it is quoting whenever a claim depends on it · IEEE 1800 (SystemVerilog) — Governs the DPI boundary itself — the import and export declarations and the type mapping. The C++ on one side remains ISO/IEC 14882; only the crossing is IEEE 1800's