Chapter 2. Declarations

A C++ source file contains a series of zero or more declarations. A declaration can be a function, type, object (constant or variable), namespace, template, or a related entity. The first part of this chapter covers general topics that pertain to all declarations. The second part discusses types, objects, and namespaces specifically. Function, class, and template declarations each get their own chapters: Chapter 5 covers functions; Chapter 6 covers classes and friends; and Chapter 7 covers template declarations, specializations, and instantiations.

The syntax descriptions in this chapter are informal. See Chapter 12 for a precise BNF grammar.