About the Examples

Whenever possible, the examples in this book are complete, compilable programs. You can tell which examples fall into this category because they start with #include directives and contain a main( ) function. You can download these examples as text files from the book's web site at http://www.tempest-sw.com/cpp/ or from O'Reilly's catalog page for this book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cplsian/.

Most examples are shortened to eliminate excess code that might interfere with the clarity of the example. In particular, these examples are fragments that lack a main function. Sometimes, an ellipsis indicates missing code, such as a function body. In other cases, the omissions are clear from the context. Most abbreviated examples have complete and compilable versions available for download.

All of the examples have been checked with several different compilers, including Comeau Computing's compiler with the Dinkumware standard library (widely acknowledged as the most complete and correct implementations of the C++ standard). Not all compilers can compile all the examples due to limitations and bugs in the compilers and libraries. For best results, try to work with the latest version of your compiler. Recent releases of several major compilers have made dramatic progress toward conformance with the standard. When possible, I have tried to alter the example files to work around the bugs without interfering with the intent of the example.

I have checked all the examples with the following compilers:

Linux

• Borland Kylix 3.0

• Comeau 4.3.0.1

• GNU 3.2

• Intel 7.0

Microsoft Windows

• Borland C++ Builder 6.4

• Metrowerks CodeWarrior 8.3

• Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 7.0