Part 2

Memory and objects

The part of C++ that other languages hide from you. Everything from here on — copies, moves, containers, performance — is a consequence of what is in this part.

• 2.1

  Objects and storage

  What a variable actually is: a named region of bytes with a type stamped on it.

  8 min
• 2.2

  Pointers

  An address in a variable, and every consequence that follows.

  9 min
• 2.3

  References

  Another name for an existing object, and how that differs from a pointer.

  7 min
• 2.4

  Lifetime and scope

  When an object starts existing, when it stops, and what touching it outside that window costs.

  8 min
• 2.5

  The stack and the heap

  Two ways to get memory, with very different costs and rules.

  8 min
• 2.6

  Arrays, and why they decay

  The oldest container in the language, and the surprising rule that makes it lose its size.

  6 min
• 2.7

  const and constness

  A promise to the compiler and to the reader, enforced at compile time.

  7 min