Table of Contents

Front Matter

• Preface
• About the Author

Chapter 1 – Introduction: Why C++ in 2026?

• 1.1 The honest case for C++
• 1.2 "Modern" means C++11 and later
• 1.3 Who this book is for (and who it is not for)
• 1.4 What you will need
• 1.5 How the book is organized
• 1.6 A realistic expectation of the difficulty curve
• 1.7 The "boring" philosophy
• 1.8 Let's get started

Chapter 2 – Setup: Compiler, Editor, and Your First Program

• 2.1 Choosing a compiler
• 2.2 Installing on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• 2.3 Your editor
• 2.4 Your first C++ program: Hello, world
• 2.5 The build command explained
• 2.6 CMake: the boring minimum
• 2.7 Common installation problems and fixes
• 2.8 Summary

Chapter 3 – Types, Variables, and Control Flow

• 3.1 Fundamental types
• 3.2 auto and type deduction
• 3.3 const, constexpr, and literals
• 3.4 Enums and enum class
• 3.5 Control flow: if, switch, and loops
• 3.6 Range-based for loops
• 3.7 Structured bindings (C++17)
• 3.8 Exercises
• 3.9 Common mistakes
• 3.10 Summary

Chapter 4 – Functions, Lambdas, and Callables

• 4.1 Function basics and overloading
• 4.2 Default arguments
• 4.3 Pass by value, reference, and const reference
• 4.4 Lambda expressions
• 4.5 Capturing variables in lambdas
• 4.6 std::function
• 4.7 Function pointers (briefly)
• 4.8 Exercises
• 4.9 Common mistakes
• 4.10 Summary

Chapter 5 – Classes and Objects

• 5.1 Why classes exist
• 5.2 Members, methods, and access control
• 5.3 Constructors and destructors
• 5.4 The Rule of Zero, Three, and Five
• 5.5 Operator overloading
• 5.6 Inheritance and virtual dispatch
• 5.7 Abstract classes and interfaces
• 5.8 Exercises
• 5.9 Common mistakes
• 5.10 Summary

Chapter 6 – Memory: Ownership and Lifetime

• 6.1 Stack versus heap
• 6.2 Raw pointers (and why to avoid them)
• 6.3 unique_ptr
• 6.4 shared_ptr and weak_ptr
• 6.5 References versus pointers
• 6.6 Move semantics: what actually happens
• 6.7 RAII: the most important pattern in C++
• 6.8 Exercises
• 6.9 Common mistakes
• 6.10 Summary

Chapter 7 – Templates and Generic Programming

• 7.1 The problem templates solve
• 7.2 Function templates
• 7.3 Class templates
• 7.4 Template specialization
• 7.5 Concepts (C++20)
• 7.6 Variadic templates (brief introduction)
• 7.7 Exercises
• 7.8 Common mistakes
• 7.9 Summary

Chapter 8 – The Standard Library: Containers and Algorithms

• 8.1 std::vector
• 8.2 std::array
• 8.3 std::map and std::unordered_map
• 8.4 std::string and std::string_view
• 8.5 Iterators
• 8.6 Algorithms: sort, find, transform, and friends
• 8.7 Ranges (C++20)
• 8.8 Exercises
• 8.9 Common mistakes
• 8.10 Summary

Chapter 9 – Error Handling

• 9.1 Return codes versus exceptions
• 9.2 Throwing and catching exceptions
• 9.3 Writing exception-safe code
• 9.4 std::optional
• 9.5 std::expected (C++23)
• 9.6 When to use which strategy
• 9.7 Exercises
• 9.8 Common mistakes
• 9.9 Summary

Chapter 10 – Concurrency

• 10.1 Threads
• 10.2 Mutexes and lock_guard
• 10.3 Condition variables
• 10.4 std::atomic
• 10.5 std::async and futures
• 10.6 Coroutines: a first look (C++20)
• 10.7 Exercises
• 10.8 Common mistakes
• 10.9 Summary

Chapter 11 – Modern C++ Idioms and Best Practices

• 11.1 const-correctness
• 11.2 noexcept
• 11.3 Attributes: [[nodiscard]], [[maybe_unused]], [[likely]]
• 11.4 Compile-time programming: constexpr and consteval
• 11.5 std::span and std::mdspan
• 11.6 std::format (C++20)
• 11.7 Modules: a brief introduction (C++20)
• 11.8 Exercises
• 11.9 Common mistakes
• 11.10 Summary

Chapter 12 – A Complete Project: Command-Line Task Manager

• 12.1 What we will build
• 12.2 The data model
• 12.3 File I/O and serialization
• 12.4 Command parsing
• 12.5 Putting it all together
• 12.6 Adding tests
• 12.7 Timing and what to expect
• 12.8 Exercises
• 12.9 Common mistakes
• 12.10 Summary

Appendices

• Appendix A – C++ Quick Reference Card
• Appendix B – Standard Library Cheat Sheet
• Appendix C – Exercise Solutions
• Appendix D – Glossary
• Appendix E – Further Reading and Next Steps

Index