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Standard library

C++ Core Guidelines

Compatibility

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References

Further reading

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

C++

Logo endorsed by the C++ standards committee

Paradigms Multi-paradigm: procedural, imperative, functional, 

object-oriented, generic, modular

Family C

Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup

Developer ISO/IEC JTC 1 (Joint Technical Committee 1) / SC

22 (Subcommittee 22) / WG 21 (Working Group 21)

First appeared 1985; 38 years ago

Stable release C++20 (ISO/IEC 14882:2020) / 15 December 2020;

2 years ago

Preview release C++23 / 18 December 2022; 1 month ago

Typing Static, strong, nominative, partially inferred

discipline

OS Cross-platform

Filename .C, .cc, .cpp, .cxx, .c++, .h, .H, .hh, .hpp, .hxx, .h++

extensions

Website isocpp.org

Major implementations

GCC, LLVM Clang, Microsoft Visual C++, Embarcadero C+

+Builder, Intel C++ Compiler, IBM XL C++, EDG

Influenced by

Ada, ALGOL 68,[1] BCPL,[2] C, CLU,[1] F#,[3][note 1] ML, Mesa,[1] Modula-2,

[1]
 Simula, Smalltalk[1]

Influenced
 Ada 95, C#,[4] C99, Carbon, Chapel,[5] Clojure,[6] D, Java,[7] JS++,[8] Lua,
[9]
 Nim,[10] Objective-C++, Perl, PHP, Python,[11] Rust,[12] Seed7

  C++ Programming at Wikibooks

C++ (/ˈsiː plʌs plʌs/, pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose

programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup and
first released in 1985 as an extension of the C programming language, or "C
with Classes". The language has expanded significantly over time, and modern C++
now has object-oriented, generic, and functional features in addition to facilities
for low-level memory manipulation. It is almost always implemented as a compiled
language, and many vendors provide C++ compilers, including the Free Software
Foundation, LLVM, Microsoft, Intel, Embarcadero, Oracle, and IBM, so it is available
on many platforms.[13]
C++ was designed with systems programming and embedded, resource-constrained
software and large systems in mind, with performance, efficiency, and flexibility of
use as its design highlights.[14] C++ has also been found useful in many other
contexts, with key strengths being software infrastructure and resource-constrained
applications,[14] including desktop applications, video games, servers (e.g. e-
commerce, web search, or databases), and performance-critical applications
(e.g. telephone switches or space probes).[15]
C++ is standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), with
the latest standard version ratified and published by ISO in December 2020
as ISO/IEC 14882:2020 (informally known as C++20).[16] The C++ programming
language was initially standardized in 1998 as ISO/IEC 14882:1998, which was then
amended by the C++03, C++11, C++14, and C++17 standards. The current C+
+20 standard supersedes these with new features and an enlarged standard library.
Before the initial standardization in 1998, C++ was developed by Stroustrup at Bell
Labs since 1979 as an extension of the C language; he wanted an efficient and
flexible language similar to C that also provided high-level features for program
organization.[17] Since 2012, C++ has been on a three-year release
schedule[18] with C++23 as the next planned standard.[19]

History[edit]

Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, in his AT&T New Jersey office, c. 2000

In 1979, Bjarne Stroustrup, a Danish computer scientist, began work on "C

with Classes", the predecessor to C++.[20] The motivation for creating a new language
originated from Stroustrup's experience in programming for his PhD thesis.
Stroustrup found that Simula had features that were very helpful for large software
development, but the language was too slow for practical use, while BCPL was fast
but too low-level to be suitable for large software development. When Stroustrup
started working in AT&T Bell Labs, he had the problem of analyzing
the UNIX kernel with respect to distributed computing. Remembering his PhD
experience, Stroustrup set out to enhance the C language with Simula-like features.
[21]
 C was chosen because it was general-purpose, fast, portable and widely used. As
well as C and Simula's influences, other languages also influenced this new
language, including ALGOL 68, Ada, CLU and ML.
Initially, Stroustrup's "C with Classes" added features to the C compiler, Cpre,
including classes, derived classes, strong typing, inlining and default arguments.[22]

A quiz on C++11 features being given in Paris in 2015

In 1982, Stroustrup started to develop a successor to C with Classes, which he

named "C++" ( ++  being the increment operator in C) after going through several
other names. New features were added, including virtual functions, function name
and operator overloading, references, constants, type-safe free-store memory
allocation (new/delete), improved type checking, and BCPL style single-line
comments with two forward slashes ( // ). Furthermore, Stroustrup developed a new,
standalone compiler for C++, Cfront.
In 1984, Stroustrup implemented the first stream input/output library. The idea of
providing an output operator rather than a named output function was suggested
by Doug McIlroy[1] (who had previously suggested Unix pipes).
In 1985, the first edition of The C++ Programming Language was released, which
became the definitive reference for the language, as there was not yet an official
standard.[23] The first commercial implementation of C++ was released in October of
the same year.[20]
In 1989, C++ 2.0 was released, followed by the updated second edition of The C++
Programming Language in 1991.[24] New features in 2.0 included multiple inheritance,
abstract classes, static member functions, const member functions, and protected
members. In 1990, The Annotated C++ Reference Manual was published. This work
became the basis for the future standard. Later feature additions
included templates, exceptions, namespaces, new casts, and a Boolean type.
In 1998, C++98 was released, standardizing the language, and a minor update (C+
+03) was released in 2003.
After C++98, C++ evolved relatively slowly until, in 2011, the C++11 standard was
released, adding numerous new features, enlarging the standard library further, and
providing more facilities to C++ programmers. After a minor C++14 update released
in December 2014, various new additions were introduced in C++17.[25] After
becoming finalized in February 2020,[26] a draft of the C++20 standard was approved
on 4 September 2020 and officially published on 15 December 2020. [27][28]
On January 3, 2018, Stroustrup was announced as the 2018 winner of the Charles
Stark Draper Prize for Engineering, "for conceptualizing and developing the C++
programming language".[29]
As of December 2022 C++ ranked third on the TIOBE index, surpassing Java for the
first time in the history of the index. It ranks 3rd, after Python and C.[30]
Etymology[edit]
According to Stroustrup, "the name signifies the evolutionary nature of the changes
from C".[31] This name is credited to Rick Mascitti (mid-1983)[22] and was first used in
December 1983. When Mascitti was questioned informally in 1992 about the naming,
he indicated that it was given in a tongue-in-cheek spirit. The name comes from
C's  ++  operator (which increments the value of a variable) and a common naming
convention of using "+" to indicate an enhanced computer program.
During C++'s development period, the language had been referred to as "new C"
and "C with Classes"[22][32] before acquiring its final name.
Philosophy[edit]
Throughout C++'s life, its development and evolution has been guided by a set of
principles:[21]

 It must be driven by actual problems and its features should be immediately

useful in real world programs.
 Every feature should be implementable (with a reasonably obvious way to do so).
 Programmers should be free to pick their own programming style, and that style
should be fully supported by C++.
 Allowing a useful feature is more important than preventing every possible
misuse of C++.
 It should provide facilities for organising programs into separate, well-defined
parts, and provide facilities for combining separately developed parts.
 No implicit violations of the type system (but allow explicit violations; that is,
those explicitly requested by the programmer).
 User-created types need to have the same support and performance as built-in
types.
 Unused features should not negatively impact created executables (e.g. in lower
performance).
 There should be no language beneath C++ (except assembly language).
 C++ should work alongside other existing programming languages, rather than
fostering its own separate and incompatible programming environment.
 If the programmer's intent is unknown, allow the programmer to specify it by
providing manual control.
Standardization[edit]
Main articles: C++03, C++11, C++14, C++17, C++20, and C++23
Scene during the C++ standards committee meeting in Stockholm in 1996

C++ standards

Year C++ Standard[33] Informal name

1998 ISO/IEC 14882:1998[34] C++98

2003 ISO/IEC 14882:2003[35] C++03

2011 ISO/IEC 14882:2011[36] C++11, C++0x

2014 ISO/IEC 14882:2014[37] C++14, C++1y

2017 ISO/IEC 14882:2017[38] C++17, C++1z

2020 ISO/IEC 14882:2020[16] C++20, C++2a

2023 C++23

C++ is standardized by an ISO working group known as JTC1/SC22/WG21. So far, it

has published six revisions of the C++ standard and is currently working on the next
revision, C++23.
In 1998, the ISO working group standardized C++ for the first time as ISO/IEC
14882:1998, which is informally known as C++98. In 2003, it published a new
version of the C++ standard called ISO/IEC 14882:2003, which fixed problems
identified in C++98.
The next major revision of the standard was informally referred to as "C++0x", but it
was not released until 2011.[39] C++11 (14882:2011) included many additions to both
the core language and the standard library.[36]
In 2014, C++14 (also known as C++1y) was released as a small extension to C++11,
featuring mainly bug fixes and small improvements. [40] The Draft International
Standard ballot procedures completed in mid-August 2014. [41]
After C++14, a major revision C++17, informally known as C++1z, was completed by
the ISO C++ committee in mid July 2017 and was approved and published in
December 2017.[42]
As part of the standardization process, ISO also publishes technical reports and
specifications:

 ISO/IEC TR 18015:2006[43] on the use of C++ in embedded systems and on

performance implications of C++ language and library features,
 ISO/IEC TR 19768:2007[44] (also known as the C++ Technical Report 1) on library
extensions mostly integrated into C++11,
 ISO/IEC TR 29124:2010[45] on special mathematical functions, integrated into C+
+17
 ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011[46] on decimal floating-point arithmetic,
 ISO/IEC TS 18822:2015[47] on the standard filesystem library, integrated into C+
+17
 ISO/IEC TS 19570:2015[48] on parallel versions of the standard library algorithms,
integrated into C++17
 ISO/IEC TS 19841:2015[49] on software transactional memory,
 ISO/IEC TS 19568:2015[50] on a new set of library extensions, some of which are
already integrated into C++17,
 ISO/IEC TS 19217:2015[51] on the C++ concepts, integrated into C++20
 ISO/IEC TS 19571:2016[52] on the library extensions for concurrency, some of
which are already integrated into C++20
 ISO/IEC TS 19568:2017[53] on a new set of general-purpose library extensions
 ISO/IEC TS 21425:2017[54] on the library extensions for ranges, integrated into C+
+20
 ISO/IEC TS 22277:2017[55] on coroutines, integrated into C++20
 ISO/IEC TS 19216:2018[56] on the networking library
 ISO/IEC TS 21544:2018[57] on modules, integrated into C++20
 ISO/IEC TS 19570:2018[58] on a new set of library extensions for parallelism
 ISO/IEC TS 23619:2021[59] on new extensions for reflection
More technical specifications are in development and pending approval, including
new set of concurrency extensions.[60]

Language[edit]
The C++ language has two main components: a direct mapping of hardware features
provided primarily by the C subset, and zero-overhead abstractions based on those
mappings. Stroustrup describes C++ as "a light-weight abstraction programming
language [designed] for building and using efficient and elegant abstractions"; [14] and
"offering both hardware access and abstraction is the basis of C++. Doing it
efficiently is what distinguishes it from other languages." [61]
C++ inherits most of C's syntax. The following is Bjarne Stroustrup's version of
the Hello world program that uses the C++ Standard Library stream facility to write a
message to standard output:[62][63][note 2]

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
std::cout << "Hello, world!\n";
}

Object storage[edit]
As in C, C++ supports four types of memory management: static storage duration
objects, thread storage duration objects, automatic storage duration objects, and
dynamic storage duration objects.[64]
Static storage duration objects[edit]
Static storage duration objects are created before  main()  is entered (see exceptions
below) and destroyed in reverse order of creation after  main()  exits. The exact order
of creation is not specified by the standard (though there are some rules defined
below) to allow implementations some freedom in how to organize their
implementation. More formally, objects of this type have a lifespan that "shall last for
the duration of the program".[65]
Static storage duration objects are initialized in two phases. First, "static initialization"
is performed, and only after all static initialization is performed, "dynamic
initialization" is performed. In static initialization, all objects are first initialized with
zeros; after that, all objects that have a constant initialization phase are initialized
with the constant expression (i.e. variables initialized with a literal or  constexpr ).
Though it is not specified in the standard, the static initialization phase can be
completed at compile time and saved in the data partition of the executable.
Dynamic initialization involves all object initialization done via a constructor or
function call (unless the function is marked with  constexpr , in C++11). The dynamic
initialization order is defined as the order of declaration within the compilation unit
(i.e. the same file). No guarantees are provided about the order of initialization
between compilation units.
Thread storage duration objects[edit]
Variables of this type are very similar to static storage duration objects. The main
difference is the creation time is just prior to thread creation and destruction is done
after the thread has been joined.[66]
Automatic storage duration objects[edit]
The most common variable types in C++ are local variables inside a function or
block, and temporary variables.[67] The common feature about automatic variables is
that they have a lifetime that is limited to the scope of the variable. They are created
and potentially initialized at the point of declaration (see below for details) and
destroyed in the reverse order of creation when the scope is left. This is
implemented by allocation on the stack.
Local variables are created as the point of execution passes the declaration point. If
the variable has a constructor or initializer this is used to define the initial state of the
object. Local variables are destroyed when the local block or function that they are
declared in is closed. C++ destructors for local variables are called at the end of the
object lifetime, allowing a discipline for automatic resource management
termed RAII, which is widely used in C++.
Member variables are created when the parent object is created. Array members are
initialized from 0 to the last member of the array in order. Member variables are
destroyed when the parent object is destroyed in the reverse order of creation. i.e. If
the parent is an "automatic object" then it will be destroyed when it goes out of scope
which triggers the destruction of all its members.
Temporary variables are created as the result of expression evaluation and are
destroyed when the statement containing the expression has been fully evaluated
(usually at the  ;  at the end of a statement).
Dynamic storage duration objects[edit]
Main article: new and delete (C++)
These objects have a dynamic lifespan and can be created directly with a call
to  new  and destroyed explicitly with a call to  delete .[68] C++ also
supports  malloc  and  free , from C, but these are not compatible
with  new  and  delete . Use of  new  returns an address to the allocated memory. The
C++ Core Guidelines advise against using  new  directly for creating dynamic objects
in favor of smart pointers through  make_unique<T>  for single ownership
and  make_shared<T>  for reference-counted multiple ownership,[69] which were
introduced in C++11.
Templates[edit]
See also: Template metaprogramming and Generic programming
C++ templates enable generic programming. C++ supports function, class, alias, and
variable templates. Templates may be parameterized by types, compile-time
constants, and other templates. Templates are implemented by instantiation at
compile-time. To instantiate a template, compilers substitute specific arguments for a
template's parameters to generate a concrete function or class instance. Some
substitutions are not possible; these are eliminated by an overload resolution policy
described by the phrase "Substitution failure is not an error" (SFINAE). Templates
are a powerful tool that can be used for generic programming, template
metaprogramming, and code optimization, but this power implies a cost. Template
use may increase code size, because each template instantiation produces a copy of
the template code: one for each set of template arguments, however, this is the
same or smaller amount of code that would be generated if the code was written by
hand.[70] This is in contrast to run-time generics seen in other languages (e.g., Java)
where at compile-time the type is erased and a single template body is preserved.
Templates are different from macros: while both of these compile-time language
features enable conditional compilation, templates are not restricted to lexical
substitution. Templates are aware of the semantics and type system of their
companion language, as well as all compile-time type definitions, and can perform
high-level operations including programmatic flow control based on evaluation of
strictly type-checked parameters. Macros are capable of conditional control over
compilation based on predetermined criteria, but cannot instantiate new types,
recurse, or perform type evaluation and in effect are limited to pre-compilation text-
substitution and text-inclusion/exclusion. In other words, macros can control
compilation flow based on pre-defined symbols but cannot, unlike templates,
independently instantiate new symbols. Templates are a tool for
static polymorphism (see below) and generic programming.
In addition, templates are a compile-time mechanism in C++ that is Turing-complete,
meaning that any computation expressible by a computer program can be computed,
in some form, by a template metaprogram prior to runtime.
In summary, a template is a compile-time parameterized function or class written
without knowledge of the specific arguments used to instantiate it. After instantiation,
the resulting code is equivalent to code written specifically for the passed arguments.
In this manner, templates provide a way to decouple generic, broadly applicable
aspects of functions and classes (encoded in templates) from specific aspects
(encoded in template parameters) without sacrificing performance due to abstraction.
Objects[edit]
Main article: C++ classes
C++ introduces object-oriented programming (OOP) features to C. It offers classes,
which provide the four features commonly present in OOP (and some non-OOP)
languages: abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. One
distinguishing feature of C++ classes compared to classes in other programming
languages is support for deterministic destructors, which in turn provide support for
the Resource Acquisition is Initialization (RAII) concept.
Encapsulation[edit]
Encapsulation is the hiding of information to ensure that data structures and
operators are used as intended and to make the usage model more obvious to the
developer. C++ provides the ability to define classes and functions as its primary
encapsulation mechanisms. Within a class, members can be declared as either
public, protected, or private to explicitly enforce encapsulation. A public member of
the class is accessible to any function. A private member is accessible only to
functions that are members of that class and to functions and classes explicitly
granted access permission by the class ("friends"). A protected member is
accessible to members of classes that inherit from the class in addition to the class
itself and any friends.
The object-oriented principle ensures the encapsulation of all and only the functions
that access the internal representation of a type. C++ supports this principle via
member functions and friend functions, but it does not enforce it. Programmers can
declare parts or all of the representation of a type to be public, and they are allowed
to make public entities not part of the representation of a type. Therefore, C++
supports not just object-oriented programming, but other decomposition paradigms
such as modular programming.
It is generally considered good practice to make all data private or protected, and to
make public only those functions that are part of a minimal interface for users of the
class. This can hide the details of data implementation, allowing the designer to later
fundamentally change the implementation without changing the interface in any way.
[71][72]

Inheritance[edit]
Inheritance allows one data type to acquire properties of other data types.
Inheritance from a base class may be declared as public, protected, or private. This
access specifier determines whether unrelated and derived classes can access the
inherited public and protected members of the base class. Only public inheritance
corresponds to what is usually meant by "inheritance". The other two forms are much
less frequently used. If the access specifier is omitted, a "class" inherits privately,
while a "struct" inherits publicly. Base classes may be declared as virtual; this is
called virtual inheritance. Virtual inheritance ensures that only one instance of a base
class exists in the inheritance graph, avoiding some of the ambiguity problems of
multiple inheritance.
Multiple inheritance is a C++ feature allowing a class to be derived from more than
one base class; this allows for more elaborate inheritance relationships. For
example, a "Flying Cat" class can inherit from both "Cat" and "Flying Mammal".
Some other languages, such as C# or Java, accomplish something similar (although
more limited) by allowing inheritance of multiple interfaces while restricting the
number of base classes to one (interfaces, unlike classes, provide only declarations
of member functions, no implementation or member data). An interface as in C# and
Java can be defined in C++ as a class containing only pure virtual functions, often
known as an abstract base class or "ABC". The member functions of such an
abstract base class are normally explicitly defined in the derived class, not inherited
implicitly. C++ virtual inheritance exhibits an ambiguity resolution feature
called dominance.
Operators and operator overloading[edit]
Operators that cannot be overloaded

Operator Symbol

Scope resolution operator ::

Conditional operator ?:

dot operator .

Member selection operator .*

"sizeof" operator sizeof

"typeid" operator typeid

Main article: Operators in C and C++

C++ provides more than 35 operators, covering basic arithmetic, bit manipulation,
indirection, comparisons, logical operations and others. Almost all operators can
be overloaded for user-defined types, with a few notable exceptions such as member
access ( .  and  .* ) as well as the conditional operator. The rich set of overloadable
operators is central to making user-defined types in C++ seem like built-in types.
Overloadable operators are also an essential part of many advanced C++
programming techniques, such as smart pointers. Overloading an operator does not
change the precedence of calculations involving the operator, nor does it change the
number of operands that the operator uses (any operand may however be ignored
by the operator, though it will be evaluated prior to execution). Overloaded " && " and
" || " operators lose their short-circuit evaluation property.

Polymorphism[edit]
See also: Polymorphism (computer science)
Polymorphism enables one common interface for many implementations, and for
objects to act differently under different circumstances.
C++ supports several kinds of static (resolved at compile-time)
and dynamic (resolved at run-time) polymorphisms, supported by the language
features described above. Compile-time polymorphism does not allow for certain
run-time decisions, while runtime polymorphism typically incurs a performance
penalty.
Static polymorphism[edit]
See also: Parametric polymorphism and ad hoc polymorphism
Function overloading allows programs to declare multiple functions having the same
name but with different arguments (i.e. ad hoc polymorphism). The functions are
distinguished by the number or types of their formal parameters. Thus, the same
function name can refer to different functions depending on the context in which it is
used. The type returned by the function is not used to distinguish overloaded
functions and differing return types would result in a compile-time error message.
When declaring a function, a programmer can specify for one or more parameters
a default value. Doing so allows the parameters with defaults to optionally be omitted
when the function is called, in which case the default arguments will be used. When
a function is called with fewer arguments than there are declared parameters, explicit
arguments are matched to parameters in left-to-right order, with any unmatched
parameters at the end of the parameter list being assigned their default arguments.
In many cases, specifying default arguments in a single function declaration is
preferable to providing overloaded function definitions with different numbers of
parameters.
Templates in C++ provide a sophisticated mechanism for writing generic,
polymorphic code (i.e. parametric polymorphism). In particular, through the curiously
recurring template pattern, it's possible to implement a form of static polymorphism
that closely mimics the syntax for overriding virtual functions. Because C++
templates are type-aware and Turing-complete, they can also be used to let the
compiler resolve recursive conditionals and generate substantial programs
through template metaprogramming. Contrary to some opinion, template code will
not generate a bulk code after compilation with the proper compiler settings. [70]
Dynamic polymorphism[edit]
Inheritance[edit]
See also: Subtyping
Variable pointers and references to a base class type in C++ can also refer to
objects of any derived classes of that type. This allows arrays and other kinds of
containers to hold pointers to objects of differing types (references cannot be directly
held in containers). This enables dynamic (run-time) polymorphism, where the
referred objects can behave differently, depending on their (actual, derived) types.
C++ also provides the  dynamic_cast  operator, which allows code to safely attempt
conversion of an object, via a base reference/pointer, to a more derived
type: downcasting. The attempt is necessary as often one does not know which
derived type is referenced. (Upcasting, conversion to a more general type, can
always be checked/performed at compile-time via  static_cast , as ancestral classes
are specified in the derived class's interface, visible to all
callers.)  dynamic_cast  relies on run-time type information (RTTI), metadata in the
program that enables differentiating types and their relationships. If
a  dynamic_cast  to a pointer fails, the result is the  nullptr  constant, whereas if the
destination is a reference (which cannot be null), the cast throws an exception.
Objects known to be of a certain derived type can be cast to that with  static_cast ,
bypassing RTTI and the safe runtime type-checking of  dynamic_cast , so this should
be used only if the programmer is very confident the cast is, and will always be,
valid.
Virtual member functions[edit]
Ordinarily, when a function in a derived class overrides a function in a base class,
the function to call is determined by the type of the object. A given function is
overridden when there exists no difference in the number or type of parameters
between two or more definitions of that function. Hence, at compile time, it may not
be possible to determine the type of the object and therefore the correct function to
call, given only a base class pointer; the decision is therefore put off until runtime.
This is called dynamic dispatch. Virtual member functions or methods[73] allow the
most specific implementation of the function to be called, according to the actual run-
time type of the object. In C++ implementations, this is commonly done using virtual
function tables. If the object type is known, this may be bypassed by prepending
a fully qualified class name before the function call, but in general calls to virtual
functions are resolved at run time.
In addition to standard member functions, operator overloads and destructors can be
virtual. An inexact rule based on practical experience states that if any function in the
class is virtual, the destructor should be as well. As the type of an object at its
creation is known at compile time, constructors, and by extension copy constructors,
cannot be virtual. Nonetheless, a situation may arise where a copy of an object
needs to be created when a pointer to a derived object is passed as a pointer to a
base object. In such a case, a common solution is to create a  clone()  (or similar)
virtual function that creates and returns a copy of the derived class when called.
A member function can also be made "pure virtual" by appending it with  = 0  after
the closing parenthesis and before the semicolon. A class containing a pure virtual
function is called an abstract class. Objects cannot be created from an abstract
class; they can only be derived from. Any derived class inherits the virtual function as
pure and must provide a non-pure definition of it (and all other pure virtual functions)
before objects of the derived class can be created. A program that attempts to create
an object of a class with a pure virtual member function or inherited pure virtual
member function is ill-formed.
Lambda expressions[edit]
C++ provides support for anonymous functions, also known as lambda expressions,
with the following form:[74]

[capture](parameters) -> return_type { function_body }

Since C++20, the keyword  template  is optional for template parameters of lambda
expressions:
[capture]<template_parameters>(parameters) -> return_type { function_body }

If the lambda takes no parameters, and no return type or other specifiers are used,
the () can be omitted, that is,

[capture] { function_body }

The return type of a lambda expression can be automatically inferred, if possible,

e.g.:

[](int x, int y) { return x + y; } // inferred

[](int x, int y) -> int { return x + y; } // explicit

The  [capture]  list supports the definition of closures. Such lambda expressions are
defined in the standard as syntactic sugar for an unnamed function object.
Exception handling[edit]
Exception handling is used to communicate the existence of a runtime problem or
error from where it was detected to where the issue can be handled. [75] It permits this
to be done in a uniform manner and separately from the main code, while detecting
all errors.[76] Should an error occur, an exception is throw