2.x Chapter 2 summary and quiz

A function is a reusable sequence of statements designed to do a particular job. Functions you write yourself are called user-defined functions.

A function call is an expression that tells the CPU to execute a function. The function initiating the function call is the caller, and the function being called is the callee or called function. Do not forget to include parenthesis when making a function call.

The return value from function main is called a status code, and it tells the operating system (and any other programs that called yours) whether your program executed successfully or not. By consensus a return value of 0 means success, and a positive return value means failure.

A function parameter is a variable used in a function where the value is provided by the caller of the function. An argument is the specific value passed from the caller to the function. When an argument is copied into the parameter, this is called pass by value.

Refactoring is the process of breaking down a larger function into many smaller, simpler functions.

A forward declaration allows us to tell the compiler about the existence of an identifier before actually defining the identifier. To write a forward declaration for a function, we use a function prototype, which includes the function’s return type, name, and parameters, but no function body.

The preprocessor is a process that runs on the code before it is compiled. Directives are special instructions to the preprocessor. Directives start with a # symbol and end with a newline. A macro is a rule that defines how input text is converted to a replacement output text.

Header files are files designed to propagate declarations to code files. When using the #include directive, the #include directive is replaced by the contents of the included file. When including headers, use angled brackets when including system headers (e.g. those in the C++ standard library), and use double quotes when including user-defined headers (the ones you write). When including system headers, include the versions with no .h extension if they exist.

Header guards prevent the contents of a header from being included more than once into a given code file. They do not prevent the contents of a header from being included into multiple different code files.

Quiz

io.h

#ifndef IO_H
#define IO_H

int readNumber();
void writeAnswer(int x);

#endif

io.cpp

#include "io.h"
#include <iostream>

int readNumber()
{
    std::cout << "Enter a number: ";
    int x {};
    std::cin >> x;
    return x;
}

void writeAnswer(int x)
{
    std::cout << "The answer is " << x << '\n';
}

main.cpp

#include "io.h"

int main()
{
    int x { readNumber() };
    int y { readNumber() };
    writeAnswer(x+y);
    return 0;
}