Effective C++ by Scott Meyers (Short Summary)
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1 - Accustoming Yourself to C++
    • Item 1 - View C++ as a federation of languages.
    • Item 2 - Prefer consts, enums, and inlines to #defines.
    • Item 3 - Use const whenever possible.
    • Item 4 - Make sure that objects are initialized before they’re used.
  • Chapter 2 - Constructors, Destructors, and Assignment Operators
    • Item 5 - Know what functions C++ silently writes a calls.
    • Item 6 - Explicitly disallow the use of compiler-generated functions you do not want.
    • Item 7 - Declare destructors virtual in polymorphic base classes.
    • Item 8 - Prevent exceptions from leaving destructors.
    • Item 9 - Never call virtual functions during construction or destruction.
    • Item 10 - Have assignment operators return a reference to *this.
    • Item 11 - Handle assignment to self in operator=.
    • Item 12 - Copy all parts of an object.
  • Chapter 3 - Resource Management
    • Item 13 - Use objects to manage resources.
    • Item 14 - Think carefully about copying behavior in resource-managing classes.
    • Item 15 - Provide access to raw resources in resource-managing classes.
    • Item 16 - Use the same form in corresponding uses of new and delete.
    • Item 17 - Store newed objects in smart pointers in standalone statements.
  • Chapter 4 - Designs and Declarations
    • Item 18 - Make interfaces easy to use correctly and hard to use incorrectly.
    • Item 19 - Treat class design as type design.
    • Item 20 - Prefer pass-by-reference-to-const to pass-by-value.
    • Item 21 - Don't try to return a reference when you must return an object.
    • Item 22 - Declare data members private.
    • Item 23 - Prefer non-member non-friend functions to member functions.
    • Item 24 - Declare non-member functions when type conversions should apply to all parameters.
    • Item 25 - Consider support for a non-throwing swap.
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Chapter 1 - Accustoming Yourself to C++

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Last updated 3 years ago

Regardless of your programming background, C++ is likely to take a little getting used to. It’s a powerful language with an enormous range of features, but before you can harness that power and make effective use of those features, you have to accustom yourself to C++’s way of doing things. This entire book is about how to do that, but some things are more fundamental than others, and this chapter is about some of the most fundamental things of all.

View C++ as a federation of languages.

Prefer const, enum, and inline to #define.

Use const whenever possible.

Make sure that objects are initialized before they’re used.

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