New, not completely understanding

Well, I've gone through the first lesson and a half of the C++ program that this site offers, and as I'm reading Lesson 2, this comes up:

Code:

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cout<< ( 2 == 1 );

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Now, I understand what this is basically trying to say, but a couple of things are getting me. First off, what exactly does cout mean? Does it tell the program to read the statement, and decided it if it is true? But that wouldn't make sense with something where you're typing in plain text. So I'm kind of confused there. Apply that to int, float, and cin, as well.

Also, I do not know what I should be coding in for a simple math problem. I tried to just modify the hello world into something else, but not knowing what int, float, cin, cout, etc. mean are hindering me. I may have just misread, or skipped it accidentally, but it isn't very clear to me overall. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

cout is the way of outputting something to the console. So in that code, the result of (2 == 1) is output to the console.

Just the existence of (2 == 1) tells the program to decide if that's true, the cout does not cause that to happen.

So cout is the object meant for output to the console, cin is meant for input from the console, int, float, double and char are types that represent integers, floating point numbers, and characters.

If you'd like help with your math problem attempt feel free to post what you've got and we can try to help correct your understanding. Also, consider re-reading the first lesson. Sometimes it takes two or three times for things to sink in.

You should also consider getting a book if you're serious about learning C++. Programming is complicated and difficult to learn from a serious of tutorials.

Hmm, so if one has cout<< (2 == 1), what else should be going on in the whole code itself? Having that may very well help me overall.

And yeah, I am planning on picking up two books on C++, but have yet to find the time ( or resources to get me there).

>> Hmm, so if one has cout<< (2 == 1), what else should be going on in the whole code itself?

What do you mean? That code evaluates (2 == 1). Since it is false, it then outputs false to cout (in this case it means it outputs 0 because 1 is true and 0 is false). If it was true then 1 would be output.

It makes no sense as anything other than an example because you know that (2 == 1) is false.

No, no. I mean, what should the full code be? Or should I just type in cout<< (2 == 1) and then hit f9?

You want to be able to compile this into a working program?

Code:

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#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    std::cout << (2 == 1);
    return(0);
}

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To anticipate the next question. std::cout means:

std == standard c++ namespace
cout == c - out; standard c++ output

The operators '::' allow you to access the std namespace and '<<' allows you to output the following arguments to cout. This is a very poor explanation but it'll help.

cout << (2 == 1);

...basically translates to: if( 2 equals 1) then print 1 (true) else print 0 (false).

This technique usually involves variables since 2 will never be equal to 1, it doesn't normally make sense to evaluate the statement as true or false because its static (unchanging). Normally, you would do something like the following:

Code:

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#include <iostream>

using std::cout;
using std::endl;

int main()
{
  int x = 2; /* in your program, this variable would change and could be anything */

  cout << (x == 1) << endl;
  cout << (x == 1 ? "true" : "false") << endl;

  return 0;
}

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It is also possible to use the boolalpha format flag:

Code:

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#include <iostream>

using std::cout;
using std::endl;
using std::boolalpha;

int main()
{
  int x = 2; /* in your program, this variable would change and could be anything */

  cout << (x == 1) << endl;
  cout << boolalpha << (x == 1) << endl;

  return 0;
}

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This has the same output as JupiterV2's code.

Quote:

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And yeah, I am planning on picking up two books on C++

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Please make sure you get some good stuff. There is a lot of trash as well, I just bought some weeks ago a horrible book on C++. Especially for beginners, if you do not know how to judge the information it gives, or if you buy a highly advanced book.
May I give you two suggestions?
1) Thinking C++ (also listed in this forum)
2) C++ How to Program (Deitel and Deitel)

Note that even Deitel and Deitel teaches some C style C++ if I remember correctly. It gets generally good reviews but I would prefer books that teach modern C++ style (and there are only a couple of them).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daved

Note that even Deitel and Deitel teaches some C style C++ C++ style

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Are you talking about arrays? It generally seems to go from:

Code:

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int array[ 10 ] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 };

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Then into 2 Dimensional, and certain issues of it dont even touch vectors. The 5th edition does but it does concentrate more on C style like above, which of course is still worth knowing.