Basic help with the class structure

I'm failry new to C++ programming, and I'm at the point where I'm starting to learn classes. I'm using C++ for Dummies and various online tutorials, and I was trying to make a very basic program utilizing a class, since a lot of the examples I'm finding are fairly compplex (at least for me right now).
Basically, I'm trying to prompt the user to enter their first and last name, then get them displayed both together, using a class. I know how this could be done using just arrays or strings and displaying each name separately, but it's my understanding that by using a class, you can sort of consolidate the info. If you could steer me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it - this code is getting all kinds of compile errors.

Code:

---

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <iostream.h>
using namespace std;

class testClass
{
    public:
          char firstName[10];
          char lastName[12];
};

int main()
{
      testClass tc;
      cout << "Enter your first name:\n";
      cin >> tc.firstName;
      cout << "Enter your last name:\n";
      cin >> tc.lastName;
      cout << "Here's what you entered:\n";
      cout << tc;

      cin.ignore();
      cin.get();
      return 0;
}

---

Also, I know if I wanted to, I could simply put

Code:

---

cout << tc.firstName << tc.lastName;

---

and that would display the first and last name, but aren't you supposed to be able to display all components of a class with just one command? I thought that was the magic of a class.

The magic of a class is being a type :)

However, you can do that by defining a member function that returns a concatenated string of firstName and lastName.

Not sure what tutorial you're using, but <iostream.h> was deprecated long ago. And prefer <cstdlib> to <stdlib.h>.

Code:

---

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class Person
{
public:
  string firstName ;
  string lastName ;
};

ostream& operator <<(ostream &os, const Person& person)
{
  os << person.firstName << " " << person.lastName ;
  return os;
}

int main()
{
  Person tc;
  cout << "Enter your first name:\n";
  getline( cin, tc.firstName );
  cout << "Enter your last name:\n";
  getline( cin, tc.lastName );
  cout << "Here's what you entered:\n";
  cout << tc;

  cin.ignore();
  cin.get();
  return 0;
}

---

yep as Dante Shamest noted

Code:

---

cout << tc;

---

won't work because the program doesn't know what to output. Its like trying to:

Code:

---

tc + tc

---

they compiler will have no idea what you are trying to add. You can either:

1) Overload the << operator as Dante Shamest did so the compiler knows what to output in the class.

2) Create a output or display function.

Code:

---

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Person
{
    public:
          char firstName[10];
          char lastName[12];
          void displayName()
};

void Person::displayName()
{
  cout << firstName << " " << lastName;
}

int main()
{
      Person tc;
      cout << "Enter your first name:\n";
      cin >> tc.firstName;
      cout << "Enter your last name:\n";
      cin >> tc.lastName;
      cout << "Here's what you entered:\n";
      tc.displayName();

      cin.ignore();
      cin.get();
      return 0;
}

---

Quote:

---

aren't you supposed to be able to display all components of a class with just one command? I thought that was the magic of a class.

---

That's the magic of overloading operators.

Code:

---

ostream& operator<< (ostream& outs , const testClass& tC)
{
  outs << tc.FirstName << " " << tc.LastName;
  return outs;
}

---

Along with Dante's suggestions, I'd go with std::strings instead of char arrays.