Learning about the C++ standard

The C++ programming language (originally called C with Classes) was designed specifically to provide higher-level facilities than C, including better type safety and object-oriented programming, with system programming in mind. Specifically, C++ aims to provide the performance and efficiency of C programs, while still providing the features of higher-level languages.

Today, C++ is one of the most popular programming languages in the world, used in everything from avionics to banking. 

Like the C standard, the C++ standard is huge and is managed by the ISO. We assume the reader has some basic knowledge of the C++ standard and how to write C code: http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2017/n4713.pdf.

For these reasons, the goal of this section is to discuss some topics that are discussed in lesser detail in other books, as well as portions of the C++ standard that are relevant to this book and system programming but are missing from the other chapters. Please see the Further reading section of this chapter for additional information on the C++ programming language, and how to write C++ programs.