C++ TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNERS: How to display characters on the screen

Objective: Displaying characters on the screen
Directive: #include <iostream>
Namespace: std
Function: main
Statements: cout, return
Output:
This is a simple C++ program.
It will display these characters on the screen.

C++ source code:

/*
PROGRAM 1: Displaying characters on the screen
AUTHOR: eternaltreasures
DATE: 2010 August 25
*/

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
cout << "This is a simple C++ program.\n";
cout << "It will display these characters on the screen.";
return 0;
}

// End of the program.


Explanations:

/*
Block of comments about the program, author, date...
*/

#include <iostream>
Preprocessor command to include the iostream file to be used for input-output operations.

using namespace std;
The contents of the namespace called std would be used. A namespace is a "container" for elements of standard C++ library.

semicolon ;
A semicolon separates statements.

int main ()
This is where the program begins to execute.

braces { }
The main function executes anything that is enclosed within these braces.

cout << "This is a simple C++ program.\n";
The cout is a statement for displaying on the screen the characters within the quotes "".
\n is for starting a new line.

return 0;
The return statement ends the execution of the main function.
0 return code means the execution is OK.

// End of the program.
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