General Study Notes Overview

Encapsulation is a fundamental principle of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). It involves bundling data (variables) and the methods (functions) that operate on the data into a single unit called a class. It restricts direct access to specific parts of the object's components, thereby maintaining data integrity and security. In C++, encapsulation is implemented using access specifiers - private, protected, and public.

The Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) paradigm was introduced to address limitations of procedural programming, providing a more efficient, modular, and reusable approach to software development. OOP is needed for:

1. Improved Code Reusability
2. Modularity and Organization
3. Enhanced Data Security
4. Real-World Problem Representation
5. Ease of Maintenance and Scalability
6. Support for Abstraction
7. Support for Collaboration

<p>Message passing is a mechanism in OOP where objects communicate by invoking methods. Instead of directly accessing data or functionality of another object, an object sends a message (a method call) to another object, requesting it to perform a specific action.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Dynamic binding, also known as late binding, determines which method to execute at runtime. It allows objects of derived classes to override methods of their base class and execute the appropriate version during program execution.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A Class is a blueprint or template that defines the structure and behavior of objects created from it. It acts as a blueprint for creating instances of that class. An Object is an instance of a class. It represents a real-world entity with specific attributes and behaviors. Objects are created from a class and have a defined set of data and methods based on the class definition.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A constructor is a special member function that is automatically called when an object of a class is created. It's used to initialize the data members of a class. Key features of constructors:</p> <ol> <li>Same Name as Class.</li> <li>No Return Type.</li> <li>Automatic Invocation.</li> <li>Overloading</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A copy constructor is a special constructor that creates a new object as a copy of an existing object. It is invoked when:</p> <ol> <li>An object is initialized from another object of the same class.</li> <li>An object is passed by value to a function.</li> <li>An object is returned by value from a function.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Garbage collection is the process of automatically reclaiming unused memory to ensure efficient memory management. In contrast to some programming languages like Java or Python, C++ does not have built-in garbage collection. Instead, memory management is the responsibility of the programmer.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>An abstract class is a blueprint for derived classes that cannot be instantiated directly. It serves as a framework for defining a common interface that derived classes must implement. Abstract Classes should contain at least one pure virtual function. A pure virtual function has no definition but must be implemented by derived classes.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Abstract classes:</p> <ol> <li>Enforce specific behavior - derived classes must implement the methods defined in the interface.</li> <li>Promote code reusability</li> <li>Support run-time polymorphism - allowing classes to determine actions based on the type of object at runtime.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Access specifiers in C++ control the visibility and accessibility of members (attributes and methods) of a class from other parts of the program. They regulate how other parts of the program can interact with class members. The three main access specifiers are:</p> <ol> <li>Public</li> <li>Private</li> <li>Protected.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Method Overloading:</p> <ul> <li>Occurs when multiple methods have the same name within the same class but differ in their parameter lists (number or types of parameters).</li> <li>It's resolved at compile time (Compile-Time polymorphism). Method Overriding:</li> <li>Occurs when a subclass (derived class) provides its own implementation of a method that is already defined in the superclass (base class).</li> <li>It's resolved at runtime (Run-Time polymorphism). The keyword 'virtual' is typically used in the base class to enable method overriding.</li> </ul> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Inheritance is a core principle of OOP that allows a new class (derived class) to inherit the features and behaviors (attributes and methods) of an existing class (base class). Inheritance establishes a relationship between classes, promoting code reuse and enhancing modularity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A relationship between two classes where the derived class is a specific type of the base class. For example, a 'Dog' is a type of 'Animal'.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Public inheritance: The derived class inherits all public and protected members from base class with the same access specifiers, making public methods of the base class directly accessible. The derived class can access protected members of the base class. Protected inheritance: The public and protected members of the base class become protected in the derived class. This means the derived class can access them, but those members are not directly accessible outside the derived class.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Operator overloading enables you to redefine the way operators work for user-defined data types (classes). You can use operators, such as +, -, *, /, and even the increment (++) or decrement (--) operators with your own objects. It allows you to perform operations on objects of a class in a way that is natural and intuitive. For example, you can overload the '+' operator to perform addition for your custom objects.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Benefits of operator overloading:</p> <ol> <li>Simplifies code.</li> <li>Improves readability.</li> <li>Enhances consistency.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Ambiguity in multiple inheritance arises when two or more base classes have members (attributes or methods) with the same name, and the derived class inherits from both base classes. This creates confusion for the compiler, which doesn't know which method to call when using the same name. Ambiguity can be overcome by:</p> <ol> <li>Explicit qualification: Using scope resolution operator (::) to specify the specific base class you want to access.</li> <li>Virtual inheritance: Using the virtual keyword to ensure that the derived class inherits only one instance of the base class, eliminating ambiguity.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Function overloading allows you to define multiple functions with the same name but different parameter lists (number or types of parameters). This allows a function to behave differently depending on the arguments passed to it.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Key points for function overloading:</p> <ol> <li>Functions must differ in parameter lists (number or types).</li> <li>Return type does not differentiate overloaded functions.</li> <li>The compiler resolves which overloaded function to call based on the function signature (Compile-Time polymorphism).</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A generic function (function template) is a blueprint that allows you to create functions that can work with any data type without rewriting the function for each specific data type. The compiler automatically generates the correct function based on the type of arguments passed at compile time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Advantages of generic functions:</p> <ol> <li>Code reusability: You can write a single function definition and use it for different data types.</li> <li>Type safety: The compiler ensures type correctness when working with templates.</li> <li>Flexibility: Generic functions allow you to write more flexible and reusable code, as they can handle different types.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Exception handling is a mechanism in C++ that allows programs to manage runtime errors gracefully. It involves three keywords: try: Defines a block of code where exceptions might occur. throw: Signals an error. catch: Defines a block of code to gracefully handle the thrown exception.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Exception handling in C++ offers the following benefits:</p> <ol> <li>Separates error-handling logic.</li> <li>Improves program robustness and reliability.</li> <li>Helps handle unexpected scenarios gracefully.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A file stream in C++ is an object that allows you to read and write data from or to files. It provides a convenient way to interact with files, treating them as a sequence of data. They are represented by objects like ifstream, ofstream, and fstream.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<ol> <li>Opening a File: You use the open() function on a file stream object to establish a connection with the file.</li> <li>Reading from a file: You use the extraction operator (&gt;&gt;) or the getline() function on an input file stream to read data.</li> <li>Writing to a file: You use the insertion operator (&lt;&lt;) on an output file stream to write data.</li> <li>Closing a File: You use the close() function to explicitly terminate the connection with the file and release any resources.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Reference variables were introduced in C++ to improve efficiency and flexibility when working with data. They offer several advantages, including:</p> <ol> <li>Avoiding unnecessary copying of data.</li> <li>Simplifying function argument passing.</li> <li>Simplifying the syntax for pass-by-reference.</li> <li>Supporting operator overloading.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Dynamic memory allocation in C++ allows programs to allocate memory during runtime, as opposed to fixed stack memory at compile time. You use 'new' to allocate memory for variables that cannot be determined at compile time or that need to persist for a longer duration. You use 'delete' to free the dynamically allocated memory to prevent memory leaks.</p> Signup and view all the answers