Chapter 6. Classes

C++ supports object-oriented programming with a traditional, statically-typed, class-based object model. That is, a class defines the behavior and the state of objects that are instances of the class. Classes can inherit behavior from ancestor classes. Virtual functions implement type polymorphism, that is, a variable can be declared as a pointer or reference to a base class, and at runtime it can take on the value of any class derived from that base class. C++ also supports C-style structures and unions using the same mechanism as classes. This chapter describes classes in all their glory. For information about class templates, see Chapter 7. Member functions are a special kind of function; see Chapter 5 for general information about functions.

The syntax descriptions in this chapter are informal. See Chapter 12 for a precise BNF grammar.