C++ Glossary

Browse 20 c++ terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

20 C++ Terms

Conan
A package manager focused on C and C++ development, used to manage dependencies and build integration across platforms. In systems programming culture, Conan...
Conan Package Manager
A package manager focused on C and C++ dependencies, builds, and binary distribution.
Destructor
A special method called automatically when an object is destroyed or goes out of scope, used to release resources such as memory, file handles, or network...
Header File
Header File is a file in C and C++ (typically with a .h or .hpp extension) that contains declarations of functions, classes, types, constants, and macros that...
Memory Order
A parameter on atomic operations (in C++, Rust, etc.) that specifies the strength of ordering guarantees: `relaxed` (no ordering), `acquire` (subsequent reads...
Native Module
A compiled code extension — written in C, C++, Objective-C, Java, or Kotlin — that is loaded into a higher-level runtime (Node.js, React Native, Python) to...
Qt
A cross-platform C++ application framework primarily used for building graphical user interfaces, though it also provides modules for networking, databases,...
RAII
Resource Acquisition Is Initialization — a C++ idiom where resource ownership is tied to object lifetime. Resources (memory, file handles, locks) are acquired...
Resource Acquisition Is Initialization
A C++ idiom (RAII) in which resource lifetime is tied to object scope: the constructor acquires the resource (memory, file handle, lock, socket) and the...
Reverse Iterator
An iterator that traverses a collection from its last element to its first, inverting the default traversal order. In C++ STL, reverse iterators are obtained...
Scope Resolution
The mechanism by which a compiler or interpreter determines which declaration a name refers to when the same identifier exists in multiple enclosing scopes or...
Smart Pointer
A data structure that wraps a raw pointer, providing automatic memory management through reference counting or ownership semantics, such as C++ unique_ptr,...
Stack Unwinding
The process by which the runtime walks back up the call stack after an exception is thrown (or a panic occurs), calling destructors for all local objects in...
STL
The Standard Template Library — a core part of C++ providing generic containers (vector, map, set), algorithms (sort, find, transform), and iterators for...
Value Semantics
A programming model where assignment and argument passing produce independent copies, so mutating one variable never affects another. Structs in Swift,...
Virtual Function
A member function declared with the virtual keyword in C++ (or overridable by default in Java/C#) that supports dynamic dispatch — the actual function called...
Virtual Method
A method declared in a base class (with the 'virtual' keyword in C++ or C#) that can be overridden by subclasses, with the actual implementation selected at...
Virtual Method Table
A per-class lookup table of function pointers used by compilers (particularly C++ and C#) to implement dynamic dispatch of virtual methods. Each object with...
Virtual Table
Short for virtual method table (vtable) — the compiler-generated array of function pointers that enables runtime polymorphism in languages like C++ and C#....
Weak Pointer
A non-owning reference to a resource managed by reference counting (such as std::weak_ptr in C++ or Weak<T> in Rust) that does not prevent the resource from...

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