Beginner's Guide
    First Steps
    Input & Output
    Custom Types – Part 1
    Diagnostics
    Standard Library – Part 1
    Function Objects
    Standard Library – Part 2
    Code Organization
    Custom Types – Part 2
    Generic Programming
    Memory Management
    Software Design Basics

    Input & Output (Basics) Input & Output (Basics) I/O Basics

    I/O Streams

    #include <iostream>
    
    int main () {
      int i;
      // read value into i
      std::cin  >> i;               
      // print value of i
      std::cout << i << '\n'; 
    }
    Sources and Targets of Data
    Terminal I/O Streams
    std::cin characters from stdin reads from buffer
    std::cout characters to stdout writes to buffer first,
    output to console when buffer full
    std::clog characters to stderr writes to buffer first,
    output to console when buffer full
    std::cerr characters to stderr immediatly writes to console

    Stream Operators

    >> "get from" source >> target
    << "put to" target << source
    • work for fundamental types and strings (support for other types can be added)
    • >> reads until next whitespace character (space, tab, newline, …)
    • can be chained:
    int i = 0;
    double d = 0.0;
    
    // read 2 values of different type: std::cin >> i >> d;
    // print 2 values and some text: std::cout << "your input:\n" << i << " and " << d << '\n';

    Avoid std::endl!

    One often sees something like this in C++ code examples / tutorials:

    std::cout << "some text" << std::endl;
    std::cout << "more text" << std::endl;
    • Each call to std::endl flushes the output buffer and writes the output immediately.
    • This can lead to serious performance degradation, if done frequently.

    C++'s I/O streams use buffers to mitigate the performance impact of (potentially expensive) system input or output operations. Output is collected until a minimum number of characters can be written. Overusing std::endl interferes with this mechanism.

    std::cout << "some text\nmore text\n";
    • \n writes a line break
    • no premature flush of output buffer
    • only one call to operator << (each additional call can create a small overhead)

    Only use std::endl if you absolutely need to make sure that some output needs to materialize immediately.