Before we write our first program in C++ we need an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and a C++ compiler. 

We could use notepad to write out code but an IDE would be better due to its additional functionality. I personally use VS Code. You can use any IDE you like.

What is an IDE?

An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that helps programmers develop software code efficiently. It increases developer productivity by combining capabilities such as software editing, building, testing, and packaging in an easy-to-use application

What is a Compiler?

A compiler is a special program that translates a programming language’s source code into machine code, bytecode or another programming language. The source code is typically written in a high-level, human-readable language such as Java or C++.

IDE’s for different Operating Systems

Here are a few IDE options for different operating system

For Windows:

• VS Code
• Visual Studio
• CodeLite

For Linux:

• VS Code
• QT Creator
• CodeLite

For Mac:

• VS Code
• XCode
• CodeLite

Compilers for C++

Here are a few examples of C++ compilers available on Windows,Linux and Mac

• Mingw
• Clang llvm

In practice it would be a good Idea to have multiple compilers installed on your device.It would help to run your code on multiple compilers and figure out how it would respond on a device having a different compiler.

You can check which C++ compilers support which C++ feature by clicking here.

Note: We will not go the installation process over here.

Our first program : Hello World!

Now,after downloading and setting up our device we will write our first lines of codes.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main(){

    cout <<"Hello World";

    return 0;
}

This code will should result in an output:”Hello World”

To run this code we will type the following command in our terminal : 

g++ <file_name>.cpp

This will compile our code and creat an .exe file in the folder

To run this .exe file we can use the following command: 

.\<exe_file_name>.exe

To create an .exe with a specific name we can use following command while compiling our code:

g++ <file_name>.cpp -o <name_you_want_to_give>

Code Explaination:

#include <iostream>

The above line adds a header file that allows input and output operations.

A header file in C++ is a file that contains declarations (such as functions, classes, and macros) that can be included in multiple programs. It typically has a .h or .hpp extension, though standard C++ headers (like <iostream>) don’t require an extension.

Note: We will discuss more about header files in future.

using namespace std;

This allows us to use names from the standard library without prefixing them with “std::”. Without using the standard library to print “Hello World” we have to write the code like this:

std::cout << "Hello World"; 

More details regarding standard libraries will be discussed in the std libraries section.

int main() {

This is the main function where the execution of the program begins.We will discuss more about functions in Object Oriented Programming Section.

return 0;

return 0 indicates that our program has been successfully executed.