A First Book of C++ 4th Edition
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Key Terms
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Assignment statement: Tells the computer to assign (store) a value in a variable.
Associativity: The order in which operators of the same precedence are evaluated.
Atomic data type: Data type that only supports atomic data values.
Atomic data value: A value that is considered a complete entity by itself and cannot be
decomposed into a smaller data type.
Binary operator: An operator that requires two operands to produce a result.
bool data type: Used to represent Boolean (logical) data, so it’s restricted to one of two
values: true or false.
Built-in data type: Provided as an integral part of the programming language.
char data type: Used to store single characters, including the letters of the alphabet
(uppercase and lowercase), the digits 0 through 9, and special symbols, such as + $ . , and !.
Constant: See literal value.
Data type: Set of values and a set of operations that can be applied to these values.
Declaration statement: Used to name a variable and specify the data type that can be
stored in it.
Definition statements: Declaration statements used to force the compiler to reserve
enough physical memory storage for each variable.
Escape character: When placed directly in front of a select group of characters, it tells
the compiler to escape from the way these characters would normally be interpreted.
Exponential notation: Similar to scientific notation and is commonly used to express
both very large and very small values in compact form.
Floating-point expression: An expression containing only floating-point values (singleprecision and double-precision) as operands.
Floating-point number: The number zero or any positive or negative number that
contains a decimal point.
int Data Type: The values supported by the int data type are whole numbers, which
are mathematically known as integers.
Initialization: Using a declaration statement to store a value in a variable.
Integer expression: An expression containing only integer values as operands.
Integer value: Consists of digits only and can optionally be preceded by a plus (+) or
minus (-) sign.
Literal: See literal value.
Literal value: A self-identified value.
Manipulator: An item used to manipulate how the output stream of characters is
displayed.
Mixed-mode expression: An expression containing integer and floating-point values.
Modulus operator: Also referred to as the “remainder operator”, which has the symbol
%. This operator captures the remainder when an integer is divided by an integer.
Operand: Can be a literal value or an identifier with an associated value.
Overloaded operator: A symbol that represents more than one operation and whose
execution depends on the type of operands encountered.
Precision: In computer programming, “precision” can refer to a number’s accuracy or
the number of significant digits
A First Book of C++ 4th Edition
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 Primitive types: See built-in data type.
 Signed data type: A data type that permits storing negative values in addition to zero
and positive values.
 Significant digits: Defined as the number of clearly correct digits plus 1.
 Simple binary arithmetic expression: Consists of a binary operator connecting two
literal values in this form: literalValue operator literalValue.
 Unary operators: Operate on a single operand.
 Unsigned data type: Provides for only non-negative values (that is, 0 and positive
values).
 Variable: A name the programmer uses to refer to computer storage locations.