C++ Standard Components

This product contains two fundamentally different kinds of things: components and tools.

• The components, which are written in the C++ programming language, are used to construct C++ applications precisely in the manner suggested by McIlroy: (1) you find the components that provide services your application needs and (2) you link component code from a library with your application code to form an executable program. In the C++ industry components are often also referred to as foundation classes.

• The tools are like machine tools: you use them to measure, shape, and form your programs, but they do not end up incorporated in finished programs (as the components do).

All tools and components in this release of C++ Standard Components are designed to be used with the UDK.

Although this tutorial will mention tools from time to time, the emphasis is on components. Why? Many programmers today, like the programmers of McIlroy's day, persist in the art of `hand crafting' their programs from scratch. For them, using components effectively will require a fundamental change in the way they approach new applications. Other programmers rely on vendor-supplied subroutine libraries for their database and graphical user interface needs, but otherwise ``roll their own.'' Still other programmers reuse as much code as possible from their last project by copying old source code and editing it to meet new requirements. Wherever you fall in the spectrum of development styles, this tutorial should help you make the transition to a components mindset. When you are finished reading it, you will be ready to start constructing simple yet useful programs using ``component-oriented design,'' and you will know where to find more in-depth information needed to construct more ambitious programs.