The Annotated C++ Reference Manual

This book provides a complete reference for the C++ programming language. It consists of the C++ reference manual, approved as the base document for ANSI standardization of the language, plus annotations and commentary.

The annotations and commentary discuss what is not included in the language, why certain features are defined as they are, and how one might implement particular features. The commentaries also help the reader to understand the relationship between parts of the language. Comparisons with C and examples explain the more subtle points of the language.

Sixteen chapters document the latest version of C++ after the addition of support for multiple inheritance, type-safe linkage, abstract classes, refined mechanisms for overloading, etc. The book also covers two proposed extensions of C++: templates and exception handling. Appendices summarize the grammar and evolution of the language, and explain in detail the differences between C and C++.

The Annotated C++ Reference Manual will appeal to language implementors and expert C++ programmers.

• Introduction
• Overview
• Syntax Notation
• Evolution of C++
• Acknowledgements
• Lexical Conventions
• Tokens
• Comments
• Identifiers
• Keywords
• Literals
• Implementation Dependencies
• Basic Concepts
• Declarations and Definitions
• Scopes
• Program and Linkage
• Start and Termination
• Storage Classes
• Types
• Lvalues
• Name Spaces
• Numerical Limits
• Standard Conversions
• Integral Promotions
• Integral Conversions
• Float and Double
• Floating and Integral
• Arithmetic Conversions
• Pointer Conversions
• Reference Conversions
• Pointers to Members
• Arithmetic Conversions
• Expressions
• Primary Expressions
• Postfix Expressions
• Unary Operators
• Explicit Type Conversion
• Pointer-to-Member Operators
• Multiplicative Operators
• Additive Operators
• Shift Operators
• Relational Operators
• Equality Operators
• Bitwise AND Operator
• Bitwise Exclusive OR Operator
• Bitwise Inclusive OR Operator
• Logical AND Operator
• Logical OR Operator
• Conditional Operator
• Assignment Operators
• Comma Operator
• Constant Expressions
• Statements
• Labeled Statement
• Expression Statement
• Compound Statement, or Block
• Selection Statements
• Iteration Statements
• Jump Statements
• Declaration Statement
• Ambiguity Resolution
• Declarations
• Specifiers
• Enumeration Declarations
• Asm Declarations
• Linkage Specifications
• Linkage Specifications
• Type-safe Linkage
• Limitations
• Declarators
• Type Names
• Meaning of Declarators
• Function Definitions
• Initializers
• Pointers to Members
• Classes
• Class Names
• Class Members
• Member Functions
• Static Members
• Unions
• Bit-Fields
• Nested Class Declarations
• Local Class Declarations
• Local Type Names
• Interfaces
• Derived Classes
• Multiple Base Classes
• Virtual Functions
• Abstract Classes
• Summary of Scope Rules
• Single Inheritance
• Multiple Inheritance
• Multiple Inheritance and Casting
• Multiple Inheritance and Implicit Conversion
• Virtual Base Classes
• Virtual Base Classes and Casting
• Single Inheritance and Virtual Functions
• Multiple Inheritance and Virtual Functions
• Instantiation of Virtual Functions
• Virtual Base Classes with Virtual Functions
• Renaming
• Member Access Control
• Access Specifiers
• Access Specifiers for Base Classes
• Access Declarations
• Friends
• Protected Member Access
• Access to Virtual Functions
• Multiple Access
• General Ideas
• Per Class Protection
• Access Control
• Special Member Functions
• Constructors
• Temporary Objects
• Conversions
• Destructors
• Free Store
• Initialization
• Constructors and Destructors
• Copying Class Objects
• Temporary Elimination
• Access Control and Special Functions
• Summary of Member, Friend, and Special Functions
• Overloading
• Declaration Matching
• Argument Matching
• Address of Overload Function
• Overloaded Operators
• Templates (Experimental)
• Templates
• Class Templates
• Type Equivalence
• Function Templates
• Declarations and Definitions
• Member Function Templates
• Friends
• Static Members and Variables
• Exception Handling (Experimental)
• Exception Handling
• Throwing an Exception
• Constructors and Destructors
• Handling and Exception
• Exception Specifications
• Special Functions
• Preprocessing
• Phases of Preprocessing
• Trigraph Sequences
• Macro Definition and Expansion
• File Inclusion
• Conditional Compilation
• Line Control
• Error Directive
• Pragmas
• Null Directive
• Predefined Names
• C++ Constructs versus #define
• Compatibility
• Classic C Preprocessing
• Grammar Summary
• Keywords
• Expressions
• Declarations
• Declarators
• Class
• Statements
• Preprocessor
• Templates
• Exception
• Compatibility
• Extensions
• C++ and ANSI C
• Anachronisms

You have to be a hard-core C++ programmer to like it. If you are, its pretty good, but a bit dated.