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Functions

All C++ programs are composed of one or more functions. Every C++ function must have a name, and the only function that any C++ program must include is the
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
. Most C++ programs starts with a call to
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
and in most cases ends when
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
returns. The opening curly { brace on the line that follows
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
marks the start of the
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
function.

$\begin{emph} return 0; \end{emph}$
terminates
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
and cause it to return the value 0 to the calling process. For most operating systems, a return value of 0 signifies that the program is terminating normally.
$\begin{emph} return \end{emph}$
is one of C++ keywords, and it is used to return a value from a function. It will be discussed later in more details. For now your programs should return 0 when they terminate normally.

The closing curly brace } at the end of the program formally concludes the program. Although the brace is not actually a apart of the object code of the program, conceptually you can think of a C++ program ending when the closing curly brace of
$\begin{emph} main() \end{emph}$
is executed. In fact, if the
$\begin{emph} return \end{emph}$
statement were not part of this program , the program would automatically end when the closing surly brace was encountered.

Next: Console Output Up: Overview of C++ Previous: Header Files

Yousef Haik
2/23/1998