As commercial developers of software components, we always strive to have good, consistent style throughout our code. Since source code is usually included in our final products, our users often study our code to learn not just how the components work, but also how to write good software.

This fact ultimately led to the creation of a style guide for Java™ programming, entitled The Elements of Java Style. The positive reception to that book, coupled with recurring questions about C++ style issues, resulted in this edition for C++.

If you've read The Elements of Java Style (or even if you haven't), much of the advice in this book will probably be familiar. This is deliberate, as many of the programming principles described are timeless and valid across programming languages. However, the content has been reworked and expanded here to address the unique characteristics of the C++ language.

Audience

We wrote this book for anyone writing C++ code, but especially for programmers who are writing C++ as part of a team. For a team to be effective, everyone must be able to read and understand everyone else's code. Having consistent style conventions is a good first step!

This book is not intended to teach you C++, but rather it focuses on how C++ code can be written in order to maximize its effectiveness. We therefore assume you are already familiar with C++ and object-oriented programming.