Code Containers

class

class Classname { body } ;

A collection of functions and data members, and descriptions of its lifecycle management (constructors and destructors)

namespace

namespace name { body } ;

A collection of declarations and definitions, of classes, functions and static members, perhaps spanning multiple files

header file

.h

Class definitions, template definitions, function declarations (with default argument definitions), inline definitions, static object declarations

source code module

.cpp

Function definitions, static object definitions

compiled "object" module

.o or .obj

Each .cpp module is compiled into a binary module as an intermediate step in building a library or executable.

library

.lib or .la (+ .so or .dll if dynamic)

An indexed collection of object files linked together. No main() function must exist in any code module in a library.

devel package

lib + header files

A library along with accompanying header files

application

.exe on windows, no particular extension on *nix

A collection of object files, linked with libraries, to form an application. Contains exactly one function definition called main().

Reusing Other Libraries