Chapter 4. Classes

C++ allows you to create your own types. These custom types can have operators and can be converted to other types; indeed, they can be used like built-in types with the behavior that you define. This facility uses a language feature called classes. The advantage of being able to define your own types is that you can encapsulate data in objects of your chosen type, and use the type to manage the lifetime of that data. You can also define the actions that can be performed on that data. In other words, you are able to define custom types that have state and behavior, which is the basis of object-orientated programming.