Chapter 2. Declarations

A C++ source file contains a series of zero or more declarations . A declaration can be a function, type, object (constant or variable), namespace, template, or a related entity. The first part of this chapter covers general topics that pertain to all declarations. The second part discusses types, objects, and namespaces specifically . Function, class, and template declarations each get their own chapters: Chapter 5 covers functions; Chapter 6 covers classes and friends ; and Chapter 7 covers template declarations, specializations, and instantiations .

The syntax descriptions in this chapter are informal. See Chapter 12 for a precise BNF grammar.