Introduction

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This chapter will walk through the creation of a programming project using the project approach strategy and development cycle discussed in chapter 1. The ideas presented here should not be considered dogmatic. I fully expect that as you gain confidence and experience as a developer you will formulate your own style of problem solving. I also expect that readers new to C++ may not understand all the language features utilized in this chapter. Don’t worry. What I want you to gain from reading this material is an understanding of how to tackle a project, analyze it, design a solution, and implement the design. You can, and should, revisit different sections of this chapter as you progress through the text and build upon your C++ programming skills.

The approach I take in this chapter is procedural, meaning I am going to show you how to functionally decompose a problem and craft its solution from the viewpoint of functions rather than objects. I take this approach because even though you are learning C++ with the desire to become a competent object-oriented programmer, to do so requires you to understand fully procedural programming concepts. A sound understanding of procedural concepts will significantly help you when it comes time to design class functions.

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