A computer program is a list of "instructions" to be "executed" by a computer.
In a programming language, these programming instructions are called statements .
The following statement "instructs" the compiler to print the text "Hello World" to the screen:
Example
cout << "Hello World!";It is important that you end the statement with a semicolon ;
If you forget the semicolon ( ; ), an error will occur and the program will not run:
Example
cout << "Hello World!"Many Statements
Most C++ programs contain many statements.
The statements are executed, one by one, in the same order as they are written:
Example
cout << "Hello World!";
cout << "Have a good day!";
return 0;From the example above, we have three statements:
- cout << "Hello World!";
- cout << "Have a good day!";
- return 0;
The first statement is executed first (print "Hello World!" to the screen). Then the second statement is executed (print "Have a good day!" to the screen). And at last, the third statement is executed (end the C++ program successfully).
You will learn more about statements while reading this tutorial. For now, just remember to always end them with a semicolon to avoid any errors.
Coming up: The next chapter will teach you how to control the output and how to insert new lines to make it more readable.