Your First C++ Program

In the previous tutorial, you learned how to install C++ on your computer. Now, let's write a simple C++ program.

The following program displays Hello, World! on the screen.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {
    cout << "Hello, World!";
    return 0;
}

Output

Hello World!

Working of C++ Program

Congratulations on writing your first C++ program. Now, let's see how the program works.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {
    cout << "Hello, World!";
    return 0;
}

Notice the following line of code:

cout << "Hello, World!";

In the above code, the cout << prints the text Hello, World! to the screen.

Remember these important things about cout:

• The text to be printed is enclosed within double quotes "".
• Each cout << ends with a semicolon ;.

Not following the above rules will result in errors and your code will not run successfully.

Basic Structure of a C++ Program

As we have seen from the last example, a C++ program requires a lot of lines even for a simple program.

For now, just remember that every C++ program we will write will follow this structure:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

    // your code

    return 0;
}

And, we will write out code inside curly braces {}.

Next, we will be learning about C++ comments.