While there is no such thing as a “typical” C++ class, several common syntactical constructs lend themselves to extremely widespread use and must be mastered by C++ programmers. To motivate the discussion of software design at the level of the C++ class, examples from computer science and optics are introduced. Important syntactical elements such as constructors, destructors, copy constructors, assignment operators, cast operators, and const qualifiers, together with function overloading, operator overloading, and dynamic memory allocation are discussed. These concepts, illustrated with examples from physics, are presented and explained. Further examples from optical and quantum mechanical problems are left to the exercises. This chapter and its exercises gives the reader sufficient information to begin developing his or her own classes and to experiment with class design through trial and error.
