Traps, Pitfalls, and Puzzlers

Before we get to our concluding section demonstrating several Style Case Studies in depth, let's pause to consider a few other C++ issues or just puzzling situations.

Why does C++, like most programming languages, reserve the names of keywords, so that, for example, you can't have a variable named class? Why does a line of code that looks like it ought to be doing some real work actually turn out to do nothing at all, with the compiler emitting not even a single machine instruction for it as though the line didn't even exist? On the other hand, why does code that looks just down-right wrong actually compile and run just fine, legally and reliably? When you're floating in a sea of numbers, why is it good to double-check your work?

Finally, with apologies to Dylan (the troubadour, not the language): How many times must the cannonballs fly before we learn macros don't care? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind….