Assessing the Ropes

I can't really call this learning the ropes. That would give it far too much credit. Right now I'm trying to circle around the subject, get a feel for the idea.

I like to go over each new term and learn its meaning when dealing with something I don't know.

So far I've determined that #include <iostream> and using namespace std; are a way of telling the program something along the lines of "Hey, this is the dictionary, we have all those words you don't know it here!"

int main() still confuses me a bit. I know this is where the program starts but I don't know why it needs int. Something to do with an integer? I don't see the use as of this time.

{ cout << "Hello world!" << endl; is a lot clearer. My background with HTML and CSS is probably why.

cout This is how things are printed.

cin Makes sense combined with the above term. This is input from the user.


{ and } are what contains the command.

The << is a bit new but I'm sure that will catch on quickly.


endl obviously means end line, pretty straight forward. 


; has always has always designated the end of the command to me.


return 0; is unknown to me. I have no idea why this exists.