Question 1

True or false: You cannot use 'auto' as a variable name in C++ because it’s a reserved keyword.

Accepted Answer

True. 'auto' is a keyword in C++ since C++11, used for type deduction, so it cannot be used as an identifier for variables or functions.

Question 2

True or false: The '++' operator in C++ is used to increment a variable by one, but the name also hints at being one step beyond C.

Accepted Answer

True. The name C++ is a pun on the increment operator, suggesting the language is an improved version of C, as in 'C plus one.'

Question 3

True or false: C++ fully supports garbage collection like Java, automatically reclaiming unused memory.

Accepted Answer

False. C++ does not have built-in garbage collection; memory management is manual via new/delete or smart pointers in modern C++.

Question 4

True or false: C++ was originally called 'C with Classes' before being renamed in 1983.

Accepted Answer

True. Bjarne Stroustrup started developing 'C with Classes' in 1979, and the language was officially renamed C++ in 1983 to emphasize its evolutionary nature.

Question 5

True or false: The 'friend' keyword in C++ allows a class to grant access to its private members to a specific function or another class.

Accepted Answer

True. Friend functions or classes can access private and protected members of the class that declares them as friends, breaking encapsulation selectively.

Question 6

True or false: The 'volatile' keyword in C++ prevents the compiler from optimizing reads/writes to a variable, often used for memory-mapped I/O.

Accepted Answer

True. 'volatile' tells the compiler that the variable’s value may change unpredictably, disabling certain optimizations, commonly in embedded systems.

Question 7

True or false: C++ templates are evaluated at runtime, similar to Java generics.

Accepted Answer

False. C++ templates are compile-time constructs, generating separate code for each type, unlike Java generics which rely on erasure at runtime.

Question 8

True or false: C++ allows you to overload the '?:' conditional operator for custom types.

Accepted Answer

False. The ternary conditional operator '?:' cannot be overloaded in C++, though most other operators like +, -, and [] can be.

C++ programming language Trivia Questions