CPE – C++ Certified Entry-Level Programmer Certification: Exam Syllabus

General objectives covered by the exam

• basic input/output: std::cin, std::cout, std::cerr and stream manipulators: endl, setw

• general C++ syntax (including C++ keywords) and semantics, block structure, block nesting, identifiers’ scopes, flow control instructions

• defining and invoking functions, declaring and using vectors, structures, and strings

• declaring and using pointers.

Exam block #1: Syntax, literals, and operators. (28%)

Objectives covered by the block (9 exam items)

• C++ syntax fundamentals: literals, symbols, code blocks, and keywords

• C++ built-in types and their literals

• main() function declaration conventions and parameters

• operators: unary and binary, priorities and binding

• numeric operators: * / % + –

• post- and pre- increment and decrement operators: ++, —

• short-circuit evaluations

• bitwise operators: ~ & ^ | << >>

• logical (Boolean) operators: ! && ||

• relational operators: == != > >= < <=

• assignment and shortcut operators: = op=

• basics of I/O streams operation

Exam block #2: Flow control and functions (28%)

Objectives covered by the block (8 exam items)

• conditional execution keywords: if, else

• loop keywords: while, do, for

• controlling loop execution keywords: break, continue

• goto keyword and labeled statements

• multiple-selection keywords: switch, case, default keywords

• exiting the function: return keyword

• defining, declaring and invoking functions

• typed and void functions, return statement

• passing arguments to parameters: by value, by reference, by pointer

• recursion

Exam block #3: Vectors and pointers (24%)

Objectives covered by the block (7 exam items)

• declaring, initializing and using vectors, declaring multidimensional arrays

• the data() method

• declaring pointers to C++ entities, the nullptr pointer

• dereferencing pointers: * operator

• obtaining pointers to existing data: & operator

• converting pointers using static_cast and dynamic_cast operators

• assigning and releasing memory: new, delete and delete[] operators

Exam block #4: Structures and strings (20%)

Objectives covered by the block (6 exam items)

• declaring and using structures

• accessing structure’s fields using . operator

• vectors of structures: declaring and accessing

• the std::string type and string literals

• declaring, initializing, and using strings

• basic string operations, comparing strings