The easiest way is to view C++ not as a single language but as a federation of related languages. Within a particular sublanguage, the rules tend to be simple, straightforward, and easy to remember. When you move from one sublanguage to another, however, the rules may change. To make sense of C++, you have to recognize its primary sublanguages. Fortunately, there are only four:
C. Way down deep, C++ is still based on C. Blocks, statements, the preprocessor, built-in data types, arrays, pointers, etc., all come from C. In many cases, C++ offers approaches to problems that are superior to their C counterparts , but when you find yourself working with the C part of C++, the rules for effective programming reflect C's more limited scope: no templates, no exceptions, no overloading, etc.
Object-Oriented C++. This part of C++ is what C with Classes was all about: classes (including constructors and destructors), encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, virtual functions (dynamic binding), etc. This is the part of C++ to which the classic rules for object-oriented design most directly apply.
Template C++. This is the generic programming part of C++, the one that most programmers have the least experience with. Template considerations pervade C++, and it's not uncommon for rules of good programming to include special template-only clauses. In fact, templates are so powerful, they give rise to a completely new programming paradigm, template metaprogramming (TMP).
The STL. The STL is a template library, of course, but it's a very special template library. Its conventions regarding containers, iterators, algorithms, and function objects mesh beautifully, but templates and libraries can be built around other ideas, too. The STL has particular ways of doing things, and when you're working with the STL, you need to be sure to follow its conventions.
