Question

In C++ there are terms that not mentioned or explained in most C++ books. For example:

• singular iterator (link)
• qualified name (link)
• dependent name
• deduced context
• shadow
• x/gl/pr-value (link)
• incomplete type (link)

You won’t understand compiler error messages if you don’t know what they mean.
I know meaning of all above terms (they are just example). Of cause after some not trivial googling – I could figure out term meaning. In case of singular iterator, I had to look into gcc source code.

Is there a dictionary or something where these are explained and defined in not too expert friendly way as in the standard?

Answer 1

Here, we have the official C++11 final working draft.

In this document, anybody may look up the phrases you mention:

• singular iterator – not found, (24.2.1: “Iterators can also have singular values that are not associated with any sequence”, and “An invalid iterator is an iterator that may be singular”)
• qualified name – found, explained
• dependent name – found, explained
• deduced context – found, explained
• shadow – not found
• xvalue – not found, (3.10: An xvalue [an “eXpiring” value] also refers to an object)
• gl-value – not found, (3.10: A glvalue [“generalized” lvalue] is an lvalue or an xvalue)
• pr-value – not found, (3.10: A prvalue [“pure” rvalue] is an rvalue that is not an xvalue)
• incomplete type – found, explained

The remaining terms can be looked up in the internets but seem to be more or less vendor specific phrases, if I’m not completely mistaken.

---

Updated after Jonathan Wakely’s comment.