Advanced Object-Oriented & Generic Programming in C++

Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. This advanced course focuses on object-oriented and generic programming in C++, emphasizing the core principles and techniques that every experienced developer should master. The course will guide you through advanced inheritance, exception handling, file input/output operations, and template programming, equipping you with the knowledge to write clean, efficient, and reusable C++ code. You’ll also explore C++11/14/17 features such as lambda expressions, type traits, and advanced STL usage. The course starts by enhancing your object-oriented programming skills with in-depth discussions on inheritance, composition, and polymorphism, along with practical examples and real-world applications. You will also explore advanced topics like virtual functions, dynamic casting, and multiple inheritance, ensuring a solid understanding of complex object hierarchies. Exception handling will be tackled next, where you will learn advanced techniques such as stack unwinding, nested exceptions, and using the noexcept keyword for performance improvements. As you progress, the course introduces the power of generic programming through templates, exploring topics like template argument deduction, perfect forwarding, variadic templates, and class template specialization. You will learn how to optimize code and improve flexibility with these tools, enabling you to build robust, reusable components. The course then dives into C++'s powerful Standard Template Library (STL), where you'll master containers such as std::vector, std::map, and std::unordered_map, and learn the performance nuances with Big-O notation. This course is designed for intermediate to advanced programmers who want to refine their C++ skills and gain expertise in complex C++ features. A basic understanding of C++ syntax and object-oriented programming is recommended, and the course will be most beneficial to those aiming to develop high-performance applications or work with large, complex systems.