Your First C++ Program

In this first lesson, you will write and run a simple C++ program in Visual Studio 2026 and understand the role of main(), #include, and cout.

• #include <iostream> gives access to input and output tools.
• using namespace std; allows us to use standard library names directly.
• int main() is the starting point of the program.
• cout displays output to the console.
• return 0; ends the program successfully.

Hello World Example

A classic beginner program displays a short message on the screen.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello, world!" << endl;
    return 0;
}

How It Works