C++ in a Nutshell is a langauge reference manual. It is not a tutorial. It is not for beginners. It is a concise, to-the-point reference for professionals and other serious programmers. C++ in a Nutshell is not a comprehensive reference for the entire C++ language, in all its intricacies and complexities. Instead, I focus on what is most important to the working professional. If you feel that I have included too many irrelevant details or omitted too much important information, please let me know. Chapters 12 and 13 form the bulk of the book. Chapter 12 is an alphabetical reference for all the language keywords and constructs. Chapter 13 is a reference for the entire runtime library, organized alphabetically by header, and within each section, alphabetically by type, function, macro, or other name. An alphabetical reference is not always the best way to present information, though. The first 8 chapters, therefore, cover the language organized by topic. Chapters 9 through 11 introduce the standard library. Finally, the appendix includes brief introductions to some compilers, libraries, and interesting C++ projects, such as Boost and Loki.