What's wrong with this C++ program?

Question

When I compile this program:

#include<iostream>

using namespace std; 

std::cout<<"before main"<<endl;

int main()  
{

}

...I see this error from the compiler:

error: expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before '<<' token

Please help me understand what this means and what's wrong with my program?

Answer 1

you cannot write

std::cout<<"before main"<<endl;

outside a function.

-- edit --
The single entry point of a c++ program is the main function. The only thing that may occur before the execution of the main function is the initialization of static/global variables.

static int i = print_before_main_and_return_an_int();

Answer 2

You're seeing that error because your

std::cout<<"before main"<<endl;

statement needs to be within the scope of your main() function (or some other function) in order for this program to be valid:

int main()
{
   std::cout<<"before main"<<endl;
}

Unrelated to your specific question, one extra point: as you are using namespace std, the explicit std:: on std::cout is redundant.