What is the difference between a .cpp file and a .h file?

The C++ build system (compiler) knows no difference, so it's all one of conventions.

The convention is that .h files are declarations, and .cpp files are definitions.

That's why .h files are #included -- we include the declarations.

The .cpp file is the compilation unit : it's the real source code file that will be compiled (in C++).

The .h (header) files are files that will be virtually copy/pasted in the .cpp files where the #include precompiler instruction appears. Once the headers code is inserted in the .cpp code, the compilation of the .cpp can start.

.h files, or header files, are used to list the publicly accessible instance variables and and methods in the class declaration. .cpp files, or implementation files, are used to actually implement those methods and use those instance variables.

The reason they are separate is because .h files aren't compiled into binary code while .cpp files are. Take a library, for example. Say you are the author and you don't want it to be open source. So you distribute the compiled binary library and the header files to your customers. That allows them to easily see all the information about your library's classes they can use without being able to see how you implemented those methods. They are more for the people using your code rather than the compiler. As was said before: it's the convention.