Newbie C++ Help

[Vi3tboi911]

Ok, I got inspired today to learn a programing language. I want to learn C++ but I am sitting here with no clue on earth on where to start. Can anyone give me links to newbie tutorials and sites? If you can, please state any tips that you have for me, thanks!

[f8tal]

i have a good site for not only c++ but also other programming books. chck it out: http://www.howtos.nl

[NeoSigma]

I studied Java first, went pretty deep into it and things made sense and now I'm going to C++ so I can give this whole .net thing a try. I recommend Java first, it's everything in C++ without the complicated stuff, syntax is almost indenticle.

[CyBeRiA]

Forget scripting/markup languages to begin with. Worry about them later. They're pretty much irrelevant when it comes to programming (i.e., don't worry about HTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, DHTML, etc...).

Honestly, start with a classic beginner's language, either C++ or Java. I learned C++ first, but Java is a good first language too. I would stay away from C until you get a handle on C++, then go to C to get the extra functionality C provides. Then, if you're serious about doing some web work (database driven sites and whatnot), PHP would be really easy to learn. Also, if you learn Java, JSP becomes a real viable option for database driven websites.

Paul.

[Trust]

(i'm 12 right now)

You have a long... a long way to walk :D

[kjordan2001]

Forget scripting/markup languages to begin with. Worry about them later. They're pretty much irrelevant when it comes to programming (i.e., don't worry about HTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, DHTML, etc...).

Honestly, start with a classic beginner's language, either C++ or Java. I learned C++ first, but Java is a good first language too. I would stay away from C until you get a handle on C++, then go to C to get the extra functionality C provides. Then, if you're serious about doing some web work (database driven sites and whatnot), PHP would be really easy to learn. Also, if you learn Java, JSP becomes a real viable option for database driven websites.

Paul.

Don't you have that backwards on the C/C++ part? C++ is the one with extra functionality, C is the basics :huh:

[CyBeRiA]

well, i was thinking more along the lines of strict memory management and things like that. I found it easier to go back from C++ to C.

[Fonze]

Forget scripting/markup languages to begin with. Worry about them later. They're pretty much irrelevant when it comes to programming (i.e., don't worry about HTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, DHTML, etc...).

Honestly, start with a classic beginner's language, either C++ or Java. I learned C++ first, but Java is a good first language too. I would stay away from C until you get a handle on C++, then go to C to get the extra functionality C provides. Then, if you're serious about doing some web work (database driven sites and whatnot), PHP would be really easy to learn. Also, if you learn Java, JSP becomes a real viable option for database driven websites.

Paul.

Don't you have that backwards on the C/C++ part? C++ is the one with extra functionality, C is the basics :huh:

i always thought C++ was higher level language and couldn't do certain complicated, lower level operations that C could. making C harder and more time consuming to learn/program in

[azcodemonkey]

C++ is completely backward compatible with C. There are nicer ways to do thing in C++ than in C when it comes to memory management. Personally, I think C++ is harder to learn that C, especially with generics thrown in.

[endo]

Tutorials

^The link above is a good place to get c++ tutorials. It has downloads (zip format) for a good start to c++ coding.

Tutorials on classes, pointers, arrays etc. hope it helps some :cool:

[Daem0hn]

LOL, that's the book they use in almost all the schools in toronto. My old school too!!!<br />

<br />

<br />

Originally posted by DeathLace <br />

Vi3tboi911 if you don't mind spending a little cash to buy a intro book to C++ try "A Guide To Programming in C++" by Tim Corica, Beth Brown and Bruce Presley<br />

Published by: Lawrenceville Press<br />

<br />

When I started to learn C++ I used this book in school, a great book that will really get you going, very easy to learn from too.

they teach u c++, DUDE, AWESOME :D the best we got, or, were going to get was VB, then i mentioned to the teacher that i had been programming since i was 9 (started with qbasic) and programming VB for about 4 years, then i went home and completed the final year 12 (what he thought was very hard) project, that night, to prove that i was smart :p it was a program turning an A into a B, a B into a C, HAHAHA

newchar=chr(asc(curchar)+1)

:p

so now after me asking very nicely to do java or c++......were doing delphi - mastered it already :p

anyway, thanks all of you for posting in this thread, its given me the urge to go an learn some more on c++ (i did a short course, but no1 else liked it, so it changed back to VB :( )

Does anyone have any good links for c++ in linux???

also, how do you compile, or test run a project using the gcc compiler???

[CB-Dave]

To the programming god above :rolleyes: who's already so hot on coding that they can't do a "man gcc", to get gcc to compile and link a program to an exectuable form you simply type "gcc -o whatever_the_hell_you_want_your_output_filename_to_be source.c"

Anyway, as an aside from that - I'm 22 now, been coding various things since the age of 5 on an Amstrad CPC 464, and the way I've found to learn about coding is NOT to do the crappy hello world type stuff, I mean cmon - which beaurocrat decided that the first week of coding school should be down with cout << "hello world" << endl;

The way I learned VB, Delphi, C++, Java and a little PHP was simply by hitting the help files, finding a function and writing a wrapper around it.

For example, in Delphi you get fundamental API access given to you, to figure this out I simply wrote a program that wrapped the API information returned (system info etc) into a nice neat box to show the user. All done using labels and about maybe 50 lines of code max.

C++, well - basic function-based C++ is dead easy to learn, it's procedural really...

OO can be a pain but once you've started it's only polite to carry on!

I wouldn't worry about memory allocation, or anything like that if you're new - read up on the bog basic functional stuff and it mushrooms from there, and from what I've seen so far if you run into trouble - there are a LOT of knowledgable bods around here to help!

Edited September 23, 2003 by CB-Dave

[Rummand]

Hi There,

I have been programming for about 9-10 years now, and proffesionally for about 5 years. My experience is that every person has his/hers own way of learning the best, personally what I find most effective is practical learning instead of theoretical learning. Then when I thought i was mastering a language at some level I have started to explore the theories more deeply.

In other words, im a "learn by example" kind of guy, I learned what some of the cpp language by just going thru various turtorials, and then my father bought me Bjarne Stoustrups (one of the great danes in programming :laugh:) first book, now i can only find the Oreilly C++ in a nutshell, on my bookshelf - I guess I lost Bjarne's book in a move.

For rookie programmers wanting to learn some OO based concepts could look into a language like Python, this language have proved to be one of my favorite tools, I love the powers of this language, and the way to implement it in other languages, if wanting to write performance critical parts in lower level languages. For instance the C/C++ api are incredible (python itselfes is implemented in c), but also the PythonForDelphi (cpp builder, delphi and kylix compliant) is great.

Maybe I got way of topic, I appologize for that, I just got carried away :D (my first post at neowin, but not last, hehe)

[azcodemonkey]

Woot! Another code monkey! :D

Welcome to Neowin.

[Rummand]

Woot! Another code monkey! :D

Welcome to Neowin.

thank you very much :D

Have read around in the forums, and I like the casual attitude, people have here, neowin now has a quicklinks entry in my browser(s) :D

[Diffused Mind]

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy C++ for Dummies, the book itself was written by a Dummy. Most of the code never compiled. I tried one piece like 20 times and it was a no show. :no:

[shihchiun]

So what's the difference between C and C++? (Other than it's newer...) I know some C already, debating whether to learn C++ or Perl.

[neowin_hipster]

C++:

- template functions

- template library, strings, vectors, lists, sorting, and so on.

- objects

- new and delete instead of malloc and free

- can do for (int n=0 ....) in a for loop without compiler bitching (i dunno if msvc does it, but gcc does.

well, there's a bunch more but that's the main difference.

I recommend to learn whatever the **** you wanna learn it for. If you're gonna be doing scripting use perl. Gonna write apps use C/C++.

[Dan Soki]

All this advise is helping me out in recalling all the C++ I learned, and more.

Thanks!

[vcv]

You could always do as I did.. use your computer all day, every day, from when you're 12 until you're 18, and just learn by studying other source code and trying yourself.

MSDN is also helpful, and it's good to find a language reference for when you're ever unsure of something.

[Zerosignull]

intersting to note that c ++ was, many moons ago, first called c with objects. C++ is an extention to C. Java is a progression from C ++ and is harder to understand for a newb then C.

C as a language is so easy that it takes some of the fun out of it. My lecturer at college used to say "if you could understand pointers then you knew the hardest bit of c" and pointers are easy to grasp if you have them explained to you properly.

c++ is a nice beast but is a beast and has lots of complicated parts to it which are good and in some situations usefull but i find i never use them. i prefere to keep code as low level and simple as possible as not to lag down code doing unneccesary work. Object Oriented program will seem alot easier to you is you have learn C's structure's, struct cast's. Memory management is easier then c's but if you programm in windows 3.0/1 then you carnt use it (doest get paged right in old version of windows).

Java after learning c++ is so quick to pick up it aint even a challenge, did my brother's university course work which had to be in jarva and ide only ever done c++.

Dont go the rounte of basic. if u can handle C/C++ then you can handle ANY language out there that is written with humans in mind. It may just be me but i like some challenge in the actually programming aspect.

Any way that just my point of view and shouldnt be set in gold..

[zachman123]

yea, mostly true, but I'd say that java is EASIER than c++.... just my opinion

started up with java, starting to learn/convert over to c++

[lostspyder]

why dont you start with Qbasic. Its amazinly easy to pick up on and teches the basics realy well.

[super_serge]

I just love the Primer Plus books. I have 2. C Primer Plus and C++ Primer Plus. They explain the language really well and i would suggest buying them if you have a few bucks to spend ($75 US for both). Also, I recommend learning C then C++, and then moving on to any other languages, cuz C and C++ are like the basics of programming. After you learn C++, all other languages should be a breeze. :D Hope this helped!

[ISSWHU]

<c language> i think it is good book for u

[jugaaru]

I have just started college, and we have a C programming course.

If there any good links?

How do a beginner start programming C?