beginners' guides/ tutorials/ courses recommendations?

[kempofighter]

There are a finite number of beginner C++ books to choose from. Choose 3 or 4 of the recommended books at www.accu.org. If after reading these books, going through each exercise as best as possible, if you still don't understand things, then maybe it's time to think about whether this field is for you.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

What link on that website contains the recommended books? The book reviews page is completely empty.

[Paul McKenzie]

What link on that website contains the recommended books? The book reviews page is completely empty.

Strange, I can't get to their site. They are listed first in Google,

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...aqi=n1g5g-s1g4

so I'm assuming they're still around.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

[kempofighter]

The more I read this FAQ, the more I like it. It seems to cover a wide range of issues from beginner issues, to complex technical issues, to big picture issues and general questions about the language. Evidently there is also a book. Has anyone read it? I don't know if it is a good book for a beginner or not. It definitely seems like the type of book that would serve as a nice supplement to a language reference.
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/index.html

If you are learning on a windows platform, there are always free microsoft resources. The second link is to the free compiler.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3bstk3k5.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/express/vc/Default.aspx

There is no reason that you can't start with free webstuff and see how far you get. In my opinion, you should be able to cut and paste, compile, execute, and debug example code. Certain things just make sense to some people but not others. If you have it in you to be a programmer, then you shouldn't have any trouble copying and pasting examples and learning quite a bit from online resources.

[andrey_zh]

Personally I dislike "C++ for Dummies". IMHO it's too slow and dull course. It, of course, could change from edition to edition.

I've got C++ from a huge number of small pieces of text. Especially Borland C++ 3.1 help, Allen Hollub's "Rope Short Enough...", Shildt's Programmer's Reference, by reading the standard and Google.

But I've already had QBasic, Pascal, Modula-2 and C experience.

You can't just learn programming language by reading books. You must write programs, just crispy, at first, but they will get better and better with time. Try to solve your PC related, and school math and physics problems with C++. When you run into problem, try to read docs and search Google or ask here. If you already know any programming language, try to find similar constructions in C++.

[kaustubh.bansal]

Hello,

Check out this book, "Learn to Program with C++, John Smiley" if possible. I've not read it myself but some of my friends from a non technical background read it and found it very comprehensible.

Since you've had no prior exposure to programming, i believe more advanced books may demoralize you, which will be very disappointing. This one explains the basic features without going into too much depth.

[nuzzle]

What do you recommend as far as a beginners course or tutorial in C++? Is C++ for Dummies good? Or Cprogramming.com? I recently attended idTech camp for the beginners' programming course for a week, but I want to extend my knowledge farther. What do you think?

I think you should have a serious look at Programming - Principles and Practices Using C++,

http://www.research.att.com/~bs/programming.html

It's written by Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of C++. I was curious about what he would come up with so I bought the book. He's expressed some concern over the ever growing complexity of C++ and that it's maybe become very hard to learn. I also knew he's had actual teaching experience (first year university students).

I must say I'm impressed. This is over 1000 pages packed with C++ knowledge. It's as far as you can get from a Dummy book. It respects the reader and assumes you're intelligent. It's definately worth every single one of the 50 buck it will set you back.

[nuzzle]

Not meaning to be a jack*ss, but i am a bit above the intellectual level of others my age (13).

You're 13 right?

Well, then you shouldn't buy the book I suggested because it's written for 20 year olds starting their university studies.

I suggest you drop your C++ project alltogether and concentrate on ordinary school subjects instead. Only if at least half your grades is A+ should you diverse your interests. This is because concentrating on school now gives you the best future options. If you want to pursue a career in programming it's very important you get a degree from a well respected university. And to get that you need good grades so you get accepted by one of the top ten. This means your main objective at this point in your life must be to finish number one in your class, not to learn C++.

[Ace of Anton]

You're 13 right?

Well, then you shouldn't buy the book I suggested because it's written for 20 year olds starting their university studies.

I suggest you drop your C++ project alltogether and concentrate on ordinary school subjects instead. Only if at least half your grades is A+ should you diverse your interests. This is because concentrating on school now gives you the best future options. If you want to pursue a career in programming it's very important you get a degree from a well respected university. And to get that you need good grades so you get accepted by one of the top ten. This means your main objective at this point in your life must be to finish number one in your class, not to learn C++.

oh believe me, i'm going to do this. i already started, so i'm going to finish it. besides, 8th grade is DULL, even with all AP classes.

oh, and i have had a little programming experience. I attended IDtech camp recently for a beginning programming course. I've written a couple of programs.

[Speedo]

I suggest you drop your C++ project alltogether and concentrate on ordinary school subjects instead. Only if at least half your grades is A+ should you diverse your interests. This is because concentrating on school now gives you the best future options. If you want to pursue a career in programming it's very important you get a degree from a well respected university. And to get that you need good grades so you get accepted by one of the top ten. This means your main objective at this point in your life must be to finish number one in your class, not to learn C++.

God forbid that teenagers should have any interests or hobbies outside of school. I mean, who would want to encourage them to do something that they enjoy?

If the only way to have a career in programming was to be high school valedictorian and then attended MIT or Stanford, this would be a very small field. If he is able to pursue his interest in programming without neglecting his schoolwork, there is not reason whatsoever that he shouldn't do so.

[Ace of Anton]

thank you, speedo. now, back to the topic at hand...

[andrey_zh]

Age means nothing. My first attempts to program are dated to the age of 11-12.

These were on C (without having a compiler =), based on the Soviet translation of the American book dated to early 80s ), MS Excel macros (without connecting program to document), QBasic. Then finally I've got TP7 and MS QuickPascal (on the February of 2004). Later I've moved to Strannik (non-standard Win32 compiler and learned some WinAPI). On FreePascal I wrote some rather advanced programs like text editor for DOS, with handling multiple files, (that's without any frameworks like TurboVision!). I also had lo learn some basics of Assembly language. Also I've got C++ on Borland C++ 3.1

Last year (I was at the age of 18) I went to the University. This was the first time I've header about complex data structures like linked lists. I knew about trees but never used them.

What about my success at school I was one of the best in my class with an average mark of 9.2 ( of 10, here and below ). ( For exams I had A and A for Math and Physics, B and B for English and Latvian ).

This payed with some loss of "sociability", though.

As you can see you also could have good marks at school and waste some time to programming. I never went to any additional courses (I'm about coding).

As you can see you can achieve _something_ yourself, but you knowledge wouldn't be systematic. Now I repent of wrong spending my time from the age of 12 to 18. I could get a better programmer in this 6 years.

So don't repeat my mistake! If you have free time and money, go to this article:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html and follow it (I'd recommend partially)

While this is a propaganda of subculture, it contains some very-very good ideas.

By the way, ability to program helped me at school.

I got eights for Math and tens for Physics without any sweating. You should know Math good, because some of thinking processes you use solving math problems, are similar to those in programming. Later at the University you'll also will be forced to learn Math. There is not any use of math, while programming(almost)!

And the most important. Are you going to become a programmer? Not a Web-designer, not a system administrator, not a computer-help-guy?! Are you sure? Then...welcome to hell, though here's also rather funny sometimes! Otherwise even don't waste your time on programming!

[Ace of Anton]

Back to the original question...

[nuzzle]

oh believe me, i'm going to do this. i already started, so i'm going to finish it. besides, 8th grade is DULL, even with all AP classes.

oh, and i have had a little programming experience. I attended IDtech camp recently for a beginning programming course. I've written a couple of programs.

Why do you find school dull? Is it because you're not doing well or is it because you're doing extremely well and are understimulated. Whatever it is you should talk to your parents about it. Maybe you need extra help. Or maybe you should skip a class.

Regarding your question I've suggested a very good book in one of my previous replies. You probably can find it in a local library.

[nuzzle]

God forbid that teenagers should have any interests or hobbies outside of school. I mean, who would want to encourage them to do something that they enjoy?

If the only way to have a career in programming was to be high school valedictorian and then attended MIT or Stanford, this would be a very small field. If he is able to pursue his interest in programming without neglecting his schoolwork, there is not reason whatsoever that he shouldn't do so.

Sure, but better safe than sorry. For people with a certain predisposition, programming has a tendency to become compulsory. It may easily lead to neglect. And even if a college degree from a prestige university isn't necessary for a career in programming it doesn't sit in the way. It's the single best way to tilt the Wheel of Fortune in your favour.

Teenagers who find school dull usually fall into one of two categories; They don't keep up or they're gifted and understimulated. There are lots of things that can be done about it. Turning them into C++ hackers isn't on the list.

[andrey_zh]

Learn either C or Pascal (better both)! C is almost the subset of C++. Pascal lacks some C tricky constructions, but modern extensions seem to provide even some C++-like constructions.

Buy the way, what kind/level of complexity of programs have you already written?