Preserved Topic: Need advises and/or C++ tutorials (Page 1 of 1)

Hi everybody.

In a year and an half, if I am successful in my studies, I should enter an engineer school, most likely in a computer field. So lately I've decided I should learn a real programming language, something more evolved than web languages such as XHTML or Javascript, in order to take some advance on my future job. I already learnt some bits of Java in the past but this language didn't really interest me. I also know some basics of PHP but I don't think learning completely PHP now is interesting on the long run for I wouldn't use it in a company before at least three years and an half. Therefore, I tried C++, and it got me hooked. I learnt the basics (almost anything that can be done with a DOS application), but now I am seeking more advanced tutorials. There are no C++ tutorials either in the FAQ or at the Guru's network. I tried Googling it but I only came up with references. The rare tutorials that showed up were hardly helpful.

So I have a few questions for you.
First, do you think I made a good choice, do you think learning C++ now is a good investiment if I intend to work in computers in several years ?
If yes, can you direct me to good C++ tutorials ?

Thanks in advance.

What type of "more advanced tutorials" are you seeking?

http://www.cprogramming.com/
http://www.programmingtutorials.com/

These sites may have some good links and also you'll want to get a book such as;

The C++ Programming Language
Third Edition
Bjarne Stroustrup

err... well cuz he pretty much started it all.

And then another one is;

Thinking in C++

Check out http://BookPool.com as well.

Good luck.

______________
Is This Thing On?

Bleah...

Learning a programing language is a good thing :P You can do a lot with c(++). If you are going to work with computers, it might be nice to know perl. It can do a lot of work for you.

Here's some advice/things to learn if you haven't:

-Have you learned the Standard Template Library? (STL) If you're using c++ take advantage of it.
-Do you understand namespaces?
-Make sure you use the correct headers ie: (c++: <iostream> <cstdlib>, etc) (c: <iostream.h> <stdlib.h> )
-Network programming - http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~beej/guide/net/
-have you learned classes?

Hope that helps

You said you didn't like Java or PHP but you do like C++. What is it about C++ that you like? What is it about the other languages you don't like?

Computer programming is not really about learning languages. The laguages are tools for solving the problems you want to solve. Some languages offer better tools for solving the kinds of problems we are trying to solve than others. I suspect that what you are really saying is that you enjoyed solving the problems you have worked on with C++ and found the examples (problems) given for Java and PHP boring.

Figure out what you like about the problems you enjoyed solving and look for more problems to learn from in that area. If you didn't like Java and PHP maybe it's because you are not really interested in networking.

Seek out other areas of interest: business programming, computer graphics, robotics, human interface engineering, insurance, etc. There are lots of areas where a computer can be used to solve problems faster than they are being solved today.

Figure out which areas you want to solve problems in and see if you can start writing programs (in any language) that describe solutions to those problems. Once you have determined the kinds of problems you want to solve, you will have a better idea of the languages you want to learn to help you solve those problems.



-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.

Many many thanks !

UnkownComic, thanks for these links, this is what I was looking for. I checked again Google and saw that these two websites were both on Google's first page... man I must be blind lol.

Ninmonkey :

I'll add "Learn Perl" on my To Do list, however I don't know when I'll find the time to learn it

I know what is STL, even though I never took a look at it nor used it. I'll download it.

Hyperbole :

I fear I expressed myself badly since I never said I disliked either Java or PHP. In fact, I like PHP, I just thought learning PHP now wasn't a good investment since I would only use it in several years. And in several years, I think PHP will have evolved. As to Java, it is not that I dislike this language, it is just that I wasn't really interested by its applications, I didn't really "felt" it. Nonetheless, thanks for your advise, I'll keep it in mind for the future

Thank you very much again !



[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 02-08-2004).]

I would tell you to stop spending your time focusing on C++ and step back and try to get a good handel on plain ol' C. They are very similar languages, but you will tend to find that strait C offers you a much better background, which C++ gives you a lot of little "tricks" to do things.

The API's are another important thing to learn. Java tends to keep them all in one place, while C has them spread all over the place. You will need different API's depending upon what you are doing. The STL has plenty, but say you want to do graphics programming, you will need to look for something like SDL, or OpenGL or ... or ... the list goes on and on. So you should brush up on your research skills with google because you will need to find the right tool for the right job. Or hope that your business has the API's built.

Programming is never as simple as a language, the language is secondary. It is concepts that are key, again why I stress C as opposed to C++, with C you are dealing with a bit lower level than you are with C++. You will want to learn the syntax and then spend your time understanding "how to program" and understanding "what a computer is." The how to program is more the methodology, the syntax can be learned in a week, the methodology is what takes the time. You will want to look into books like "The art of computer programming." If you want to do graphics programming you will get into math and physics, if you want to do networking you will read about the physical network layer along with network specifications. Descrete Mathematics never hurts either.

I think I am getting a little long winded here and short on focus. The main idea I want to present here is that no tutorial is going to teach you a language, if you are looking for a tutorial you are not going to go very far. You need to emerse yourself in the ideology of programming, and cover as many different areas as you can.

-Dan-