C++ programming

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

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Joined
10 Mar 2006
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Hi all, might sound a bit ambitious but I am looking to earn C++ by buying the book "Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ (Developer's Library)" to reskilling and get a new career.

If I buy the book though, what software do I need to develop anything on? Are there student /free versions of them perhaps?

I used to program in C#, badly at uni, so I have the tiniest practical experience, but I need a new career so figure this is a good a start as any.

Cheers.
 
Unless you're some sort of genius I have to warn you, it'll be a long time time before you're proficient enough in C++ to get a career in it.

Also it might be beneficial to see what sort of jobs are out there now and then cater your education towards the requirements for those roles. You might find C++ is not the best language to learn with a career in mind.
 
I really am no genius but I used to pick it up easily back in the day. Quite a gap between me and genius which could pose a problem, aye.

Do you guys have any advice on which language to go with, if not C++? C++ seems promising because of the book I linked to, but if that's missing a huge chunk - which, I will have to check, but I think might be covered in an updated version / supplement - then perhaps not C++ at all.
 
I wouldn't worry so much about v11, but C++ is a massive language, you can do pretty much anything in it - maybe best to think about what kind of programming you'd like to do.

If its parallelised multithreading in memory efficient, high-performance environments, then C++. Otherwise, take another look at C#, Java, ASP.Net, etc.
 
I've ordered the C++ book, just because the book has such good reviews and sounds rewarding. The material is recommended as a 14 week semester, with two hours of study per day. I won't be able to achieve that, but 6 months might be reasonable.

Will just see how it goes. Hopefully what I learn will be transferrable to another language, such as C#.

Do I need Visual Studio to get going, or something else? Getting to grips with that will be a learning exercise in itself, won't it?
 
Sorry, should've referenced that - I did read that last night, forgot it was there this morning.

Trouble is that the trial's only 90 days long - I'm not gonna be far in by then. Will it stop working altogether then?

Oh FFS just actually read the post, you dumb goit. Express is free. Right. :rolleyes: Thanks. :p
 
C++ is a language that can be very long winded at times, but that longwindedness allows you to have very fine grained control over what your doing. Learning C++ is great if you want to get down and dirty with everything and want to do some very intricate stuff, but it can drag sometimes having to write the same basic code out time and time again.

If you do decide that C++ is the language for you then you should find other languages afterwards pretty easy to pick up, but it will need a lot of effort in the short term and you will have to put a lot of practice in so be prepared.

I did what you are planning to do though, I started off as a hobby programmer, created a few apps and various other bits and pieces in my spare time over a few years whilst still doing my day job, and late 2011 I applied for a few jobs. I've now been an iOS developer since Nov 2011 and have thoroughly loved it.

I wish you luck but be prepared to put the hours in!
 
Depending on how fast you want to reskill, maybe try looking at a higher level language first. There are a shed load of PHP and Ruby jobs out there. Those languages can be a lot quicker to pick up, and will look good on the CV while you're learning C++.
 
Tilluss said:
C++ is a language that can be very long winded at times, but that longwindedness allows you to have very fine grained control over what your doing. Learning C++ is great if you want to get down and dirty with everything and want to do some very intricate stuff, but it can drag sometimes having to write the same basic code out time and time again.

If you do decide that C++ is the language for you then you should find other languages afterwards pretty easy to pick up, but it will need a lot of effort in the short term and you will have to put a lot of practice in so be prepared.
Click to expand...

This is true. In particular, knowing C++ well really does make other languages easy to pick up, because you already understand both low-level bits and OO principles (and even functional stuff), since C++ is so multi-paradigm.

I love C++, but many are not so masochistic :p
 
Well, first step is underway. PC is back under the desk, I've cleaned out the hideous stuff from underneath the space bar, and Visual Studio 2012 Express is downloading as we speak.

The book is arriving tomorrow, when I will start crying as all my enthusiasm disappears as I remember how difficult learning to program is. :(
 
alexthecheese said:
Well, first step is underway. PC is back under the desk, I've cleaned out the hideous stuff from underneath the space bar, and Visual Studio 2012 Express is downloading as we speak.

The book is arriving tomorrow, when I will start crying as all my enthusiasm disappears as I remember how difficult learning to program is. :(
Click to expand...

it's just hard to achieve things that can be done so easily in other languages
for me web programming in html, css, php, mysql, & javascript is much more fun ;)
 
At Uni, I was taught Java first, then C++...for good reason.
Learning C++, without any previous Object Oriented knowledge is going to be damn difficult.

As someone said above, if you are genius, then you should be ok, otherwise, even attempting simple stuff will take a while to program.

The advantage is that C++ is faster and gives you the most control. A higher level language like Java or C# will require fewer lines of code to achieve the same objective (though the program speed is likely to be slower).

I like to think of it this way:
C# is fun. At time times it can give you a headache.
C++ will give you a headache. At times it can be fun.

Job wise: there are plenty of jobs available in C++, C# and Java.

So, given the above, why would you want to learn C++ over Java or C#?
 
Programming language preference is not purely (or even mostly) rational.

Edit: well, ok, that's not really true, but there's always some irrational element to it (and there should be!)
 
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