IF you are young, ou are in school, right? UIf you are in school, youqualify for VS for around 30 USD - there are cheap student licenses available. If you are not a student, but an unemployed person then well - how can you afford a computer anyhow .-) ok, that was my sarcasm.

Anyhow, I would strongly recommend against using C++ as a first language. Unless you are extremely luckywith your learning material (and if you cant afford the compiler this also means you cant afford a course, soyyou are stuck with books etc.) you willcatch up a ton of bad habbits. THe main problem with ++ is that it is way too easy to mix it with structural C.

And - you will have to learn a MESS of things to handle graphical user interfaces etc. (not DirectX). These are way fasterdone in C# - and much cleaner. If you start learning, you dont start with 3d engines, you know :-)


Regards

Thomas Tomiczek
THONA Consulting Ltd.
(Microsoft MVP C#/.NET)

Here is an easier answer: Learn C!

-C is easy tu learn
-Everything yu learn from c will aplly tu other languages such
as Java, C#, C++ and many other scripting languages that are
C-like
-all the pros use it
-when you're writing games it's fukk load faster than that
object-oriented hogwash
-It's cool
-Did I mention it's cool
-Are yu sure I mentioned it was cool
-it's the original, simple, beautiful, classic language that many other modern languages base themselves upon

Of course, this answer only matters if yu don't know C, which I made an awesome assumption that yu didn't.

[edited by - Fucho on August 20, 2002 6:42:38 AM]

/me hands Fucho the award for the most entertaining post of the day

quote: Original post by Arild Fines
/me hands Fucho the award for the most entertaining post of the day

My favourite bit is "when you''re writing games it''s fukk load faster than that object-oriented hogwash". I can''t stop laughing!

I thought the "all the pros use it" part was pretty hilarious, myself

go to www.bruceeckel.com and download the thinking in C++ books or buy the book and go throught the C course on the CD, so you have a foundation in C, Then learn C++ if you want to learn how to program, if you want to learn an API that is basically Java then learn C#

Once you know how to program in C++ pretty good, all the other languages should come pretty easy, most are C derivatives in syntax and structure.

If you want to make games, learn C and then C++, if you want to do web services and some slow win apps learn C#

I think your best bet is to get Visual Studio 6 and learn C, C++ and Visual Studio, then the rest is yours for the taking, then learn a little VB to impress the parents with your deluxe windows programming skills

I just lost some faith in humanity.

"C is easy tu learn"

When you''re struggling with just using the keyboard that can only be a plus.

Helpful links:
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way | Google can help with your question | Search MSDN for help with standard C or Windows functions