Hello.. I''m a "Beginner" I''m trying to learn how to program in c++ ... How do I start ?? what programs do I need 1st ?? Please help me out here... AIM: c3ooo Charlie3000@mail.com

Well, the best thing to do would be to get a big fat book on programming in C++. I mean, the kind of books that you can beat people down with , but anyways...books helped me learn the best..., try searching amazon.com etc. for C++, get a begginning book...hope this helps

-mrfujiak

Actually, I think it would be better to get a small book on programming. Learn to use the concepts in it and when you find yourself thinking their must be a better way move to a bigger book. The biggest challenge these days to learning to program is to force yourself to do things the hard way. There is an easier way to do whatever you might do starting out than writing a program. There comes a point where writing a program is really the easist way to accomplish a goal if you know how to program. Until you reach that level of skill you have to be happy with getting the computer to perform a useful task for you regardless of whether it was an easier way to do it. 20 years ago the alternative was a pencil, paper and calculator so many trivial applications were easier than the alternative. Now you could keep your check register in a MS Works spreadsheet that comes with about every computer and if you were looking for an even easier way it most likely came with Quicken as well. Writing a better check register than Quicken would be quite an accomplishment. If you are to ever do that though you have to start with one that isn''t as good. You have to walk before you can run.

If you are in school a useful program is flash cards since many subjects such as history are a matter of memorization. Basically you just have it ask a question, accept an answer and tell you if you where right or wrong. That type of program can start out extremely simple and grow to about any level of complexity you desire. The simpliest is just a series of questions. Display the question, accept an answer, check if the answer is correct and display a message indicating whether it was the correct answer or not. You can then expand that to tell you at the end how many you got right and wrong. You can then expand it further to repeat the question until you get it right. That is a pain when you don''t know the right answer so a further expansion would be to limit the times it repeats the question and tell you the right answer if you don''t get it in that number of tries. That leads to an expansion of the scoring to telling you how many you got on the first, second, third, ... xth try. Adding the ability to do multiple choice, matching, ect are other possible expansions as well has maintaining a history between executions of the program. As it grows and grows you will find the need to use more and more programming concepts.

The application doesn''t really matter, but it helps a good deal if it is something useful, an area you know well and one that lends itself well to continued expansion while being simple in it''s most basic implementation. Memorization is always useful. You have many years of school behind you so the concept being implemented is well known to you in many variations. Prompting for and accepting input is about as basic as it gets. Carried to logical extremes you have the wide range of educational software and games such as You Don''t Know Jack that are on the market.

When I needed to learn a new langauge (or to program at all) I read a small book that gave me an over view of the possiblities then I defined a small project and starting working on it. Every time I needed a special feature I turned to a lrger book with more specific data. Then expending it little by little.

books are probably the the way to go, but there''s quite an extensive c++ tutorial at www.cplusplus.com

When I say I''m a "beginner"..

I mean I have no clue how a program is programed........

How do I program ?? where do I start programming...

Don''t I need some kind of "program" to write C++ in ??


I''m so lost ...

Continuing the crusade on newbie education!!!

Next time, try checking the FAQ:
Main gamedev page: http://www.gamedev.net/gamedev.asp
There''s a button that says, "New? Start here", which leads to:
FAQ: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/start_here/

Please take more initiative next time.

when you uy a beginners book on programming, they'll come with a compiler on a cd or tell you where to get one. they assume you know nothing, which is good at times.
In fact, I could sell you my first book, Teach Youself C++ in 24 Hours. bout $15, I don't really care either way though, just e-mail me if you might be interested.

JoeMont001@aol.com www.polarisoft.n3.net

Edited by - Julio on December 19, 2000 5:31:06 PM

C3ooo, you need two things to program C++:
1. A compiler;
2. A text editor(Dos edit is all right);
C++ runs after compilation. This means some program called Compiler will transform your code into the machines'' language. You should look for online tutorials like Stoffel said. If you know java there won''t be any problems. If you didn''t ever program(HTML doesn''t count!), you''ll have to get a book of Algorithms or something like programming techs, etc... But anyway, most books explain every thing you need. You can either try to learn like I did, reading the online and compiler-in helps. I used Borland C++, which has the best function reference I have ever seen. Just some more tips:
1. Don''t start with, C++, start with C
2. Try DOS programming until you can write solid text with lists, heaps, queues and trees
2. Get a good''n''free compiler named DJGPP in http://www.delorie.com

Thanks, Arthur(rockslave)

Thanks ROCKs

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