C++ Workshop - Introduction

Jeromy Walsh · 2009-06-20T01:17:02

Greetings All! Here is an update to the C++ Workshop proposal. Thanks to those people who've expressed feedback about the idea. I'm looking forward to seeing how this little project turns out. C++ Workshop Proposal (Start date: June 1, 2006)Note: The following is simply the current incarnation of an idea by JWalsh. There has been no formal approval yet by the staff or moderators of GDNet.Overview: This workshop is designed to aid people in their journey to learn beginning C++. This workshop is targeted at highly motivated individuals who are interested in learning C++ or who have attempted to learn C++ in the past, but found that without sufficient support and mentoring they were unable to connect all the pieces of this highly complex but powerful programming language. This is a 'guided' self-teaching C++ workshop. Each student is responsible for taking the time to read the material and learn the information. The community and tutors that arise out of this workshop are here for making the learning process run more smoothly, but are not obligated to baby-sit a person's progress. Because everyone will be working from the same textbook, students may find it easier to get answers to the specific questions they might have. There is no minimum age requirement, and there is no previous programming experience required. Additionally, this workshop does not attempt to defend C++ as a language, nor does it attempt to demonstrate that C++ is either more or less useful then other programming languages for any particular purpose. People who intend to start a discussion about the differences between C++ and ANY other languages (except as are relevant to a particular discussion), are encouraged to do so elsewhere. This workshop is for educational, not philosophical discussions. "C++ Workshop" Summary: Anyone interested in participating will purchase the official workshop "textbook" (See below), either from Amazon.com, a local bookstore, etc...(No “signup” is necessary) Each week participants are responsible for reading 1 chapter of the book. As people have questions on a chapter they may post them in our weekly chapter threads (see below), to be answered by tutors (see below) and other students. Tutors may post additional questions to help test the students' understanding of the material. Each month there will be a programming project (see below) - designed to test a student's understanding of the previous 4-5 chapters. Students can optionally complete these projects and post a link to their source code for review. Textbooks: After looking at over a dozen textbooks I have chosen "Teach yourself C++ in 21 Days (5th Edition)" as the official textbook for the workshop. The reasons for this are as follows: It covers the majority of relevant C++ topics briefly enough to be an easy learning tool but thoroughly enough to be a useful reference It explains things in an easy to read format by accompanying all concepts with complete example programs, without spanning several pages It answers the majority of beginning C++ questions I see appear on GDNet. All examples include the code listing, output, and an analysis of the code All examples include line numbers for easy reference It includes a brief summary, questions & answers, quizzes, and exercises at the end of every chapter. It's 5 editions have been widely read by many individuals and so it's had a chance to "mature." The easy reference cards on the back and front inside covers are useful reference items It rings up at around $35. Cheaper then "C++ Primer Plus" at around $50.00, and my personal favorite "C++ How to Program" at $99.00. Now that we've chosen a textbook, specifically one with 4 previous editions, there will invariably be questions about needing to purchase the 5th edition of our textbook. Q. I own a physical copy of a previous edition of the book. (likely 3rd or 4th edition) Do I still need to purchase the 5th edition? A. No. It looks like the previous editions are close enough to the current edition (5th edition) that if you've got a physical copy of a previous edition, there probably isn’t a need for purchasing the latest edition, unless you find it necessary as we advance. In general, just keep the edition you've got and see if you can follow along. If you find that you cant follow along or aren’t able to get your questions answered, then it might be best to “upgrade” to the 5th edition. Q. I don’t have a physical copy of “Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days,” but I found that there’s a free version of the 2nd edition online, is that acceptable? A. I'd like to discourage it. Not because the 2nd edition won’t be close enough for you to follow along with, but because there's just no replacement for having a physical copy of a book. It gives you the ability to go sit down and read it, fully absorb yourself in it, and then come to the computer only when necessary for doing exercises. It means you can read it while your friends/wife/parents are driving and you're in the car, you can read it at lunch, on a plane, at the park, while waiting in the dentist office, etc...As well, it comes with nifty reference cards on the inside covers. Finally, having the books means you can prop it on your desk and do the exercises with the book open without having to Alt-Tab back and forth between your compiler and your web browser. In general, a physical book is just an easier way to learn. Q. I don’t have a copy of "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days," but I have another textbook that was highly recommended to me and I feel comfortable using that book instead. Is that ok? A. Yes, but there’s a catch. You wont be able to follow along closely with us and we wont be able to answer your C++ questions as effectively. So I encourage you to purchase the textbook. If you don’t, you're still welcome to ask/answer C++ related questions as they relate to the current topics, use our questions as a way to measure your own understanding, and complete our projects as an exercise to help you develop your skills. If your lack of textbook becomes an issue, we'll politely let you know and ask you to either purchase the textbook, or direct your questions to either the "For Beginners" or "General Programming" forums. This workshop is ultimately for people who want to learn together by reading a common textbook and then answering each other's questions. It only stands to reason that if you don’t have the textbook, this might not be the best forum for you. Chapter Threads: There will be a new forum created for the workshop. Each week a thread will be created that covers the current chapter. People can then post their questions and answers for the current chapter in that thread. People who come late to the workshop can read over the previous threads and continue to post their new questions. The weekly chapter thread will be mirrored (and stickied) in "For Beginners." The first post of each weekly thread will be structured with a brief introduction to the workshop, and provide links back to the C++ Workshop Forum and the "Tutors" thread (See below), so that people can easily navigate to us from FB, and follow the conversation of the current week. Project Threads: Threads will be created for each of the "Projects of the Month," where the first post outlines the details and requirements of the project. People can then use those threads to discuss the project, get design ideas, ask questions, and post their links to completed projects. About IDE's: For numerous reasons, Visual C++ EE is the recommended IDE for this workshop. Participants who are already familiar with another IDE, however, are encouraged to use whatever they feel will help them learn most effectively. To keep the workshop moving along, no assistance will be given for installing or configuring any other IDE then Visual C++ EE. Other members of the workshop wishing to submit installation and configuration guides for additional IDE's are welcome to do so. The Future: I can definitely see doing continuing workshops on more advanced topics and other programming languages if this experiment proves successful. Some other obvious topics include: Data Structures The Standard Template Library DirectX OpenGL Mathematics for Computer Graphics (Linear Algebra) Video game Physics Windows Programming (Win32 API or .NET) Shader programming (Pixel/vertex) Skeletal Animation and Modeling Procedural Texturing and materials Network programming Programming languages and translators C++/CLR and the .NET Framework Library And of course a language class can be done for any common language for video games - Java, C#, Python, Lua, ... Cheers! [Edited by - jwalsh on September 28, 2006 11:12:00 AM]

CPP Workshop Workshops

Started by JWalsh May 14, 2006 01:11 PM

261 comments, last by Melvin18 15 years, 8 months ago

chollida1

532

May 17, 2006 04:09 PM

Quote:
Original post by Silicon Spark
Quote:
Original post by superpig
Quote:
Original post by programwizard
there will be some students using Linux/other non-Windows systems.

I thought the whole appeal of Linux was figuring everything out yourself? [grin]

lol, partly, linux users might just want an os that doesnt crash ever 1/2 hour. lol

My XP dev. machine is going for 12 days now without a crash. YOu should try XP you may just like it:)

There are quite a few experienced devs who now consider XP to be atleast as stable if not more so than many linux desktop distro's.

Cheers
Chris

CheersChris

programwizard

100

May 17, 2006 04:20 PM

Quote:
Original post by Fruny
On one hand, it's easier if we only have to deal with one set of compiler/linker error messages, on the other hand, using multiple compilers might actually help us teach people to read and understand those same messages better.

Precisely. Linker and error messages aren't vastly different between the major IDE's and compilers, and it might be a good exercise to have students reason through their error messages rather than them just dumping them into the forum and waiting for a quick fix.

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JWalsh

Author

498

May 17, 2006 05:00 PM

Greetings!

Thank you all for your input regarding the compiler/IDE. It definately gave me some things to think about.

I would like to encourage people to download/use Visual Studio Express Edition as their IDE. This is especially true of people who have no previous experience with IDE's. With that being said, people are free to use whichever IDE they feel most comfortable with. If they are currently familiar and have strong preference for another IDE, more power to them. [smile]

Cheers!
Jeromy

Jeromy Walsh
Sr. Tools & Engine Programmer | Software Engineer
Microsoft Windows Phone Team
Chronicles of Elyria (An In-development MMORPG)
GameDevelopedia.com - Blog & Tutorials
GDNet Mentoring: XNA Workshop | C# Workshop | C++ Workshop
"The question is not how far, the question is do you possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to go as far as is needed?" - Il Duche, Boondock Saints

chollida1

532

May 17, 2006 05:03 PM

One way to solve the IDE issue is to handle it the way nehe did with the opengl tutorials.

One person could lead with windows vs.net and another could lead a port of the tutorial to devC++ and another could take ownership of the XCode project, and another could use make files and gcc.

Cheers
Chris

CheersChris

Fruny

1,658

May 17, 2006 05:22 PM

Quote:
Original post by chollida1
One way to solve the IDE issue is to handle it the way nehe did with the opengl tutorials.

I do not expect that full solutions to the book's exercises will be posted, much less as platform-specific projects. If they are, I may have to exercise my "do not answer homework questions" moderator veto.

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it." — Brian W. Kernighan

londonman

100

May 17, 2006 05:37 PM

i have all ready started lernig

what a ide ? is it a complier

Fruny

1,658

May 17, 2006 05:39 PM

Quote:
Original post by londonman
what a ide ? is it a complier

IDE = Integrated Development Environment.

At it's most basic, a text editor which lets you pass your code to a compiler.

Photonman

174

May 17, 2006 06:02 PM

superpig- forgot gamedev already had a channel. heheh

As far as compilers go, I have Dev and VC++EE. I like them both, though the fact that VC was made by a pro team with more resources and getting paid shows. However, Dev is a good compiler, supports *most* of the standard (g++ doesn't have the export keyword) and it is, I think, simpler. I would be a lot less intimidated by Dev if I were a beginner. You can compile standalone cpp files without prokects or solutions or any of that other claptrap.

I don't think that the choice of compiler will be a massive issue as long as they are standards compliant. As previously mentioned, errors are fairly similar across IDEs. I had some questions about the environment itself when I first used VC, but that was all. I'm glad that we've agreed to be open to this and am sure that we can clear up any IDE confusions in the forum itself.

Maybe, as suggested by programwizard, this could be covered in an introductory thread. I'd be willing to write a "getting started" instructions for Dev and VC++

______________________________Stranger things have happened...The Following Sentence is True. The Above Sentence is False.

chollida1

532

May 17, 2006 06:03 PM

Quote:
Original post by Fruny
Quote:
Original post by chollida1
One way to solve the IDE issue is to handle it the way nehe did with the opengl tutorials.

I do not expect that full solutions to the book's exercises will be posted, much less as platform-specific projects. If they are, I may have to exercise my "do not answer homework questions" moderator veto.

Perhaps I had a misunderstanding then.:) I thought the issue was that the teachers were going to prepare tutorials that the students would follow along with, ie how to setup a hello world project. I didn't know there would be quizes and homework:)

I was picturing a more nehe approach to this, ie build up a knowledge base by doing progressively more challenging tasks.

Cheers
Chris

CheersChris

dbzprogrammer

100

May 17, 2006 06:06 PM

What's an IDE?

As what Fruny said, it's an environment. It's designed to make the programmer's job easier by providing an environment that is simply more efficient.

Some things that IDE's will do are have a GUI, graphical user interface. So, instead of typing parameters into a command line compiler, you can click options that tells the compiler how to compile the code.

Many also have file management, allowing you to quickly open a file.

(On the left side, you see a list of files.)

And just about every one of them has syntax highlighting, or it color codes C++ keywords so the code is more readable.

There are many other features: keyword completion, intelli-sense, function prototype "reminders," keyboard shortcuts, multi-compiler support, etc...

If you don't understand this, you will get a much better understand once the course starts.

~~~IDE DISCUSSION~~~

Personally, I'd just go with Dev C++, but since we have people willing to explain both, I'd go that direction.

Mainly, it's just that this: