Thread: I'm the master of cin/cout...

Unfortunely, I don´t believe that will be enough as far as a c++ programming can go .

I'm currently finishing my majon on Psychology, but decided that is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and tried to learn programming.
After reading a few tutorials and creating a few programs from scratch with what I have seen, I find myself stuck now and clueless on how to keep learning. I did try doing a search on the forums about this but nothing returned.
When I was younger I liked to play with some minor languages, such as mirc scripting, and there returning the current time was a task as simple as going into the help file and searching for $time, while on c++ I'm not sure where to turn to.
I tried downloading some source codes to study, but when the first line of a simple program starts with LRESULT CALLBACK WindowFunc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM); you get a little intimidated
So, since I believe everyone went thru this same problem someday, I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how to keep learning - if in fact, there is something else to be done other than downloading source code and studying them...

Though I can understand up to classes I believe ( I will probably have a few doubts since I don´t have much practice ), my problem lies not on syntax but on commands I can use.
Let´s say I wanted for example to create a window, to eject a cd, return current time and so on - I'm not sure where to go to check up on functions such as those.
And when I try downloading source code, I have to face as I said lines like:
LRESULT CALLBACK WindowFunc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);

Were I'm not sure where to go if I wanted to see what LRESULT does for example.
And all tutorials I found tought the same principles up to templates usually, and then any other tutorial would begin with advanced information I cannot handle, like there is only a gap between being a begginer and being an advanced programmer.

http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/...ngInCPP2e.html

These will help you on your way to the next level.

They are always highly recomended in my Linux mailing lists.

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowFunc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);

This is Windows-specific code. It goes beyond standard-portable C++. I assume that most students take 2 semesters of standard C++ before learning Windows Programming.

You might consider taking a beginning C++ class while you're still in school.

Trying to learn by reading code is a bit like trying to learn a foreign language by reading books written in that language.

As a first book, I recommend Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, by Jesse Liberty. The book is easy to understand, and is structured for self-study with questions and exercises at the end of each "day" (chapter), and answers and solutions in the back. At about 750 pages , there is much more material than you will find in your average online tutorial. WARNING: Opinions vary... Some people hate all of the "21 Days" books. The most specific criticism I know of is that they are superficial.

A good 2nd book is Thinking In C++, by Brucke Eckel. You can download it free.

Another often-recommended book is Accelerated C++ by Andrew Koenig. (I don't own this book.)

There are a few book reviews here at cprogramming.com.

The title of your post was funny, but the title should relate to the topic... I almost didn't read your post. See the board guidelines and hints

Thanks everyone for helping me.

"Sounds like you are at the 'crawling' stage of programming, and you're expecting to win the 50K marathon next week."

I guess I was. It was my friend´s suggestion to start studying codes.
I will go ahead and try the "Thinking In C++" and "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, by Jesse Liberty", since I have a friend who has it.

And as for this - "The title of your post was funny, but the title should relate to the topic..." - I apologize

If you want to be doing windows and stuff by next week, I'd suggest you learn an easier, almost as powerful language such as Java (its "safe"), C# (download the free sdk at microsoft.com) or VB6 (less than $100 but becoming obsolete). Most buisness applications are being done in those languages. Lower level stuff and performance critical apps such as games are written in C++. Its best to learn one of those languages and then move to C++. It makes the learning curve much, much smaller.