Thread: How can I learn?

@CommonTater - it's "inside" opinions like this that make me doubt sometimes whether learning C++ is really worth the effort. I used to do a lot of Java learning in the past and I got quite far with it. But it never really satisfied me since I wanted to be a bit more "basic" than this. Additionally, I don't like the idea of being dependent on the goodwill of a huge company, especially not with a company like Oracle. I have been a linux user and a follower of the ideas and the philosophy of open source for many years now, and I haven't come across any good news in connection with the name "Oracle". I worked through a basic book of C, but since I like Qt way better than GTK+, everywhere I look I happen to find C++ and OOP.

I started several times trying to learn C++, but I don't get the feeling I am moving on in any way. I never had that feeling with C, where I definitely saw progress. Parts of me really *want* to learn C++, but then other voices inside my head always tell me that I'd be better off sticking with C and working my way through GTK+.

Originally Posted by dennis.cpp

@CommonTater - it's "inside" opinions like this that make me doubt sometimes whether learning C++ is really worth the effort. I used to do a lot of Java learning in the past and I got quite far with it. But it never really satisfied me since I wanted to be a bit more "basic" than this. Additionally, I don't like the idea of being dependent on the goodwill of a huge company, especially not with a company like Oracle. I have been a linux user and a follower of the ideas and the philosophy of open source for many years now, and I haven't come across any good news in connection with the name "Oracle". I worked through a basic book of C, but since I like Qt way better than GTK+, everywhere I look I happen to find C++ and OOP.

I started several times trying to learn C++, but I don't get the feeling I am moving on in any way. I never had that feeling with C, where I definitely saw progress. Parts of me really *want* to learn C++, but then other voices inside my head always tell me that I'd be better off sticking with C and working my way through GTK+.

First off, don't get me started on "Open Source"... lets just say "Too many cooks spoil the broth". One perfect example of this is the D programming language. The compiler's author did an amazing job with the core language but then he stupidly opened the libraries for open source development. A year later he's got two competing libraries, both loaded with a bunch of crap nobody will ever use and totally incompatible with eachother. Nobody ever created a full import of Windows API and now the thing is virtually abandoned... Dead D.

I kept telling myself it was time to move on from C and Windows API... "there just has to be something better" says I... Well after messing with something like 20 or 30 different languages and their libraries I keep on ending up back on C. I seem to either hit a wall where the language just doesn't make sense to me or some grand flaw reveals itself.

Then after messing with several different compilers and IDEs for C, I always seem to land myself back on Pelles C which, far as I can tell, is the only IDE/Library/Compiler that "does it all" as far as Windows is concerned.

I've been around this loop so many times I'm getting dizzy. There is no denying that C is lacking (as I outlined above) but experience tells me that it's the only viable alternative I have available to me at this time.

To be honest... If there was a version of traditional Pascal with a full set of Windows API imports, support for unicode, and a compiler that reliably generated both x86 and x64 binaries, I'd be there in a heartbeat. At one point I "extracted" the base Pascal out from under Delphi, redid the RTL (Run Time Library) to remove dependence on Objects, rewrote a few functions for better perfomance and worked with that for most of 4 years. It worked just fine except for a number of missing Windows imports that I never could get working.

(And yes I know about "Free Pascal" but as a friend of mine says: "It's an ant farm ... full of bugs")

Originally Posted by CommonTater

At one point I "extracted" the base Pascal out from under Delphi, redid the RTL (Run Time Library) to remove dependence on Objects, rewrote a few functions for better perfomance and worked with that for most of 4 years. It worked just fine except for a number of missing Windows imports that I never could get working.

Instead of always badmouthing Open Source, you should try to look at the benefits too.
If you could look at what exactly was wrong in this case, you could have succeeded.