Thread: Awkward problem in learning c++

Hello all, some of you may have seen me around these forums with some 'noobie' questions a few weeks back. I haven't really posted since.

The reason for that is because I keep getting stuck in the tutorials. Even though theyre covering fairly basic techniques (once you get to understand them), it simply takes me several days per tutorial to have any idea as to what it's about.

The problem isn't so much that I wouldn't be cut for C++ (or atleast, I'd like to believe it's not the problem), I'v been PHP developer for some time now, and around a year after I started doing PHP I took the PHP certification study. I had similar problems here, getting stuck on things that are actually really easy.

So what do I think is the problem? Well I'm dyslectic. When doing coding in general, this doesn't really hold me back, when reading simple things, I don't really have much of a problem. However when reading more complex things, or things I'm not familiar with, I simply can't get it through my head.

I'v always been someone to learn as I go, it's how I learned PHP, it's how I graduated at college. Keepign a half ear open and going without any studying at home, simply because it wouldnt work for me.

So my question is, if I want to learn C++ as I go, simply developing small applications. Where should I start? What kind of applications can I start on which I can sink my teeth into with limited 'training'? Perhaps it's useful for me to say in which direction I intend to go, which will be 'anti-cheat' software for games.

Hope it wasnt too long of a read, if you've read it all, good job , thanks in advance.

What tutorials are you using. Could just be how it's taught. I started of seriously by reading C++ Primer, then halfway through the book I figured that I wasn't learning propperly because the book didn't focus on the language as much as it should, I switched to another book (oddly by the same author and a couple others and found that it was much better, a better read, focused on the language, and that's how I learned most of my C++.

Originally Posted by indigo0086

What tutorials are you using. Could just be how it's taught. I started of seriously by reading C++ Primer, then halfway through the book I figured that I wasn't learning propperly because the book didn't focus on the language as much as it should, I switched to another book (oddly by the same author and a couple others and found that it was much better, a better read, focused on the language, and that's how I learned most of my C++.

The tutorials given on the cprogramming.com website

maybe you should learn from a book or something. The site's are more of a jump in introduction while books tend to structure from start to beginning. I recommend C++ Primer Plus by Lippman, Koenig, and Moo (not the blue C++ Primer)

Wiley's Teach yourself C++ is also a good book.

>> I recommend C++ Primer Plus by Lippman, Koenig, and Moo (not the blue C++ Primer)
You got that backwards. I think you'd recommend C++ Primer (4th edition) by Lippman, Lajoie and Moo, and not C++ Primer Plus. Also, Accelerated C++ by Koenig and Moo is highly recommended.

There is a book recommendations sticky that would be a good start for book recommendations.

I agree. Get a book.

A beginning C++ book will cover essentially the same topics as the tutorials, but you will get about one full chapter on each of the topics. For example, Accelerated C++ is about 350 pages and Teach Yourself C++ In 21 Days is over 700 pages. If you were taking a class, you would spend about one semester on the same set of topics.

Like most subjects, C++ and programming are the most difficult at the beginning. Things should get easier once you get familiar with the general syntax, variable types, how loops are constructed, how branching is done, etc. Of course, some of the more advanced topics can be tough too. But overall, things should go more smoothly once you have a foundation to build on.

I don't know PHP, but I have worked with a handful of other programming languages, and C++ is complex. You can't even find a reference book that covers the entire standard-language (except for the ANSI/ISO language standard itself). There are a couple of complete-reference websites (Dinkumware.com and CPPreference.com). If you were taking C++ in college, you would spend one or two full-semesters on ANSI/ISO Standard C++ before moving-on to advanced-specialized topics like Windows/GUI, graphics, networking, etc.