...when did you go from doing simple console applications to learning about GUI stuff?
I'm really interested in learning this, just need some smart people to guide me in the right direction.
Should I wait until I have decent understanding of C++ before worring about the graphics stuff. I have a tendency to eat before the food is cooked so to say. :P
I have really been enjoying this forum. Thanks all.
I err... really got started with programming when I started learning PHP, so it was kind of like immediately since the GUI would be the webpages in HTML and CSS.Originally Posted by tabl3six
"Decent" is subjective, but yes.
Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Doing graphics or gui stuff in C/C++ involves some pretty complex APIs. Those are much much easier to understand if you have a "decent" grasp of the language and some practical experience with its use. I'd say at a minimum, wrt C++, you are going to want to be comfortable with types, pointers, classes, the common STL containers, and probably templates.
That's a plenty decent amount of material. You'd have to actually complete a decent C++ intro book, all 13 chapters and 350 pages or whatever. Honestly. It's an interesting trip too. A few months if you work at it. Then you'll be ready to take a crack at the GUI stuff.
Last edited by MK27; 08-10-2011 at 01:26 PM.
C programming resources:
GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
The C Book -- nice online learner guide
Current ISO draft standard
CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge
I went from simple console applications to not simple console applications. GUI stuff isn't a requirement; it really depends on where your interests lie. My interests, for example, are on the back-end rather than the front-end....when did you go from doing simple console applications to learning about GUI stuff?
You don't have to, but it's a good idea to avoid being frustrated by both the language and the new concepts/GUI library.Should I wait until I have decent understanding of C++ before worring about the graphics stuff.
My best code is written with the delete key.
HOLY CRAP! Prelude is back! *yay*
Warning: Some or all of my posted code may be non-standard and as such should not be used and in no case looked at.
Ditto. I've found GUI programming to be particularly boring. Even if you can use a nice editor (Qt Designer, Win Rc Editor, etc).
Ironically though, I initially got into programming, _only_ because I wanted to make video games. Well, years later and that has really turned around.
That being said, don't rush yourself. Enjoy your temporary GUI-less innocence while you still can
Typical of me, I learned C while learning WinAPI coding... I'd never written a console program until I joined this forum last year....
For me it's been several decades and I have not programmed a GUI interface, if you don't count text based menus. Most of my work has been on embedded systems with at most a 4 x 20 LCD screen.
Jim
There was no GUI when I started programming. I had to wait another decade.
Originally Posted by brewbuck:
Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.
My condolences...
Yeah, same here... started off on CP/M with GWBasic and Bascom... Moved to Turbo Basic on DOS, then Pascal on Dos, Pascal on Windows and now C almost everywhere... been quite the journey.
I am going to second MK27. Although it is technically possible to learn both at the same time, specifically with C++, you will have a more enjoyable time if you understand and are comfortable with C++ first. Most of the libraries that you will be dealing with to implement GUIs in C++ make extensive uses of classes and the other finer points of the C++ language.
Warning: Some or all of my posted code may be non-standard and as such should not be used and in no case looked at.
I tried things like Allegro and C++ guis, but Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express turned out to be the best tool for making visual things like games and fonts and pictures and fancy things like that. A good book on this is THIS one, except maybe the 4.0 version. I have the 3.0 one and it works ok but there are a few changes.
I've been doing c++ for a little bit, and I've just begun dabbling with QT (which, having shopped around, I think is a great start for beginning to learn GUIs after C++--assuming you are you using the C++ flavor). I think you should definitely get your hands dirty, really put some hours into C++ console applications before you get into GUIs. Underneath the hood you are still going to have to have some nice "regular" code anyways. I think of the normal C++ code as the engine and the GUI framework as your car's look or body. My two cents.
Thanks for the advice. Guess I'll take it slow and stick with the console apps for now.
