Complete Beginner, HELP!!
Hello everyone, I am a complete and utter beginner to programming, so I need some help. I have read "Tutorial 1" and that is even too complicated for me! I know it has nothing to do with programming but I know HTML and a bit of php editing..editing, nothing more. I picked html up pretty fast, and I am a fast learner! Please if you're experienced and can help me, reply!! :confused:
To elaborate on what Zack L. said...
A computer can't "run" C++. The computer runs machine language which is in the form of binary numbers (ones and zeros).
Compilers allow us to write programs that are more "english-like". Besides being easier to write and understand, "high-Level" languages like C++ allow us to do things in one instruction that take many machine-language instructions. For example, not all microprocessors have a multiply function. So the machine-code has to multiply with a series of additions. The compiler will take care of this for you.
Take a look a the size of hello.exe. You might be surprised how much bigger it is than your source code.
Actually, the computer itself can't understand HTML either. HTML is inturpreted by your browser (which is running in machine language).
Every platform has it's own machine language. You can't run a PC .exe program on a Mac.
But, you can write a C++ program and re-compile it for various platforms (if you have a compiler for the "target" computer.)
Don't get too confused by "Preprocessor Directives". These are just lines of code that are instructions to the compiler, rather than instructions to be turned into machine language by the compiler... Like speaking directly to a language translator, instead of through the translator to someone else.
[IMHO] The first few lessons cover the stuff that really makes programming valuable and worthwhile... Loops and Decision Making/Branching (if statements). Once you understand looping and branching, you should have a feel for what programming is all about. There is a lot to C++ though, so don't expect to learn it all in a couple of weeks.