C++ help: Don't know where to start

Hey,
I am just beginning to learn how to program and have limited knowledge of programming but know my way around the comp pretty good.

I just downloaded a compiler (borland 5.5+) and am trying to design a program for drawing electronics schematics. Am about half way through the tutorials now and just have a few questions.

Can you view the visual effects that I want to add at the start of the program? (Don't have any code for it yet, sorta figuring out how to start.

When are you able to view what your program will look like? Will it look like any other standard program?(currently using windows but am downloading linux soon)

Basically, how do I start? I know what all I want in the program. Do I make a menu somehow first?
Sorry this is a bit long and thanks in advance :)

-fire

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Can you view the visual effects that I want to add at the start of the program?

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Yeah - just put those effects in their own program and run it to see if it's what you want.

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When are you able to view what your program will look like? Will it look like any other standard program?

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If you use an IDE with a visual designer, you can see what your forms look like as you're designing them. If you want your programs to look like Windows Programs, you need to use special libraries. I think Borland use OWL, but MFC is another popular choice, or the original Win32 SDK. Linux programs also require special libraries and compilers. Of course, if you're just doing console-window stuff, then it's mostly standard.

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Basically, how do I start?

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Well you'll need to finish learning C++, and then learn the libraries necessary to do what you want. If you want to do a Windows program, you'll need to learn one of the libraries I mentioned above.

thx 4 the help...i guess I am off to read the rest of the tutorials now and watch the carolina game :). You mentioned using an IDE with a visual designer, what exactly is that and is the compiler I have IDE? Also, can you convert a program from windows to linux easily or would it be better to just start from scratch again for my linux version? thx again...l8er

-fire

An IDE is a program where you have a text editor, a compiler, and several other tools all combined into one easy-to-use program. I have a couple of Borland Compilers, and they all came as IDEs, but I think if you get the free Borland compiler, it's just a program that you call via the command-line, tell it where you source code is, and then it produces an executable. Correct?

If you'd like to try an IDE, check out Dev-C++ (bloodshed.net). It's very popular (especially on this board), and performs very well. It does not have a visual editor, but unless you're doing a lot of standard windows stuff, I wouldn't waste money on buying something that does. Things like Microsoft's Visual C++ have them, but that doesn't come cheap.

Now for dealing with the Linux->Windows question. Any Windows libraries you use, like OWL or MFC or the SDK, would have to be replaced by Linux equivalents, and so would all the code that uses them. The standard logic and stuff could stay the same, it would just have to be recompiled on a Linux compiler. A good strategy is to keep all the system-specific stuff in one place, so it's easy to switch between the two when testing, etc...

k thx again for the advice...I have the dev compiler now and really like it. Now to read some more on the tutorials. What exactly can I do as for visual effects and a basic menu with just dev? I would like a toolbar on my program with something like this:
file edit view tools lbraries help
this is possible I think?
well hopefully the tutorials will help with most of my basic questions as well :)
thx again

-fire

Well you'll have to learn the Win32 SDK, and it uses some pretty complicated C-tricks, so finish the tutorials, and make sure you're comfortable with that, and then try making menus and stuff.

Yeah, get the basics of C++ programming down before you worry about writing GUIs (graphical user interfaces).

One thing to consider, when you do move to making GUIs is that there are libraries out there (Qt, WxWidgets, gtk, etc) that are cross-platform (all the platform specific code is hidden from the library user), so that you could write and compile on Windows, and then port it to Linux without too much pain.

ok about half way done with the tutorials and figured i would try to start my program. I am hoping i did this right. Opened a Project, switched it to my name and adjusted the size and am lost for now(haven't gotten to far, all the tutorials I have covered lol) will try to do more once I know more. As for the menus idea. Any examples of a menu or something I can code? Startin to get it now but still moving slow due to HS and baseball practice. Thanks again.

-fire