Question about book

Hey guys, I'm new to programming, and to this board also. I bought a few books to get me started on learning C++, including C++ Game Programming for beginners, C++ Primer by Lippman, the C++ Reference book by the creator of C++, and another one by Jousettis...I'm not sure about the name. Well, I was going through the C++ Primer book first, as people told me it was the best book to learn C++ from, but the exercises on every section seemed difficult. So, I switched to the C++ Game Programming for beginners book, and I'm also stuck with one of the practice questions at the end of the chapter.

My first question is, should I learn from the C++ Game Programming book, or the C++ Primer book?

And also, the question that I was having trouble with in the C++ Game Programming book was how to make a Guess My Number game, where the user inputs the number, while the computer guesses it?

Thanks, Kai

I'm not an expert on C++ books so I'd wait for another member to rationalize a better answer, but just from reading the titles of the books, if you are completely new to C++ and programming, then any book that contains "game programming" in the title (regardless of the "beginners") probably isn't the best place to start.

Could you please give me an idea of what the first section of that book covers?

It basically covers arithmetic stuff, types, comments, basic stuff, really.

>I bought a few books to get me started on learning C++, including
>C++ Game Programming for beginners, C++ Primer by Lippman, the
>C++ Reference book by the creator of C++, and another one by Jousettis...
Can we say overkill? You don't need so many books so soon. In fact, the only book you really need at the beginning is also the shortest: Accelerated C++ by Andrew Koenig and Barbara Moo.

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My first question is, should I learn from the C++ Game Programming book

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I've read that it's a little bit difficult for beginners and that some prior knowledge is helpful(maybe in the reviews at amazon.com?).

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C++ Reference book by the creator of C++

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Too difficult for beginners.

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and another one by Jousettis

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Most likely too difficult as well.

You might want to try "Accelerated C++"(may be too difficult for some beginners) but it is highly regarded; or "C++: A Beginner's Guide"(easier).

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And also, the question that I was having trouble with in the C++ Game Programming book was how to make a Guess My Number game, where the user inputs the number, while the computer guesses it?

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I don't think it would be too hard for a program to guess the number that a user inputs, so you must have something mixed up.

Accelerated C++ is an excellent book, however, I don't know if it's much good for someone who's unfamiliar with programming in general (as the OP seems to be).
Every word in the book is technically very accurate, but it doesn't beat about the bush. In the opening chapters, the book introduces many new simple, yet important, concepts in rapid succession. A complete non-programmer might find the pace of the book slightly overwhelming.

To the OP: I would stick with Lippman's C++ Primer for the moment. Also, since you've already forked out a fair wad of cash on books, google "Thinking in C++" by Bruce Eckel. it's available as a free e-Book on the author's website. If you are stuck on sections of the books you already have, that might be the best alternative to spending more money on another book.

I see, I don't know, but I asked a few months ago which books to get, and these four were recommended to me to be good starter books, and then go from there. They said that C++ Primer and Beginning C++ Game Programming would be my best books to get to know the language, and after that, the C++ References by Josuttis and the creator of C++ would be most helpful all throughout my learning of the language. I've also seen the book by Bruce Eckel, but I don't think that it's as good as the C++ Primer, and also, it's a lot harder to use than a real book format.

-Kai