Somewhat Lost...

Hi,

Iv'e been self teching myself C for about 2 months now and iv'e read 2 books.
"C for dummies 2nd edition"
"C Programing" By Larry Ullman & Marc Liyanage

And iv'e found myself flying through the material but iv'e come too a halt because iv'e found heaps of material on Basic stuff (stuff iv'e read and already know) or stuff thats way too advanced for me to understand, it seems the intermediate stage is a little neglected, I read through the books thread for maybe some direction but it was too undescriptive and therefore not too much help.


Also I have a question, is it better too learn C and get an advanced grasp of it before I start learning C++ or is it better just too jump into it all at once because i have a book on C++ but i don't know if i should burdon myself with that section of it untill i have my head properly wrapped around C

I guess i'm mainly just asking for some guidence any In depth tutorials or ebooks would be very helpfull.

~Matty-Alan~

If you have begun to learn C, and are overall happy with your progress then by all means continue it. As for it getting advanced later on, well all books get like that, There is only so much "simple" stuff you can learn about a programming language before you get pointers, link lists and struts thrown at you.

The best advice I can give you is not to panic, read it through, and keep reading it over and over until it sticks in your mind.

As for C++, ideally it would be better to abandon C totally if you would rather learn that. As in theory it only uses syntax simular to C and includes OOP and referencex etc. If C++ is your primary goal in the end then learn that right off the bat instead of C.

The problem with learning C first is you may have to "unlearn" certain parts of it as you grapple C++, as in uses methods that a C compiler would not understand. And as many say, C++ takes the C language and simplifies many things by also showing different methods, some easier some harder.

At the end of the day, you need to decide what you want to learn. C or C++. if it is C++, then by all means leap in but start at the very beginning. If it is C, then continue onward, and try your best. You can always ask here if you get stuck.

Good luck in your choice

I'd recommend Ivor Horton's "Beginning C".

Yes, it has all the elementary stuff you already know, but the book also has several examples of solving real problems with C. As he takes you through them, step by step, you get a real insight into how software programs can be designed and coded to solve bigger problems.

Still, there is nothing you won't understand, as far as math or data structures or such. No graphs, no minimum spanning tree's, and no hashes.

It's important imo, to code up things that really interest you, as well. I like doing little puzzles and utilities.

As a comparison, Ivor Horton also wrote a book for beginning C++. The C book is 525 pages, the C++ book is over 1,000!

Awsome,

I do plan to stick with this board, and iv'e been wanting to program since i was like 12 (im 22 now) and i'm loving it like anything. my main goal is both C and C++

I am aiming for gaming programming but I know I have a long road to walk, iv'e made a few Ansii games that can be played in the dos command mainly using conditional statements I have used pointers and learnt about allocating dynamic memory but I havent got my head fully wrapped around how to apply it to any real word programs yet

"Beginning C" also includes an example of programming a game of "Reversi", (aka "Othello"), which is a fun and non-trivial application.

Board's like this are a tremendous help for any programmer. Another recommendation is to take a class in the language, when you can. You'll get a LOT out of a good class, in a short length of time. Extremely valuable, imo.