Quote Originally Posted by Huncowboy View Post
I am almost finished with this book at ch14 now. I picked it up because I love computers, and I always wanted to learn a bit more about programming, and due to a furlough from my profession now I had the time to finish a book on the subject.

But what now? Obviously I realize I don't know how to program in C just because I have read the book. Perhaps I could do more exercises. Or I could read C++, but that somehow does not really attract me. I would like to do something that is a bit more interactive, hopefully more entertaining and C++ seems it is just more C but different syntax and some new ideas.

...

On the other hand it would also be cool to learn about some GUI (for windows... like API32? I think) that I can connect to C. Doing anything in the console is just not that fun.

One thing is sure. Now that I have spent 2.5 months with this book, I would like to keep up what I have learned. Any ideas are welcome.
Coincidentally, I'm also in chapter 14 of the same book right now. I love computers as well, but I specifically decided to study C so that I could create my first computer game, which will be a "simple" text adventure. I have other aspirations down the road for my new hobby, but for right now, I'm keeping focused on my first goal of a playable game that doesn't entirely suck. When I say simple, I realize it won't be simple for me to code at all, since I'm completely new to this stuff.

You mentioned incorporating a GUI for your program... I must admit, I was originally going to only utilize a console-based, ASCII-graphics format for my game, but since I happen to be using an OLD copy of MS Dev Studio, I've recently decided that I will create a Windows version instead, with simple interface that gives me more control over the appearance of my text, such as TT fonts, etc.

So, my best response to your quandary would be: what about creating your own computer game?

Best of luck to you in your programming, and have fun!