C++ book and what is ...

[DaoK]

I asked the question to a friend and he asked me to buy :
Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days. I went to amazon to look at price and now I have 2 choices and I do not know wich one take.

1- Visual C++
2- C++

What is the difference ?

-------
Is Sams Teach .... a good book to learn c++?

Thx you in advance

[filburt1]

Anything by Sams is awesome.

VC++ will be proprietary (somewhat) to Microsoft Visual C++ from Microsoft Visual Studio. C++ will probably be just console stuff and how to do voodoo kung foo artwork with pointers. So if you want to make Windows programs with GUIs, get the VC++ one; if you don't even know C++ yet, get the just C++ one.

[evil_gamer]

I was checking books out the other day and saw the same thing. I also found out something very interesting: Most books on C++ is pretty much console programming, in other words, DOS-ish/command line programs. Books on Visual C++ deal with windows programming in general, you know, using GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces)

Unfortantly most of them books that deal with Visual C++ use MFC which sucks because I want to learn how to create GUIs with out the help of MFC.

What I did is get a book called Sams: Teach Yourself Visual C++ In 24 Hours. Basicly so I can learn my way around the IDE. I am thinking about getting Sams: Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days. It cost less then Teach YourSelf Visual C++ in 21 Days, also by Sams.

Hope this helps.

It might also be worth noting that you can get The Complete C++ Training Course. You can order it from http://compusa.com for about 83.00. Check it out here: The Complete C++ Training Course

[Zaei]

A VC++ book will teach you MFC (which is evil). If you dont know C++, get the C++ book. If you know C++, go for a more theory oriented book (Code Complete, Design Patterns, Effective STL, etc). My next book will be Design Patterns (maybe tomorrow, oooh =). Take a browse through your bookstore, or check out the list on Flipcode, or Gamedev.net. If you want to make GUI apps, just stick around here, API stuff is a pretty popular topic.

Z.

[Zaei]

I hear that Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days is a very good book. I think it's in the FAQ.

Z.

[CornedBee]

If you want to know API with C, go for Petzold: "Programming Windows". It's THE book on the theme. There is no "API programming in C++" because the API is plain C. If you use C++ you can invent your own things to help you with programming, but all calls to the API are C, and you'll have to unroll your classes for it.

[DaoK]

I want to know C++ to make usefull application ( later in 3-4-5 month ). I might start learning all the base of C++ then go in more Visual like most of you said with GUI. I do not know what I can make more or what I can not make with C++. Can I make a c++ mp3 player better then my vb mp3 player? Can I make GUI game better than VB game ? This is some question who I hope know the answer a day

[Vlatko]

You can make everything better and faster in C++ then in VB, but with much more effort.

[CornedBee]

But there is a point where the speed advantage is not important anymore. If your MP3 player can run simultaneously with 6 other programs then there's probably no need to code it in C++

[Vlatko]

Well, yes. But instead of the MP3 player being 200-300 KB, it will be 1.5MB at least cos of the VB runtimes.