I want to learn C++

[alkatran]

Yes, I searched the forum.

I looked he announcement, and it said all u need is a text editor and a compiler, I can get VC++.

I was just wondering what some good places to look for help would be.

I already know Visual Basic, does that help at all?

[Technocrat]

It says at the bottom of the FAQ where to get help and tuts.

I would add www.codeguru.com, www.gamedev.net and www.gametutorials.com.

Most people on this form can answer your questions.



Start slow, console apps first, windows apps second, games etc. third.

Here my best advice to you since you know VB:

FORGET VB!

It will only make things harder for you here. Nothing is as easy, as it was for you in VB. The sooner you stop thinking in VB and start thinking in C/C++ the better you are.

Nothing except the very, very basics of programming really apply to you in this world. Believe me, I was the same way.

[alkatran]

but uh.... console aps?

[Technocrat]

Until you learn the basic C/C++ functions, Windows Apps are going to be a bit hard. You need to learn things like pointer, even basic math, strings (which are going to be strange to u at first), etc. If you try to learn this stuff while learning Windows App stuff at the same time, its going to make life really hard.

Programing in C/C++, you can't really just draw a window, plop a button on it etc. unless you use MFC. But you should not do any MFC until you learn the basics of Windows App programming using APIs.

If you look in the FAQ, #10 you will see the code to make a basic window, with nothing on it. It doesnt get much easier than that, but it does get much harder and more complex.

[alkatran]

Thank god it's more complicated then vb's putting a command button on a window... (I don't know *** that command button is doing that I don't know of.... plus it takes up alot of space for stuff I don't use). Plus I LOVE challenges, literally. (hence the signature)

but I didn't pick up an answer to my question, what is a console ap?

[Technocrat]

Oh.
A DOS based application.

[CornedBee]

No, not quite. A console app won't run in DOS. Better would be a DOS-style app.

Windows still supports console (text input/output windows), mainly as means for apps to output debug information without having to worry about creating a window, handling messages etc. (all the things you'll soon get to love, or hate, depending)
Every application can create a console window with a single function call, but console apps automatically have a console created for them by windows and don't have to worry about that.

In console apps you can train your C/C++ skills because it is far simpler to input/output strings in an orderly fashion, so you can concentrate on the task at hand.