A very beginner question (How do you do..stuff?)

[jackolantern]

Ok, I have been learning some C++ slowly over a period of time. I pretty much have a handle on the basics. While I am sure this is jumping ahead (I probably need to spend more time making more complex console applications), something I have never understood really is: How do you do...stuff..in C++?

What I mean by this is, I don't understand how you would even begin to..say..write an MP3 player program, GPS program, device driver, bitmap editor, music sequencer, SMS messenger, new internet protocol or pretty much anything except a console application that only accesses text and database files. Where do you even start to look to begin a project to make something that people would generally consider useful?

EDIT: Basically every C++ book I have ever read have ended once you understand the language syntax and commands. There seem to be tons of beginner C++ books, but very few intermediate books that begin moving you towards writing non-console and non-game applications.

Many thanks for any info!

[marwex89]

Well, you could start by looking into GUI programming, in other words creating a user interface - instead of using the console. This is platform dependant, i.e. doing it for Windows will be different from Linux.

Then, you could dive into using USB, video libraries, what not.. For "real" software it's often about using some kind of library/libraries.

Then there is the internet part: sockets, TCP/IP etc etc. A world of itself, really. Again, platform dependant.

Anyway, it's a lot to learn. Good luck

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[WingedPanther]

Usually, the details of how you do "stuff" depends on a huge number of variables. The OS, the available hardware, etc, etc, etc. OS APIs are often a major part of doing things like writing drivers. GUI apps require the API or some GUI library (there are a LOT for C++). Writing an MP3 player involves file access, decoding the MP3 file (a reasonably well known algorithm), writing the analog signal to the speakers, etc, etc, etc. You can look at the source code for several projects at SourceForge.net: Find and Build Open Source Software for examples of how this works.

[jackolantern]

I appreciate the feedback! It looks to be that you either begin using an API or other library to do more complex coding projects. Thank you!

[WingedPanther]

You may want to look at the Boost library, at Boost C++ Libraries, for an example of a library that can help with threading, networking, and many other tasks.