12 replies to this topic

[laranjo123]

Hello I'm Mac. I'm new to the forum and Like to learn C and C++. I have a very low knowledge about it because i took the course of naval architect ( which sometimes i don't like ). But i want to learn this stuff. As a newbie where do i start?...Is there a forum section here to where newbies are welcome/stays hehe...thx

[Alexander]

Hello Mac, and welcome. You can post anywhere you like, at any difficulty level. The two main forums you may wish to look at are General Programming, where you can ask about general algorithms not specific to any language - or the C/C++ forum itself.

We also have numerous user contributed tutorials, there are many good C/C++ ones in there:
C Tutorials

Within the main C/C++ forum there is a sticky post (at the top of the threads) for resources, and it lists many simple/powerful books or online tutorials which may help you out, everyone is different in how they learn things.

Stick around, and learn, feel free to ask if C++ is the right choice (it lacks GUI/networking/multithreading libraries directly, it may take longer to learn if you wish to make applications with those)

Alexander.

[laranjo123]

Ahm sir what do i need to learn i mean the whole programming system itself. You see i want to learn this and very much excited about it. And why lack gui..etc. In your own opinion sir what do you prefer?....I need advice ^__^....

[Alexander]

C is very close to the system, and provides the basics for working with memory and strings. It may be less productive, however it may give you more interest in how the underlaying computer (processor, ram, etc.) really works.

C++ provides object oriented programming to C, and can create a lot more abstract things however it still is just a language and does not provide a lot of what you may need. If you want a graphical interface (not console) you may need to implement a third party library, these are free, and possibly not too hard to learn, however they can be cumbersome.

Java is a lot more abstract, and runs under a virtual machine. It handles a lot for you and includes networking, however you will be programming mostly with classes and objects so it may be too abstract (and productive) for your liking depending on what you want to do.

There are also scripting languages, Python and PHP are two. They tend to be a lot easier to learn, as they are interpreted and things are handled for you if you do not like a compiled language.

The question is, what do you want to do? You could start with C if you just want to fiddle around ,Python if you want to program things faster (such as algorithms, working with data sets or mathematical functions) or Java (or C# maybe if you're on Windows) for GUI.

Alexander.

[laranjo123]

I want to work on programming like you are able to program yet you can do networking/web programming stuff like that, you know you're able to edit a software, fix them... And what do you mean by java is more productive? Java is more higher than c and c++?...

[masky007]

First of all hi Mac :))) i am Windows xD
.. so let me sum it for you.

forget about C - you don't want it.
C++ is about to take you up high in the sky learning the syntax and the many many programming concepts along the way.. it may be a bit overwhelming but fear not, if you love it really.

So as i can see now your doubts are between c++ and java (or c# for windows apis) atm right?
If so..
well c++is low level language were java is high level language meaning that in java allot of things are simply automatized for you where in c++ you will have to manually write them down to make em work. This clearly says that java is more productive i.e. if you need GUI but this can be done as well with c++ (i think there is nothing you cannot do with c++)
I am new to the programming my self but before i started learning c++ i read couple of blogs/posts/comments etc..
So why i picked c++? Because i like to learn what really is going on under the hood, as all the famous programmers said .. these days students come out of school knowing to program in java but they do not manage very well when it come to performance and stuff like that, stuff that is going under the hood of java (they simply don't know what actually is done here) // these are not my words though.

So my idea is: i master c++ in couple years hard study and after that i feel like i am going to be able to learn every other language a lot easier and i could be much more productive.
But that's what i want.. you could directly jump onto Java and surpass me faster though you wont loose much .. (java is really powerful language as well)
hint: c++ generally is considered to be the most performance suitable language, so if you are up to game programming i strongly suggest to stick with c++. c++ is the standard game programming language and the one thing that for sure a game programmer can be obsessed, is performance :D

There are many many things that can be said and discussed but the bottom line is this..
if you want to see results faster and more of GUI/WEB apps stick with Java
else you go with c++

[laranjo123]

Gee thx.. so as to java webs and c++ for softwares....thx

[WingedPanther]

laranjo123 said:

Ahm sir what do i need to learn i mean the whole programming system itself. You see i want to learn this and very much excited about it. And why lack gui..etc. In your own opinion sir what do you prefer?....I need advice ^__^....

C++ was developed to add Object Oriented programming to C. It does not assume the existence of a monitor, network connection, or much of anything else. There are, however, a lot of additional libraries that provide those features, such as the boost library, wxWidgets, QT, gtkmm, FLTK, etc.

Also, I use Java on a daily basis for running applications, such as SQuirreL SQL Client and jEdit.

[masky007]

WingedPanther said:

C++ was developed to add Object Oriented programming to C. It does not assume the existence of a monitor, network connection, or much of anything else. There are, however, a lot of additional libraries that provide those features, such as the boost library, wxWidgets, QT, gtkmm, FLTK, etc.

Also, I use Java on a daily basis for running applications, such as SQuirreL SQL Client and jEdit.

WingedPanther can you please explain what is SQuirreL and jEdit .. (just curious)
Anyways a little off topic maybe... why don't you use c# instead of java? What are your reasons ;)?

[WingedPanther]

If you had googled the two terms, you would know that they are programs written in Java, and therefor require Java to run. My point was that Java is not just for web applications, but is also used for desktop apps.

[Carver413]

Lazarus/FreePascal is also a nice option for the mac. what you learn with pascal can be use if and when you decide to move onto something else.

[masky007]

WingedPanther i didn't meant to be rude..soz. as a matter of fact i googled em but i was still not very sure how they are used (practical examples) anyways the more interesting question was why would you pick java instead of c# ... in terms what made you yourself do that

thanks