Member Avatar for Wreef

Hello Everyone,

I was just wondering if people could tell me what they think is the best way to learn C++, and link to some tutorials maybe? Recomend a book, ect.

Maybe I havn't found any good tutorials....But the ones I have seen aren't very good.

Help Apreaciated.

Brendan.

  • 8 Contributors
  • 10 Replies
  • 666 Views
  • 4 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by WoBinator

Dani AI

Generated

A practical, proven approach is a short, focused intro followed immediately by lots of small, real programs and frequent feedback. The thread already shows useful perspectives: favors a structured beginner text, argues for pragmatic, easy-to-digest material, reminds readers to watch for subtle pitfalls, and highlights learning through writing code and responding to questions. Those viewpoints combine into one rule of thumb: learn the basics quickly, then learn by doing and refining.

A compact learning path that scales well:

  • Get the compile/run/debug loop fluent and learn basic syntax and control flow.
  • Master the standard library (containers, strings, algorithms) before inventing bespoke solutions.
  • Move on to modern C++ idioms (RAII, smart pointers, move semantics, lambdas) rather than relying on low-level tricks.
  • Learn tooling: a build system, a debugger, a unit-test framework and version control.
    Small, focused projects accelerate retention more than passive reading.

A tiny idiomatic example (modern style):

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>

int main() {
    std::vector<std::string> items{"read", "code", "refactor"};
    for (const auto& s : items)
        std::cout << s << '\n';
    return 0;
}

Practical habits and career-focused tips: pick 3–5 polished projects to showcase in a public repository, keep commits small and descriptive, enable compiler warnings, write tests, and learn to produce minimal reproducible examples for troubleshooting. Tutorials and books mentioned earlier in the thread are useful starting points, but their value multiplies when paired with steady, hands-on work and community feedback (as noted by and ).

Recommended Answers

All 10 Replies

Member Avatar for Grunt

Get a good book like Accelerated C++ By Andrew koenig and Barbara Moo.

Member Avatar for kingvjack

Hello Everyone,

I was just wondering if people could tell me what they think is the best way to learn C++, and link to some tutorials maybe? Recomend a book, ect.

Maybe I havn't found any good tutorials....But the ones I have seen aren't very good.

Help Apreaciated.

Brendan.

Do NOT... For any reason go out and spend 90 bucks on a college style book... You'll only get disappointed. For some reason programmers like to try and dazzle you with their knowledge and fancy terms. To avoid this try going to Barnes and Nobles and pick up "The absolute beginners guide to C" for 20 dollars. I have never heard any of the people I recommended this book to complain about it.
That and don't be ashamed of the "C++ for dummies" books either. They have foot notes you can remove from the book and some come with free compilers.
The greatest thing is that they are in laymans terms so you can actually read and learn the material besides just sit with a thesaurus and guess the terms.

Member Avatar for ~s.o.s~

Do NOT... For any reason go out and spend 90 bucks on a college style book... You'll only get disappointed. For some reason programmers like to try and dazzle you with their knowledge and fancy terms. To avoid this try going to Barnes and Nobles and pick up "The absolute beginners guide to C" for 20 dollars. I have never heard any of the people I recommended this book to complain about it.
That and don't be ashamed of the "C++ for dummies" books either. They have foot notes you can remove from the book and some come with free compilers.
The greatest thing is that they are in laymans terms so you can actually read and learn the material besides just sit with a thesaurus and guess the terms.

Is this the reason why these books never mention the complexity of scanf function, never mention that using gets after scanf may result in disaster, never mention that fgets is the best way to take in strings, never mention that fflush (stdin) has undefined functionality ?

These things appear in the posts of programmers which try to dazzle and show you their knowledge dont you think so ?

Member Avatar for Dave Sinkula

I was just wondering if people could tell me what they think is the best way to learn C++

Writing code. A lot of people post questions here. Attempt to answer them. The critiques you get are wonderful for learning.

Recomend a book, ect.

(skickied in this forum)

But the ones I have seen aren't very good.

Sadly, too true.

I haven't checked this one out in ages, but here is one I know of.
http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html#c++tutorial

We also have one here, but I haven't visited it much either.
http://www.daniweb.com/tutorials/forum21.html

Member Avatar for kingvjack

Is this the reason why these books never mention the complexity of scanf function, never mention that using gets after scanf may result in disaster, never mention that fgets is the best way to take in strings, never mention that fflush (stdin) has undefined functionality ?

These things appear in the posts of programmers which try to dazzle and show you their knowledge dont you think so ?

A beginner generally does not need to go into too many details. A beginner (meaning "Basic") might find some things a little overwhelming. Thanks for replying to my post though.

Member Avatar for Wreef

Thanks everyone.

I'll try to go out and get a good book this weekend, probably one like C++ for dummies or something.

I got the compiler covered though, I can get a legal copy of Visual Studio Professional cheap, through my Dads work (A university).

Anything else I should know?

Member Avatar for server_crash

Is this the reason why these books never mention the complexity of scanf function, never mention that using gets after scanf may result in disaster, never mention that fgets is the best way to take in strings, never mention that fflush (stdin) has undefined functionality ?

You know of a C++ book that goes over that stuff in detail?

I was just wondering if people could tell me what they think is the best way to learn C++, and link to some tutorials maybe? Recomend a book, ect.

I prefer Brad Jones' "Teach yourself C++ in 24 days".... In my opinion it covers material better than any other C++ book I've read. "The C++ Programming Language" by Bjarne Stroustrup is excellent, but you'll probably want a little knowledge before getting into that one.

Member Avatar for kingvjack

You know of a C++ book that goes over that stuff in detail?


not without getting cryptic

Member Avatar for psycho^

you dont need to buy any book, just read this tutorial:

make sure you understand most of the basic stuff (variables, functions, pointers)
its not very hard, it just needs some time to work with.. more you program, easier you understand new stuff...

Member Avatar for WoBinator

.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.