next »

[Radial]

Hey,
   I have all off the sudden taken a liking to programming and decided to start learning C++. I have never really had any programming background other than some non-serious HTML stuff, and some Ti-Basic (pretty slick stuff, eh? ). Anyways, I got some bricks books and am getting ready to start! I am on a Mac, and for some reason just can't find a good IDE, any help or suggestions? Thanks!

[increpare]

IDE = XCode? (download from apple website; you'll need to set up an account, but it's free)
help= lazyfoo/sdl is a good place to start, though it assumes some knowledge of C.  So maybe that combined with some C/C++ book for when you don't understand stuff?  I tend to recommend the 'bulldozing' approach.  Maybe someone else can suggest something more nuanced.

[Aik]

For IDEs I'm quite a fan of Code::Blocks - though I haven't used the Mac version, and I'll second Lazy Foo for tutorials (although you might want to get at least some of the basics down before heading there).

[dspencer]

Just like with any other tutorials, make sure you understand what is happening with lazyfoo. You should be able to look at any line and say "Ok, what does this line do? Is it important? In what cases is it or is it not?"

Personally, I would start with a book, espcially if you don't have too much experience with other programming languages (beyond that little with TI basic). Work with text until you get the hang of it, and mastery of syntax. If you think text is boring, think of something interesting to do with it - there are tons of possibilities .

Good luck!

[Greg]

I learned pretty much everything C++ from the http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/.  I just went through the features one at a time until I sort of understood it. This assumes a good knowledge of C as well. For C, I would suggest that the Kernigan & Ritchie book is pretty much indispensable.

Oh, also found this neat paper a while back. Pro-Class game stuff concerning C++ by a guy from Maxis: http://alshikh.net/x/High_Performance_Game_Programming_in_C%20%20.pdf

[Reiss]

i'll second xcode + lazyfoo.

you might want to feel like you have a handle on c++ before you start on lazyfoo's tutorials, though.