Taking the C++ plunge

[OwlHoot]

Since my contract is unlikely to be renewed in August and the RPG / Midas prospects are looking bleak, I've decided to re-skill in another banking package (Summit).

This necessitates me learning C++.

I did a bit of C at uni (12 years ago), but nothing since. I'm currently an AS400/system i developer so don't know a massive amount about OO programming but how hard can it be - right?

Can anybody recommend:

1) an online tutorial to get me started (google found this linky - any good?)
2) some books for further learning
3) development tools I might find handy

TIA

If you need any C++ e-books, e.g. O'Reilly or Wiley etc, I have copies. All of them

Just pm me.

[Sysman]

I also suggest that you do a "C" refresher of some sort...

Good luck.

Seconded.

[d000hg]

Definitely recommend Visual Studio Express, however you might also find something like GCC good for command-line test apps, when learning the language.

Top Tip #1: view learning to use debugger as part of the language, not something you add on later.

[Churchill]

I'm pretty sure the app is written in C++ so I think I'll steer clear of your recommendation for now...

Thanks anyway.

Edit: and thanks for the useful replies too!

I also suggest that you do a "C" refresher of some sort...

Good luck.

[Moscow Mule]

You are 10 years late mate - it's all .NET nowadays, try VB.NET first - I have this feeling you'll be up to the challenge.

Good luck.

I'm pretty sure the app is written in C++ so I think I'll steer clear of your recommendation for now...

Thanks anyway.

Edit: and thanks for the useful replies too!

[Churchill]

FTFY

Good point, well made.

[voodooflux]

Also you might want to download Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition if you don't as yet have a C++ compiler.

FTFY

[Churchill]

So we can conclude that AtW recommends abstractions (like .NET) to others, whilst deriding them as worthless for his own purposes

He probably doesn't even realise that .NET is written in C++

May I refer you to the following sage piece of advice...

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[NickFitz]

You are 10 years late mate - it's all .NET nowadays, try VB.NET first - I have this feeling you'll be up to the challenge.

Making recursive calls might be a neat academical concept, but the reality is that function calls are expensive on x86-64 architectures (not cheap on others also), forcing programmer to do so for primitive things that can be done in a nice tight loop that can be loaded fully into processor caches is insane performance wise - you'd need 10 or 100 times more cores to achieve same performance I can do on 1 with a proper language that translates well into hardware architecture.

So we can conclude that AtW recommends abstractions (like .NET) to others, whilst deriding them as worthless for his own purposes

He probably doesn't even realise that .NET is written in C++

[AtW]

This necessitates me learning C++.

You are 10 years late mate - it's all .NET nowadays, try VB.NET first - I have this feeling you'll be up to the challenge.

Good luck.

[xoggoth]

.net is much easer to pick up than Visual C++ as far as user interfaces go. Various ways of doing things in C++ and all they have in common is that none of them makes any rational sense.

[Churchill]

Since my contract is unlikely to be renewed in August and the RPG / Midas prospects are looking bleak, I've decided to re-skill in another banking package (Summit).

This necessitates me learning C++.

I did a bit of C at uni (12 years ago), but nothing since. I'm currently an AS400/system i developer so don't know a massive amount about OO programming but how hard can it be - right?

Can anybody recommend:

1) an online tutorial to get me started (google found this linky - any good?)
2) some books for further learning
3) development tools I might find handy

TIA

The tutorial is quite good.

I'd also recommend "C++ Black Book" - it's a Coriolis book ISBN 1-57610-777-9

Also you might want to download Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition if you don't as yet have a C++ compiler.

C++ is a language that will enable you to use Object Orientation - try looking at Object Oriented Programming tutorials too.

MFC might be better than initially diving straight into learning the .NET framework.

Good luck.

[Moscow Mule]

Since my contract is unlikely to be renewed in August and the RPG / Midas prospects are looking bleak, I've decided to re-skill in another banking package (Summit).

This necessitates me learning C++.

I did a bit of C at uni (12 years ago), but nothing since. I'm currently an AS400/system i developer so don't know a massive amount about OO programming but how hard can it be - right?

Can anybody recommend:

1) an online tutorial to get me started (google found this linky - any good?)
2) some books for further learning
3) development tools I might find handy

TIA