Billy_Cat

im trying to find the best way to learn it..

Ravilj

Here is a great book for console programming that teaches all the basics:
Deitel and Deitel: How to program C++
ISBN: 0-13-111881-1
Publisher: Prentice Hall

Lol jsut posted this in the other thread.

I worked through this, it also depends on your programming history. Have you programmed in any object orientated languages before? I dont suggest you get one of those teach yourself c++ in 24 hours books, rather learn it properly.

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Ashcroft

C was the first programming language I learned so I was learning a lot of concepts along with it. I'm not sure if the method I used would work for you, but I'd suggest that you get a simple book - C for dummies, C in 24 hours, that kind of thing (my personal book was the AT&T first book of C) and read it all and do all the examples. Then once you have a little understanding of what is going on get a copy of "The C Programming Language" - this is really one of the best computer books ever written - a small book for a small language.

The thing is that a book is a good to get started - but you must program to get any better. Write stupid programs that test things out, write silly programs that guess numbers or a write text adventure, or solve mazes, whatever - but you must write programs.

Also, C is a small and simple language - C++ is easier to use with the STL but it is a huge language, you can understand all of C very easily but I doubt many people really understand all of C++.

Mjordan2nd

I learned through Teach Yourself C by Herbet Schildt. Great book, and easy to understand, in my opinion. Schildt is a great writer.

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Ooble

Personally, I learnt C from C for Dummies (a great book BTW), then picked up C++ as I went along. I don't advise that route though

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Shatai

The first programming language I learned was C. I can't tell you that I found any books to be of major use, nor did I find any "magic" tutorial that solved all the questions that I had as a hobbyist hoping to pick up the concepts.

I learned by example. I was running Windows at the time, so I found myself a copy of Cygwin (in particular, the development tools ported to Windows available with it, thus, gcc) and began my quest into learning C.

Basically, if you want to give my "route" to learning a shot, get yourself a compiler, a patient attitude, and a bunch of examples to pick apart and learn by. I found myself quickly fleshing out the logic of the language as I worked with it and began to grok its many specifics, operators, and quirks. With this foundation, applying the correct terminology and extending my knowledge was trivial due to the vast source of programming knowledge available on-line.

Books and tutorials just couldn't do it for me from the get-go, I needed some hands on at first. Think about it.

If you have any *specific* questions, of course, feel free to ask.

Good luck!

Billy_Cat

wow, thanks for all the replys, i have a few books, and ive learned a little from them, but ill try the using example code, that might help more..

Thanks!

Berto

If you can get a book on teh standard template library as well, i have one, cant remember its name but its really good.

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Infinite Recursion

First language that I learned was GW-BASIC... many moons ago. Yes, I'm old.

I suggest learning C++. A good book is Practical C++ by Que.
ISBN: 0-7897-2144-9 Save the STL for after you grasp the foundations of C++.

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ben

I learned C++ in college at Colorado Technical University. We used Absolute C++ by Walter Savitch. I do not recommend this book for self study.

I was pointed in the direction of the Dietel & Dietel book, but I never got it. I'm learning the .NET framework now that I work for the government.

As the others have said, it's important to program for a purpose, rather than just to learn. Make up your own projects, even if they're meaningless, and incorporate methods you've learned along the way to complete your projects. The best way to learn to program is to do just that - write programs.

Good luck!