Cor’Blimey - I think I’ve been programming( not professionally ) for a good 5 years now… :argh:
My advice is to start very small and get into the habit of making your code clean and stable. Don’t worry about all these fancy features etc - they can wait! - just try your best to make sure you can run your programs on everyone elses machine.
Also, a very handy trick in tracking down “bugs” is to make error logs/files. Making files etc is a good place to start…
Good luck! 
Im just starting c++ also and I am using “Thinking in C++ vol. 1” by Burce Eckel and I am currently on the last code of the book. I would recommend it. But I have a question (sorry to use your thread chinese_lover), I have no idea what console applications to make so that I could practice other then what books give, any advice on what programs to make that use almost everything including containers, iterators, and such OOP specific topics?
deitel and deitel’s c++ how to program is the best programming book I’ve ever come across. I learned a huge chunk of c++ in just a few days with it.
11 years and still learning. I find myself writing more and more generic template based C++ these days. I’d recommend looking at http://www.gotw.ca/ . Get every book Herb has written.
Hey,
I’ve been coding for years now, but as with most things the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know! As well as a good book (the one Critterslayer recommends was our uni course book and was pretty nice), just read as much as you can - I recommend visiting coding forums regularly. Even if there are things that are above your current level, it’s amazing what sinks in!
The best advice I can give is just practise - try creating some complete little programs often. I made things like very small games just with text output etc. And I still create my own things outside of work to keep on top of current stuff.
Good luck,
stoo
we made a little console labyrinth game in c++. it covers nearly everything - from containers and iterators to pathfinding algorithm.
Yea, i figured text-based games could be console apps that can cover everything needed to practice c++ (guess my brain was feeling lazy when i finished the book). Thanks for the advice. Um, is labyrinth a maze game? And if so, im curious to know how you made the maze (dynamic ascii art?).
I am learning now too. I use a book called c++ for dummies… i also have a c++ in plain english… both i am just starting to look at… i use a program called dev-c++… the one the guy recomends… but… i think the dummies book already said something wrong at teh beggining…
I started programming when I was about 11, and I was fairly capable by the time I was a junior in highschool. So we are talking 19-24 years (I’m 35). I’ve worked in a lot of different languages over that time, but managed to avoid C++ until the past year. Well, I can’t begin to express what a vastly different experience this was for me from the programming I’d done in the past. For example, I thought I knew what pointers were all about since I’d used them in Perl. Well, I didn’t know half what I thought I did. C++ requires an entirely different way of thinking. Same for garbage collection. And of course, unless you are writing command-line stuff, you are most likely going to be working with some gigantic framework that’s a barrier in itself.
The long and the short of it: it’s a tough haul. Once you start getting the hang of it, it gets easier, but I often found that when I started getting comfortable, a whole new class of problems would appear. And to make matters worse, I learned the language as part of a project with a tight deadline. Whatever you ever do, don’t do that!
I don’t mean to sound like a killjoy. If you enjoy it, it isn’t work, but it is probably the steepest learning curve I’ve faced in all my years. And again, you can take that with a grain of salt – just doing simple C++ programs on a command line is, well, easy. But if you were to, say, tell someone you were going to write a graphics engine in six months, you’d be in a world of hurt. 
If you are a quick learner, I would recommend just learning the basics of whatever programming language you are starting with and then pick the rest up as you need it. Its always easier to learn something in its proper context, and programming languages aren’t as arcane as they might seem at first glance. Just get started with a project and even if you quit halfway through you probably saw quite a few of the programming techniques you will need. With this approach, it shouldn’t take you many months to learn.
summer of 7th grade, i learned the BASIC language using Qbasic with a simple programming book in a month (also because of Qbasic’s straightforward Help file)…mastered that language after that month and moved to Pascal…very easy… went to C using Sams Learn C programming 24 hours, finished it in 5. went to C++, again very easy but i had to adapt to its methods, while learning C/C++, i learned assembler at the same time (i was learning graphics programming back then through free code and articles written by michael abrash)… in a course of 6 months, i knew Basic, Pascal, C/C++, Assembler (still used reference for asm tho)…
What I learned from that experience of self-teaching… All languages have same concepts obviously, just with different syntax and rules, but once you GRASP how programmings core concepts is in one language, its easy to learn another language.
Also, classical music everytime i was in programming mode was a big help. Piano music by Chopin… not the concertos cuz they made me too relaxed.
its been 8 years ago. but i stopped programming on the 4th year because i got into other things… things i shouldnt have gotten to hehe
edit –
oh yeah resources:
http://www.flipcode.com
http://www.programmersheaven.com
http://code.box.sk
i recommend going to flipcode, going in their articles and reading:
Art of Demo Making and also, 3D Graphics Primer
im in my 7th grade right now… i better start getting this down… knowing when you guys started. I am gonna have to try that classical music… i never even had thought of that… will probably help me get motivated…
What might help you more then classical music is quiet (especially if your a guy since guys usually can concentrate only on one thing at a time), lots of air (since your brain uses 80% of the oxygen you take in), and sugar(the brain’s food)
. Its not the programming part of c++ that will take time to understand since many other languages are similar (i’m orginally a php programmer which i find similar to c/c++), it is the ++ concepts in the c that may take time to learn, for me atleast.
well, you are certainly right my friend, i have read books on superlearning. and oxygen is number 1. the reason why i listen to classical music is because it puts me in a relaxed state and calms me down, thus better concentration when im reading and programming.
youre also right about the concepts, thats all you need. thats why i find c++ the best language due to the fact that you can do so much with it in so many ways (though there are pros and cons to a method and only understanding will help you tell the difference). i find that when im learning other languages, i see limitations which i think is all OK because the programmers who made that have probably intended it to be that way so you can learn how to use the language properly. and thats why also in languages like c++ where you can do so much, some programmers write code for a certain task, they use methods which sometimes couldve been done easier with a different one. bottom line, grasp the concept.
oh and one last thing, dont expect shortcuts to doing anything. although there are probably templates already out there for certain things, its better you know how the thing works from inside so when bugs come in, youll have a better chance of knowing where it came from.
alright… SHUT TEH MUSIC OFF!! , pull out the oxygen tanks… and have a glass of sugar at hand… GOT IT!!
To answer the original question…
Started BASIC 15 years ago
Started QBasic 8 years ago
Started Visual Basic 7 years ago
Started C 6 years ago, and had to make myself forget everything I’d learnt in the previous 9 years
Started C++ 5 years ago
Started Java 4 years ago
Started Haskell 4 years ago
Forgot Haskell 3.5 years ago
Started Python 1 year ago
Currently programming in C, C++ and Python (plus various APIs/SDKs)
And still learning on all fronts (except the BASIC and Haskell ones…)…
This is a good article on good working environments - in fact, I’d recommend the majority of the Joel on Software articles…
