C++ Frustrations

[JockVSJock]

I don't come from a programming background and not very good at math, but I am working on a MIS masters and very interested in C++, but I have struggled with this from day one. I have made some progress, but it feels like that I have so much to learn.

Does anyone have any advise on how to improve my C++ programming skills? I am going to contiune taking some more programming classes, study outside of class, and take some more math classes, but what else can I do to help myself out?

thanks,

-Chris

 

[Zyrenthian]

Not knowing your current knowledge of C++ i will start at the beginning.

1. A hello world program
2. A hello world program that calls a function to print "Hello world"
3. Work with itteration and recursion. Try it with the fibonacci sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13...) except for the starting (1,1), the next number in the sequence is defined as the sum of the previous 2 numbers.

If your knowledge is advanced beyond this, i would say to start working on moving functions and their definitions to .h and .cpp files respectively and then begin work on classes.

Once classes are easier to understand start into memory allocation through the use of new and delete. Begin by declareing a new class you previously defined.

The next step would be a linked list.

At some point you will want to write sorting algorithms (bubble, quick, insertion) through the use of an array and a linked list.

This should keep you busy for a bit. Finding examples and descriptions of the above mentioned steps are easy to find on the internet. It is a summary of just about every C++ professors syllabus.

Matt

 

[antwar]

What you probably need is to a good book that breaks down that basics, until you get a good understanding of the language. I started off using The Complete Idiots Guide to C++. I know it might sound a little crazy, but it really gives you a direct approach to the language itself. On top of that it is also broken down to a level where a person with no C++ experience can understand it.