What is the best software for learning c++ from the beginning?

Depends what you know already and what you are willing to learn.





A windows user might simply use a package such as Microsoft Visual Studio - which has among other things, a C++ compiler. But it is not 'standard' portable C++. A windows user that really wanted to get started - seriously - might get Borland C++ developer IDE. Nice and easy, but again it has features that are not standard C++ which can confuse the novice.





I would advise a willing novice to think about installing Linux or Unix on their hard drive. These free systems come with the best C++ compiler (IMO) called gnu g++ and also a text editor called emacs, for editing your source code. This is all free and far superior to any windows IDE that you might spend money buying. I started out learning this way. It can be a sharp learning curve but it has been very rewarding looking back. You simply move along at your own pace - and now, you are not alone because there are so many resources available on the internet to help you out. I strongly recommend you try installing Linux or FreeBSD first!!





Ultimately, to learn about C++, you will gain more if you have access to plenty free open source code - which you get with Linux / Unix. You don't get the same benefits by learning in a windows xp platform.





In addition to all this, don't forget that you need a good solid book that is suitable for you. This will probably be your best investment in your studies. Buy a hard copy. There are also many good quality free ebooks that you can get.





good luck.





Try posting a few questions to :


http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.com...





Or better still, learn about Usenet and set up your newsreader to subscribe to the newsgroup :





comp.lang.learn. c c++

What is the best software for learning c++ from the beginning?
Go to Barnes and Noble and check out the books on programming such as "Type and Learn C/C++" C Programming made Simple", "C/C++ Programming for Dummies" as well as other titles. Many come with a free copy of an older, but has everything you could want, FULL version of Borland C/C++ on CD. I used it years ago when going to school to learn C++ programming and set it up so that all my programming was ANSI compliant. Then I could do homework and practice. If UNIX is your style, Linux has built in C/C++ programming applications or you can program manually and compile manually (how I learned C). Once you learn the basics, then you can adapt to Microsoft C/C++ easier. I would not start with Microsoft C/C++ as there are some proprietary issues I have run into that did not transport to other platforms such as UNIX. If you learn ANSI C, you should be fine in almost every environment except for HP UNIX which is has problems with numerous ANSI C standards (Like passing variables in and out of functions).


Finally, C++ is much different than C in syntax and its ability to be object oriented. If you know C and C++, you increase your marketability greatly because there are numerous C Programmers, but not nearly as many C++ programmers. This is because object oriented programming requires a different mindset than most programming languages in issues like inheritance and requires the ability to think visually, relationally, and spatially. Hope this helps.
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