Elysian Shadows

Hey, I was wondering if you guys could help me. I just finished this book called "C++ All-In-One For Dummies( the 7 books in 1 edition)." It was about 800 pages of material starting with the very basics of c++.

I was wondering what book would be to get after this. I have "Effective c++" but it is a small book and I will probably finish it in a month.

I don't really want a book that goes over the basics again, which is why I am having trouble finding one. (I am probably going to get the other Effective books based on if I like the Effective c++ Book).

Thanks for your help

Its amazing how many people make this thread as their first post

I have to confess that I don't have any C++ but just C books.

However I have various other books I.E. Graphics, C# etc.
And few things I noticed is

-Buying them new is just stupidity ( they cost a fortune )
-The more expensive books arn't nessacarily the better ones.
-The dummie books are one of my favourites.

EDIT:
I don't mean don't buy new ones like OpenGL 1.1 instead of OpenGL 2.1 but second hand ones are good.

Sam034 wrote:Hey, I was wondering if you guys could help me. I just finished this book called "C++ All-In-One For Dummies( the 7 books in 1 edition)." It was about 800 pages of material starting with the very basics of c++.

I was wondering what book would be to get after this. I have "Effective c++" but it is a small book and I will probably finish it in a month.

I don't really want a book that goes over the basics again, which is why I am having trouble finding one. (I am probably going to get the other Effective books based on if I like the Effective c++ Book).

Thanks for your help

Accelerated C++
C++ Primer
Efficient C++
Professional C++
and so on...

You'll most likely find yourself using the interweb more than books after learning the fundamentals.

Thanks for the suggestions. I basically know all of the fundamentals at this point (I think at least). I really want to avoid a book that begins with "Hello World" if you catch my drift.

I guess the next step would be to finish up the standard library and start learning some other libraries. I actually haven't gotten to any "non-text" related programs yet.
I would like to start shapes and that sort of stuff.

What would you guys do if you were in my position? Any books, libraries or anything specific that I should be focusing on?

ps: My school teaches Java so I have to do this all on my own. All of my friends suck at coding and don't use c++, which is why I am somewhat clueless on how to approach c++ as I develop.

Sam034 wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. I basically know all of the fundamentals at this point (I think at least). I really want to avoid a book that begins with "Hello World" if you catch my drift.

I guess the next step would be to finish up the standard library and start learning some other libraries. I actually haven't gotten to any "non-text" related programs yet.
I would like to start shapes and that sort of stuff.

What would you guys do if you were in my position? Any books, libraries or anything specific that I should be focusing on?

ps: My school teaches Java so I have to do this all on my own. All of my friends suck at coding and don't use c++, which is why I am somewhat clueless on how to approach c++ as I develop.

SDL is a great API, and there's even a book for it called "Focus on SDL" which is a bit short, but good and thorough. You'll find yourself using documentation mostly though.
SFML *Don't know any book for it, there probably is one or more... and loads of tutorials + documentation*
OpenGL/GLUT *TOO many books to even know where to start, but the "Superbible" and "Computer Graphics using OpenGL" are decent / great books*
these are all good API's that you can use to create shapes, and start out with basic graphics programming, rendering, clipping, blitting, color keying etc. (Of course, there's a lot more you can do )

If you want to get into game programming then I would say look into doing some graphics. SDL and Allegro is pretty easy to pick up but then if like me and you want hardware acceleration then I suggest SFML as it uses OpenGL, its Object Oriented (SDL and Allegro is written in C) and its still a lot easier to pick up than learning OpenGL itself.

Although I still recommend getting another book that does start at "Hello World" because its very easy to miss some of the basics. I have read through books before and then read them again to find bits I've missed or didn't fully understand.

I think that I will bite and go with SFML first.

I dont know c so I guess SDL and Allegro are a no go.

After SFML I will try to learn OpenGL.

Does This sound like a good POA? //Plan Of Action

I should probably point out you can still use SDL and Allegro with C++.

C is a early version of C++, the only real diffrence you'll find is C++ is object oriented and C is not.

N64vSNES wrote:I should probably point out you can still use SDL and Allegro with C++.

C is a early version of C++, the only real diffrence you'll find is C++ is object oriented and C is not.

C is the predecessor of C++, and C++ is made such that it is backwards compatible with C... and for this reason it doesn't matter if the API was written in C, if you know either C or C++, learning SDL and/or Allegro will be no problem at all. At least, I had no problems, and I wrote / write in C++.

N64vSNES wrote:If you want to get into game programming then I would say look into doing some graphics. SDL and Allegro is pretty easy to pick up but then if like me and you want hardware acceleration then I suggest SFML as it uses OpenGL, its Object Oriented (SDL and Allegro is written in C) and its still a lot easier to pick up than learning OpenGL itself.

Although I still recommend getting another book that does start at "Hello World" because its very easy to miss some of the basics. I have read through books before and then read them again to find bits I've missed or didn't fully understand.

You forgot to point out that SDL can use OpenGL as well. Using OpenGL to render graphic and such, and SDL to handle keyboard/mouse input, music, threads.

superLED wrote:

N64vSNES wrote:If you want to get into game programming then I would say look into doing some graphics. SDL and Allegro is pretty easy to pick up but then if like me and you want hardware acceleration then I suggest SFML as it uses OpenGL, its Object Oriented (SDL and Allegro is written in C) and its still a lot easier to pick up than learning OpenGL itself.

Although I still recommend getting another book that does start at "Hello World" because its very easy to miss some of the basics. I have read through books before and then read them again to find bits I've missed or didn't fully understand.

You forgot to point out that SDL can use OpenGL as well. Using OpenGL to render graphic and such, and SDL to handle keyboard/mouse input, music, threads.

I would've done but Allegro and SDL can both use OpenGL. The list of libaries you can use with OpenGL is endless.

superLED wrote:

N64vSNES wrote:If you want to get into game programming then I would say look into doing some graphics. SDL and Allegro is pretty easy to pick up but then if like me and you want hardware acceleration then I suggest SFML as it uses OpenGL, its Object Oriented (SDL and Allegro is written in C) and its still a lot easier to pick up than learning OpenGL itself.

Although I still recommend getting another book that does start at "Hello World" because its very easy to miss some of the basics. I have read through books before and then read them again to find bits I've missed or didn't fully understand.

You forgot to point out that SDL can use OpenGL as well. Using OpenGL to render graphic and such, and SDL to handle keyboard/mouse input, music, threads.

You're misunderstanding. SDL can be USED WITH OpenGL. SFML USES OpenGL for its rendering, therefore removing a need to use OpenGL yourself if you want hardware acceleration.

superLED wrote:

N64vSNES wrote:If you want to get into game programming then I would say look into doing some graphics. SDL and Allegro is pretty easy to pick up but then if like me and you want hardware acceleration then I suggest SFML as it uses OpenGL, its Object Oriented (SDL and Allegro is written in C) and its still a lot easier to pick up than learning OpenGL itself.

Although I still recommend getting another book that does start at "Hello World" because its very easy to miss some of the basics. I have read through books before and then read them again to find bits I've missed or didn't fully understand.

You forgot to point out that SDL can use OpenGL as well. Using OpenGL to render graphic and such, and SDL to handle keyboard/mouse input, music, threads.

Being from Ireland I feel obliged to tell you that you spelt Guinness wrong in your sig Also you guys seem to be acting as though c is dead and buried. It's still a VERY commonly used language, it's pretty much the standard for embedded devices. If someone tried to take my c compiler i'd staple their ears to their nipples.

first... Mr.DeathNote, I am a fan of your new series.

I have been doing a ton of research and basically concluded to.

Become more familiar with STL (going to get: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference and Effective STL)

After that I am going to learn SDL and try to learn OpenGL.

I originally wanted to try SFML like you guys suggested, but I felt like that was the easy way out. If SFML is just so I can get my foot in the door with graphics and other stuff, but I won't use it later once I learn SDL/Open GL and others.., I rather not learn it at all.

Sam034 wrote:first... Mr.DeathNote, I am a fan of your new series.

I have been doing a ton of research and basically concluded to.

Become more familiar with STL (going to get: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference and Effective STL)

After that I am going to learn SDL and try to learn OpenGL.

I originally wanted to try SFML like you guys suggested, but I felt like that was the easy way out. If SFML is just so I can get my foot in the door with graphics and other stuff, but I won't use it later once I learn SDL/Open GL and others.., I rather not learn it at all.

I actually sort of have to agree with you. SFML is amazingly useful and very easy, but if you want to learn the most, SDL is probably better because it does fewer things for you, and OpenGL is always beneficial. However, this is just how I perceive things, not necessarily how they are. Learning SFML may actually be a better starting point, I don't know. But don't discount SFML as being "too easy." It's a very powerful library that does a lot of very good things, and it is well worth learning at some point.