How to learn?

I have been trying to learn C/C++ and I was wondering what the best way to learn it is. A program? E-Book? Online Tutorials? Real book? How did some of you learn it and what way taught you the most and helped you retain it? Thanks in advance!

I read an intro tutorial on the net, and played with that and then just started looking at other peoples code and learning based on it. I find help files/man pages to always be beneficial.. usually more beneficial than anything else.

I'm sure you've seen the page before, and I know it's been posted on here... but here it is again. http://www.cprogramming.com/.

This was the page I used to find all my info, and google was also my best friend. I would have to say don't waste your money on a book, at least until you know you like the language and will stick with it. Then invest in a good book. I've never bought one for C/C++ so I can't recommend one but someone on here will.

In College We did the first 9 days of the book Teach yourself C. I Completed the book at home on my own time.

Then I started a project, to make a loto number program, that was supoed to give me a magic set of numbers, anyway it gave me alot of experince with nesting loops, if then else statements, and conditional statements. As well as practice with reading and writeing to file streams.

This I believe is the best way to learn, read a few examples then experiment. Your not gona learn if you just read. you need to play with things, experiment, and when things dont work is when you will learn. If the program works right away thats no good. If it does not work and you force yourself through it trying to find your mistake, thats the way to learn.

I had many fusterating days trying to find out why my program was not working, and when it finaly hit me, man I was so happy. And its this excitement that draws me to programming..

i think Tutorials and Free e-books will help you the most ....
here are some links to AO threads that refer to programming C++ and tutorials, free books and other programming languages .. you might want to check it out ....

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=243872

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=244250

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=244216

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=244069

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=243809

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=242257

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=243909

Thanks for the help...Ill try those ideas

Journy101: I already read that book..haha...its like 600 pages...

well first of all grab a book, be it real or E, doesnt matter, what matters is u reading it. after reading the book, look at the code of other people...this will give you a quick learning curve on writing good programs

I learnt it C from this book : Intro to C: a modular approach
and thought it was well-written. But as said before, once you get a handle on it, start reading other people's work and maybe editing it, experimenting with new loops, variables.
And never forget, it's should be fun.
P.S: Stay away from those "_______ for Dummies" books ==>plain trash
Hope this helps

I started by just grabbing a book and reading/working through it. It all depends on your learning style....do you work better on your own or in a classroom environment?

Read the book "teach yourself C in 24hrs", then experiement.

C : Programming :: marijuana : Drugs

The gateway to bigger better things.

I like to work by myself...People are idoits when they come together in a group most of the time. Usually I read everything I can find...I read every computer book my library has...I made them order more from the College. lol

In that case simply getting a book, or a cbt (cd with training software), or an online class would most likely be best for you.

You can check your local community college/regular college or colleges around the country to see if they offer standard distance learning classes if you want credits to go along with. These programs usually aren't too bad and not too expensive.

Another option is the class offered through a continuing education distance learning program. These are usually offered for people who don't want credits, and are usually ALOT cheaper than standard college courses. They also come with continuing eduation units (ceu's) which some employers use to mark how many hours of training you've undergone.

There is also third party online classes.
http://www.techies.com
http://www.codewarrioru.com
http://www.elementk.com

These and many more offer web based and web based with instructor training. Techies is pretty cheap in that $175 gets you nearly every class they offer for 1 year, or you can do one of the smaller programs. They offer programming in c, vb, java, c++, relational databases, sql, mcse, ccna, ccda, a+ and a ton of other classes.

Element K is a bit more expensive and has a bit of everything. Codewarrioru is the online training provided by metroworks. The classes themselves are free, you just have to pick up the book for the class. They usually want you to use the metroworks ide, but you can most likely get around without it.

Or you can simply get books. My absolute favorite c books is 'The Complete C Reference'. It is a pretty big book, but covers modern c programming and teaches you to do code for windows 2000 and so on. It is a hell of alot better than the c books I started with (near and far pointers...blech).

The dummies books are no good for learning, though they can point out stuff you don't see in other books. O'reilly by far has my vote as the best books.

If you go the o'reilly route I highly reccomend http://safari.oreilly.com where they have subscriptions of like $15 a month for 10 books a month (considering buying the physical books is about $15 - 50 a pop, it's a good deal). 'Practical C programming' by oreilly would probably be a good bet. I haven't read it, but I've read the c++ version and it was an excellent beginner book.

If you have any other questions about any of this, shoot me a pm.

D'oh, fogot about straight cbt training. http://www.egghead.com used to have some decent programming training on cd. They are now part of amazon so I'm not sure if all of the product carried over. At the very least google it and you might find something worth using.