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I have been learning C++ lately and have enjoyed it, but is C++ a little outdated? Should I learn something more recent like Java? Or another language? I hoping to be able to do OOP. I'm aiming to become a game developer or something...maybe. I have heard to get opengl and start programming in a language like C++. What do you guys think?
Thanks for any help
I have to say go with C++, it's a nice language, I personally hate the damn thing, and love C. but C++ isn't outdated IMHO.
Now, if your looking for a real language go to perl. mwuahahahaha
It depends on what you really want to do, I mean you can do game programming in Java or C++.
You can also do it in perl.
Just depends, I say go with C++. It will make learning Java easier.
C++ is hardly what I would call dated, most commercial apps are written in it and most OSes are written in either C or C++. Good thing to learn, but it can be a pain in the as to program in.
Quote:
C is often described, with a mixture of fondness and disdain varying according to the speaker, as "a language that combines all the elegance and power of assembly language with all the readability and maintainability of assembly language." (MIT Jargon Dictionary)
Whatever language you choose, stick with it.
I would recommend sticking with C++ for OOP. Once you learn one object-oriented language you can easily pick up Java. C++ is not outdated, though. I am curious to know why you are wondering if it may be outdated. Yes, there are newer languages such as C#, but each language has it's own unique qualities that make it useful for certain tasks.
it depends on wat kind of programming your a planning to do...but for graphics c++ i god....if wanna learn opengl...you coulkd look for a the red book of open gl..and the reference manual...here is a list of book on opengl....and go ahead with c++...you'll learn to leve with aaaaaaall the memory problems with pointers..and all the incosntenecs in the languaje....no metioning uncompatibility
books:
OpenGL reference manual
-OpenGL programming guide : the official guide to learning openGL, version 1.2, openGL architecture review board
3rd ed.Woo, Mason
-3-D graphics programming with OpenGL
This is jus great...they explain you how to use an interface called glut and also explain allllll the math behind building 3d scenes...
and go ahead...if you wanna program games..there's a looong way....
don't fall!
Learn both C++ and Java if you have the time. If I had to choose, I'd go with C++ though. It's widely used and hardly outdated. Confusing as heck, but worth your while. :)
an also if you learn c++ first it would be easier to migrate and learn java...later....
but first the first!
I have to agree with Quad whatever language you pick make sure that you stick with it. I will be honest for your OOP, I would recommend you pick up perl for like a week. For some reason, much like everything else. Perl makes learning OOP easy. Though C++ is the way to go also. I just don't really like C++, for many reasons.
I personally wonder why the Devolpers of C++ didn't do what, the perl devolopers did to Perl, and just add OOP to C. I think that would of been so much better.
I have yet to mess with Perl...What do you like about it over C++?
personally i dont like it...is just for the standard..adn experince.....
Perl you don't have a lot of problems you do with C and C++. First you don't have to predeclare your variables, though you can, and I usually do, and you can set it up so that you have to.
(use strict;)
It is not required next, you don't have to int this float that. I hated that about C. Everything in perl is a floating point number unless you want to make it an interger.
Which you would just put int in front of it like printf int("%f, &*******"); There are plenty of things that I prefer over perl as to C and C++. Though sadly enough, I am going to have to pick my C and C++ books back up soon, school requires that I learn them, and use them. So you guys will see plenty of threads from me bitching about how I hate C++ in about 3 or 4 months, it usually takes a class about that long to get to the point, of the language where I have forgotten everything.
Oh well.
Though yeah, perl is the way to go for beginning programmers, and experienced alike. It really is a easy language to learn. I personally don't want to go back to C. Though there are something's that perl kind of sucks at. (Mainly the compiler thing with perl. It is a kind of sucky thing.) (If your wondering what I mean, perl is an interpreted language, but what happens with the code is, that it is compiled then interpreted everytime it is ran.) (Now the reason this sucks is, you can't run perl code without an interpreter.) (Sidenote, that's not true, there is a program called perl2exe, that compiles perl code.)(There is also something that comes standard with perl called perlcc. It is the perl compiler, you can compile your programs with it. So that you don't need the interpreter.)
What is it you don't like about perl? Please elaborate, for I would love to hear your grand explanation.
(Damnit Angelic, now you have perl on my head, and I am going to be thinking about the language for the next 10 mins, about every little nic and nac of the language.)
It's funny...the very things you dislike about C....are the very things I like about it. :) It offers so much more control than other languages, in my experience. It's not messy, not too verbose, and extremely flexible.Quote:
Originally posted here by whizkid2300
Perl you don't have a lot of problems you do with C and C++. First you don't have to predeclare your variables, though you can, and I usually do, and you can set it up so that you have to.
(use strict;)
It is not required next, you don't have to int this float that. I hated that about C. Everything in perl is a floating point number unless you want to make it an interger.
Which you would just put int in front of it like printf int("%f, &*******"); There are plenty of things that I prefer over perl as to C and C++. Though sadly enough, I am going to have to pick my C and C++ books back up soon, school requires that I learn them, and use them. So you guys will see plenty of threads from me bitching about how I hate C++ in about 3 or 4 months, it usually takes a class about that long to get to the point, of the language where I have forgotten everything.
Oh well.
Though yeah, perl is the way to go for beginning programmers, and experienced alike. It really is a easy language to learn. I personally don't want to go back to C. Though there are something's that perl kind of sucks at. (Mainly the compiler thing with perl. It is a kind of sucky thing.) (If your wondering what I mean, perl is an interpreted language, but what happens with the code is, that it is compiled then interpreted everytime it is ran.) (Now the reason this sucks is, you can't run perl code without an interpreter.) (Sidenote, that's not true, there is a program called perl2exe, that compiles perl code.)(There is also something that comes standard with perl called perlcc. It is the perl compiler, you can compile your programs with it. So that you don't need the interpreter.)
What is it you don't like about perl? Please elaborate, for I would love to hear your grand explanation.
(Damnit Angelic, now you have perl on my head, and I am going to be thinking about the language for the next 10 mins, about every little nic and nac of the language.)
Yeh, it kind of forces you to write readable code lol. Thanks a lot for the fast replies, I think I'll stick with C++ now. I thought it might have been outdated because it was made years ago, where as java was made not to long ago. I have experience with True BASIC, but I didn't stick with that to long because it was just to boring, I also have experience with some of the web programming langauges, but now I wanna learn a good language and stick with it. I have the Dev C++ 4 compiler, it's free. What do you guys think about that compiler? Also, here is a simple block of code, it just calculates your yearly salary with tax deducted and all based on your hourly wage. The problem is that when I run it, sometimes my whole computer freezes up and I have to restart my computer. Anyone else have similar problems?
Heres the code:
int main()
{
int a;
int i, j, p, c;
float x, d;
i = 40;
j = 4;
p = 12;
x = 0.33;
cout << "What is your hourly wage?" << "\n";
cin >> a;
c = a * i * j * p;
d = a * i * j * p * x;
d = c - d;
cout << "Based on your hourly wage, and assuming you work in illinois, your yearly salary is: " << d << "\n";
cout << "\a"; //this rings the terminal bell
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
you should look into the tutorial files in here....there are tons of info....
and the system calls does somethig like you where in a command promp ad typed that....
and that's what it does...to freeze...
you can use getch() or getche() thery are in stdio.h .....the act like cin ..but captures only one key stroke....
Well, I need to capture more then one key stroke...
math, I will say this. Programming is an Art Form, IMHO. And when you are trying to make a sloppy picture, that looks great but isn't the best drawn thing in the world, you look for perl.
When you are making that masterpiece picture that you want everyone to see, and you want everyone to look at and say what a marvel. You use C.
Now I will say this much, even simple things in C, take forever to do. I once was working on a port scanner in C, I think I was up to about 500+ lines of code.
Now that same thing in Perl, I can do under about 200. Depending on how much I want to add.
If you are going to be quick and dirty, use perl. If you want that masterpiece, that everyone believes was touched by good, use C or C++.
Oh and as a side note, when a language was made does not have anything to do with how good it will be, or how good it will be for a task.
C is probably one of the most used languages ever written. (Probably fighting with BASIC) But nonetheless, it is a great language, many things are written in it, the *nix kernel is written in it. (Though there is a Linux distro were the kernel is written in perl.)
The windows kernel is written in it.
Duck: C++ is defintely the way to go, but you must get into good programming practice. The one that I noticed was your lack of commenting. I don't have a clue what the different variables in your program mean. Also, since they do hold significant values (i.e. not a simple variable to control a loop), then they should have significant names. Other than that, I see nothing wrong with your code, nor do I see why it would freeze your system. The first thing that comes to mind is running Windows Update to make sure this isn't an issue that has been addressed.
A_T
P.S. Bloodshed Dev C++ is the best compiler I have seen for Windows. Stick with it, but make sure you get the updates for that as well. I believe it is at version 4.9.8 or something close, so it is beta, unless you got 4.0.
I got 4.0, they are in beta testing of a 5.0 I think. So if it isn't my code, and it isn't the compiler... then it must have something to do with that spyware I got a little while ago, I got well over 200 things of spyware because I accidently clicked "yes" on a pop up lol. Took me 5 hours to get all of it off, but I still see signs of it on, like system resources being at 50% or even 100%! But I ran spybot, avast!, adaware, and cwshredder, and they didn't find anything after they got rid of the 200+ things... Oh well, I guess this thread isn't about my spyware problem lol.
I guess I should add more comment tags;)
The reason it freezes your terminal is because the bell ring for Dev C++ is jacked up, or atleast it was last time I used it. That would always happen.
Try the code without the bell and see if it works, it should.
Really?? Hmmm... It doesn't always freeze my computer, just sometimes, like it has when I make modifications and run it for the first time with the new modifications, and after it freezes once, it won't freeze anymore until I do something else to the code. But that does make sense, I'll try it!
Thanks!!!:)
***EDIT***
This is my code now, without the terminal bell and with more comments:
int main()
{
int a;
int i, j, p, c;
float x, d;
i = 40; // average working man works 40 hours a week
j = 4; // 4 weeks in a month
p = 12; // 12 months in a year
x = 0.33; // 30 percent federal tax plus 3 percent stat tax for illinois
cout << "What is your hourly wage?" << "\n";
cin >> a; //Get's the user input
c = a * i * j * p; // user input multiplied by the variables
d = a * i * j * p * x; //this is to get the amound deducted by tax
d = c - d; //this is the the yearly salary after tax is deducted
cout << "Based on your hourly wage, and assuming you work in illinois, your yearly salary is: " << d << "\n";
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
I code in C, C++, Perl, Java, C#, Python, Lua, SQL, Visual Basic, etc....
Any of the above languages are fine to pick up (except lua which sucks) as a beginning language. When deciding what language you want to learn you need to pay less attention to peoples opinions (most opinions on the subject are not very informed) and more attention to what type of work you want to do with the language in question.
And even then, the language is not as important as picking up good programming practices. If you need suggestions on books on any of the languages/topics I've mentioned just hit me with a pm.
Speaking of C++ does anyone know any good websites that have reasonably challenging C++ programming projects or exercises that revolve around the advanced conecpts of C++ (STL, templates, namespaces ) ??
I couldn't agree more. If you can program in one language, you can pretty much program in any other language. Of course that is a generalisation, however, the fundamentals of programming are common to each language, just implemented differently sometimes.Quote:
Originally posted here by Juridian
I code in C, C++, Perl, Java, C#, Python, Lua, SQL, Visual Basic, etc....
Any of the above languages are fine to pick up (except lua which sucks) as a beginning language. When deciding what language you want to learn you need to pay less attention to peoples opinions (most opinions on the subject are not very informed) and more attention to what type of work you want to do with the language in question.
And even then, the language is not as important as picking up good programming practices. If you need suggestions on books on any of the languages/topics I've mentioned just hit me with a pm.
It is a bit of "Horses for courses!" though, the right choice depends on what you wish to accomplish.
I personally like C - it has the structure of a high level language coupled with the ability to access hardware registers and memory directly, as you would in assembler or machine code. I would suggest that is the reason it is popular and has been around for a while.
hi The Duck
Not to be too Critcal ...............Comments are good no doubt .........but you have just too many :p .........you have to work on the naming of the variables too.....These a, e, i , o , u are good but in the long run they become a headace..........Try Choose a name which is short, simple and defines it's purpose..........Variable name is as important as comments and increases readibility.........it will be immensly helpful in long programs............rest is good .
Cann't Comment on Dev C++ 4 compiler never used it..........i have always worked on Turbo C++.......But the Freezing as you are Discribing might be something to with the compiler messing up.........If it's happening with every Progaram..........Try Unstalling and reinstalling the DEV C++.Quote:
It doesn't always freeze my computer, just sometimes, like it has when I make modifications and run it for the first time with the new modifications, and after it freezes once, it won't freeze anymore until I do something else to the code. But that does make sense, I'll try it!
And regarding the First Language..........In my view ......C is a good first launage......It's Structured induces good programming practices or should i say force good progamming practices :p .........it is as simple as it can get and It can be as confusing as it can get ..
C++ would be my second Choice........Once you get the feel and touch of objects and classes and various other OOP concepts it will help you immencly with many more things ..........Every thing seems to be moving towards OOPS be it Programming languages , Databases etc etc.....
But these are my personal Choices.....any Programming could and should do........in the begnning it's about Logic Building.......learning good progarmming practives...more that the language itself.......For that any language will do. ......execpt for a few exceptions ( VB is one )
--Good Luck--
Thanks for the encouragment and support! I will stick with C++ no matter what. Hopefully, in about a year, I will be ready for OOP, Who knows, maybe less then a year. I do have a question though: Why is it that people choose C over C++? Can't C++ do everything C can do but more?
HI
hmmm ........i have heard this numurus times........people tent to view C++ as and enhansment or a higher verson of sorts of C because the name says C++ ;).........
Don't get Confused..........View them as Two Different languages........ Actually C++ is a separate language in its own right that shares a lot with C.
#C Follows Structured Programming.
#C++ Object oriented.
And thats a huge Difference in itself........the very concept is different....apart form some smaller differences......don't view then as one
And choosing C over C++ don't know about that ...that might be a personal Choice..like choosing pearl or java over C++........what i meant in my previous post was as a first language.......
What can be Done in C++.......... can also be done in C.Quote:
Can't C++ do everything C can do but more?
My Advice too is Stick to C++ it's a Good Solid Object Oriented Programming Language.......Good For Logic Building........and understanding OOPS.
--Good Luck--
Well, if C can do everything C++ can do, then what can C do that C++ can't? I mean, C++ is used for a lot of things, making applications, making games, even making exploits lol...
in syntax, c and c++ merely the same.. except for cout<< and printf("") things and several others.. and the main difference between them is that you code c in structured way, c++ in OOP.
you can do everything in c with c++. even c++ compiler give u the freedom to code in c syntax..
c++ is good to start OO..
c++ is a superset of c, so of course you can do everything in c++ that you can in c. In my experience, people going from c to c++ have alot of problems writing clean code because they can't do the paradigm switch from structured programming to object oriented. They also tend to use alot of c style code which is frowned upon in c++ (excessive void pointers, excessive pointer use, overuse of the preprocessor, global variables, etc), which can cause alot of problems.
Well, C++ inherited a good deal of the C syntax wich includes all of the operators, and that means that technically an instruction like cout << 1 would be acceptable in C syntax, the difference is that the C++ iostream library overrides the << operator so it behaves differently in C++ for ostream objects, however, if you don't include the iostream library, cout << will do exactly the same thing both in C and C++ and will complain about the exact same type errors.
I still think it's a mistake to consider C and C++ to be similar just because they share a few syntax aspects. That would be sort of saying that Java is similar to C as well. I actually think Java is just about as similar to C as C++ is (except, for the language name :) ). In fact, you don't even have to move from C to C++ or Java to notice how much a paradigm change can affect programming, if you program C in unix and then program C in windows, it'll seem like you're programming in a totally different language even though you're using the same C language, reason? the paradigm.