I want to be a programmer!

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Hello!

I am a 17 year old boy and I want to become a programmer. I've decided that I want to learn C++ since I believe there is more of a market for that.

However if I could get any tips from you on how to start. For example do I need physical courses or could I get a decent start up from free or paid online tutorial sites?
What do I need to do, I do not want to start a full time education on the language, rather learn by myself until I feel I am proficient enough for anything higher.

And what do I need?


Thank you for answers.
Protip: Just do it! (this website has an excellent beginner's tut imho). Google what you need to know more about. Use en.cppreference.com for documentation (or this website, I personally like cppref better).
Yes, but I wondered if programming tutorials get outdated pretty fast? Or since it is for beginners it doesn't really matter if its from 2007, and thank you!
I think the tut on this site lacks the for-range loop and some library features which were added in C++11. But those things you can learn outside of this tut. The tut. here really covers the core of the language mostly, which I believe is vital to understanding higher level constructs and how to use them.
I see.

However I was looking at the tutorial for a second and one thing that crossed my mind is the terminology used. Will this be explained or come natural to me? Since I have absolutely no experience with other languages from beforehand.
I guess it depends on the individual, you'll need to be the autodidact and google the terminology, or just read through it and you'll get it eventually. Just do it? :D
I have already decided that i have to do it ;) I've tried looking into other languages, like introductions and similar things but I got scared away by things I didn't understand, but I guess I was expecting to be spoonfed all the things that I didnt understand and that somehow the author would know what I didnt understand, hehe.

But I think that I am actually going to try, and not give up by these silly things.
Start at python, move up to c++, documentary is on this site. Honestly, learn by doing, and asking your dad wtf everything is.
Add me in skype mantasxxl3

I am begginner as well,like 2months programming .I really can help you with tutorials and with programming as well. + Gonna create a skype group of begginners , so you will get even more help =]
Why does he need to start with Python?
Well, I've heard that it is easier to start with Python, but that's really not what I'm looking for. I talked to my uncle and he was/is a programmer and he told me that it's better for me to just start with C++ and learn things on the go. And I dont feel that Python will give me so much in regard to real world application.

Also I was wondering how much does this tutorial cover? I've downloaded it and I'll be spending the next few days reading it. What do i have to do after, and when will I start practising with a compiler?

I've downloaded the Visual Studio Express compiler from microsoft, is this an ordinary compiler or do I need something else?

So if anyone could direct me on what to do further after the tutorial with maybe other pages, paid or not, doesn't matter.

I really appreciate all the answers :D Keep them coming!
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Most IDE's come with compilers already. So are you using notepad and a compiler or what? I would suggest maybe code::blocks as an IDE or geany possibly. Also the tutorials on this site are pretty nice.
http://cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/
I would start at the first and then at the bottom there is a next button so you don't have to go back and manually select each time.
Yeah I downloaded Codeblocks, but it says it cant find/run the GNU compiler. I dont know what that means but I downloaded the Mingw version
When I downloaded it, it came with a list of about 12 compilers
They're not all installed. They're just the supported ones.
Only MinGW is installed, probably (Should be in the list as GCC?).

But you should be done with the installation.
I'm a beginner too at c++ but I've tried other languages for example java. I found this tutorial very helpful:
http://newdata.box.sk/bx/c/htm/fm.htm

It's old but still very good and I got up and running after a slight problem with my compiler. The page seems to be down but google have a cached version and I downloaded all the html files. If you can't access the cached copy PM me and I can send It to you somehow.
book wrote:
check out our CompuServe forum by typing GO SAMS at any prompt.

That takes me back...

@Hnodes if you're serious, get a real book, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242 for a list. Stroustrup's Programming: Principles and Practice is probably the best match, it introduces programming as well as C++.
As far as the tools, Visual studio express is fine as long as it's recent (2012, although 2010 was okay too)
So I should buy a book then? I bought a beginners book for python and read through it but it didn't offer any practical use, not for practice in a compiler/program.

So if anyone could recommend a really good book and preferrably on www.thebookdepository.com since it has free shipping that would be great!
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