advice for complete beginner

[caunterstrike]

Hi. I'm a complete beginner to C++ and want some advice for starting out. I intend on teaching myself through books and online tutorials and eventually creating simple games for children. I've made flash games before so I hope some of those skills will be transferable. My first question is what compiler do you recommend? I've seen people recommending Microsoft Visual C++ and as it's free i thought it would be ideal for me. are there any limitations or disadvantages over other compilers? Also if anybody knows of any good tutorials or free courses for absolute beginners that would be great. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[leo255]

Use CodeBlocks...You won't want to use anything else.

My advice would be to use video tutorials over books...At least, that's what works best for me. The best video series I've encountered by far is LiveLessons C++ fundamentals I/II. If you go along with his lessons, and don't move ahead, unless you truthfully know the section and can reproduce the code on your own several times, you will be in good shape.

[cire]

Use CodeBlocks...You won't want to use anything else.

I would try out several IDEs and choose the one you like best. Visual Studio is an exceptional one, although Code::Blocks is probably the most popular choice among beginners if you don't want to use the Microsoft compiler.

My advice would be to use video tutorials over books.

I would advise the exact opposite. Videos tend to have lots of bad practice and incorrect information in them, as well as making very poor references. A good book is really something you don't want to do without.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-book-guide-and-list

[dunnmifflsys]

I would highly, highly recommend lynda.com. They have a great tutorial.

[jwkNwA7f]

Tutorial on this website: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/ is good.

Also a good book I have been reading is Beginning C++ Through Game Programming 3rd Edition by Michael Dawson. It is on Amazon.com for $22.51.

Other tutorials:
http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c++-tutorial.html
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cplusplus/index.htm

I also recommend using Visual Studio and Code::Blocks with mingw.

[leo255]

I would advise the exact opposite. Videos tend to have lots of bad practice and incorrect information in them, as well as making very poor references. A good book is really something you don't want to do without.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-book-guide-and-list

That's fine. Like I said, what works best for me, is clearly video tutorials. I would probably go nowhere if I was forced to use only books (I have dozens of C++ books on my hard drive). The video series that I mentioned above is very thorough, probably the best video series I've encountered so far in any language.

[caunterstrike]

thanks for the advice guys!

i've decided to try code blocks and until now it's been fine. I've been following some tutorials on youtube but they have focused entirely on C++ (the language) and i wanted to build a GUI. so i downloaded wxWidgets to play around with but i can't install it (compile it? build it?) i followed this video exactly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgAaiBg4wEE but when i do the part in comand line i get the following problem

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Laptop>C:\wxWidgets-2.9.5\build\msw
'C:\wxWidgets-2.9.5\build\msw' is not recognized as an internal or external comm
and,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Users\Laptop> C:\wxWidgets-2.9.5\build\msw
'C:\wxWidgets-2.9.5\build\msw' is not recognized as an internal or external comm
and,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Users\Laptop>

i'd be extremely greatful if somebody could take a look and tell me what i'm doing wrong. (in baby steps)

I really enjoyed learning so far but it feels like i've hit a wall now.

Thanks in advance

[caunterstrike]

well after continuing to try to compile it, to no avail, i've explored some other options. I'm now considering Visual studio express and directx. I'm keen to get started on game development as quickly as possible and from what i've read this seems like my best option. what i don't want to do is spend days getting familiar with this combination to then discover that there is a better or simpler option. so please share your wisdom with me.