New to C++... where to begin?

[MrSlippery]

Greetings,

I have always been fascinated with programming, though I've never delved too far into it. I took some classes in high school, but other than that I haven't done anything worth mentioning.

As a hobby, I thought that I'd like to get into it and actually learn to program something (I'm not sure what exactly).

There's so much information out there, though... I don't know where to begin. If someone could recommend a place to download a good compiler, and point me towards some e-books (free preferably, I don't want to spend $40-50 only to realize programming isn't really for me) or tutorials I'd surely appreciate it.

Thanks,

Slip

[iHutch105]

Welcome!

I'd start off with simple console applications. Your best start point would be the good old "Hello World" program, I guess. There's a few tutorials on this very site: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

I can't really advise as far as books, I'm afraid. I learned most of my C++ stuff at university and the only book I really used was The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup. Even then, that was only as a reference. There are probably a few more tutorial based books out there, but I'd wager you'll be able to find everything you need to know on this website.

One final resource is the one you're already using; this forum. As long as you show a willingness to learn, people are always happy to help.