Reddit reviews C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart (2nd Edition)
We found 12 Reddit comments about C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart (2nd Edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
I would suggest starting with C++ since it has classes and beginners seem to grasp classes pretty easily.
a. Download Visual Studio Express if you're on Windows, CodeBlocks if you're on Linux, or Xcode if you're on Mac.
C++ is the language used! It's not too hard of a class if you have any programming experience. And even if you don't it's not bad, it's meant to teach you the basics. I went through some of this book he summer before and learned almost everything we did in that class ahead of time and it made it a breeze! Good luck!
I used the first edition of this book years ago, the summer before university, and it helped me learn a lot of the basics.
Formatted version: (with a few edits)
>I am pretty new to this sub so excuse me if I go against the rules or formatting in any way.
>I am currently at a community college in NYC, majoring in Computer Science. Since I was a kid I was always fascinated by computers, how they worked and functioned. I always would tinker with the hardware or software. I even ran my own private server for WOW at the time (a big deal to me at that age).
>I entered college knowing I wanted to do computer science and I knew it dealt with a lot [of topics], not just coding or programming. When I got the prerequisites out of the way I was able to finally take a class that dealt with programming--intro to computer science--which aimed to ease you into coding through basic C++. My first week I was really happy and into it because I understood what was going on. I was ecstatic that I was actually doing some form of coding, basic or not.
>As the course progressed, I started to get lost and not understand anything. At that point I had no idea what was going on and before I knew it I had an F in the class. I talked to many people who had taken my professor before and not a single person said he's a good teacher. I have only heard negatives things about him, which is not an excuse for me to get an F in the class, but I told myself that I will retake the class and do my best next semester. (Btw if you are wondering all we did in that class was program the nim game and perfect it over and over.)
>Fast forward to next semester and I feel lost again although this time I put a lot of effort into the class and spent countless hours reading the book on my own and trying to teach myself. I even asked for help on /r/learnprograming and while I got lots of help there, I still could not understand many things. My main problem was that [even though] I could read the code and understand it, but I had a very tough time trying to write code for a specific problem, which seems to be a very common problem for many beginners. I messed up a lot in the class but at the end I received a B-, which is ok but I feel like I came out of the class without having learned anything.
>To make matters worse I start the advanced C++ course this fall and I'm terrified. To give more insight about my other teacher, he's very good at the lecture portion of the class but when it came to lab (where we actually did coding) he would give us a problem and just sit there at his desk. There were a lot of people who had problems with the class and a handful who knew what they were doing. Toward the end of the semester he told us that the college's program was very underfunded and that the photography major had more funding. He also told us that he disliked coding but was teaching it to us anyway.
>Sorry if this is dragging on or I'm not getting to my point quick enough but I wanted to give context to my current situation. So far from my experience with those two courses I feel very discouraged and scared. I have had the thought of switching majors countless times but I don't want to give up on CS. I am contemplating computer engineering because it combines computer science with electrical engineering. I will not only be coding, but working on hardware as well, which sounds like the best of both worlds to me. Then I think, if I can barely even make it in CS what makes me think I'll be able to do something harder?
>I am very scared for my future and just feel lost. I have contemplated switching to music production or audio engineering but those are only hobbies that I practice in my free time and I don't see much money there. I feel very scared as well that even if I manage to get a bachelors that I will just be sitting in a desk all day long killing myself and not having some sort of fun with my career, afraid that it will be a burnout job which a lot of people told me. Although I do understand that this all depends on the job you work in and the type of programs you write, as well as how much you even like programming to begin with.
>I apologize for this very long post but I guess I needed to vent and seek advice, also sorry if this is also poorly written as I am writing this in a rush because I need to go somewhere. To give further information I was using this book.
(I'm just watching an old episode of Mad Men with friends so I figured formatting this would be semi-productive.)
If you want a great beginner book on C++ I recommend "C++ Without Fear"
I started with just about the same quest and this is the book that I found:
C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart
I'm only just getting into it, so I can say for certain that it's a roller coaster of barrels filled with monkeys (not that I expect it to be), but I chose it because for many of its examples, it has you coding up small games.
The original edition of this book got me started in programming. I have a strong bias toward encouraging new, serious programmers to start with a natively compiled language and move from there. If you're looking for a leg up, I think this would be a great book for you to work though.
You are making a great decision learning C++. I think that you should go one step further and learn C first. It is usually the first language taught in university computer science programs.
A good book to use for C++ and the one that I used a while back is C++ Without Fear.
Also if I have persuaded you to learn C. I am making a website that teaches how to code in C interactly @ CodeStart. The demo/beta will be out in about 2.5 weeks.
Hi OP. I tried learning programming, but found most beginners books to be absolute shit and aimed at already proficient programmers. It's hard to find a book that targets absolute beginners. So far this is a very good book I've found:
C++ without fear.
It teaches C++ for absolute beginners. C++ is probably the most important programming language out there, though not necessarily the easiest. You can find a download link to the pdf here.
You will need to download and install visual studio of course. As for the internet connection problem.. yeah maybe you can ask for access to the internet by explaining to prison officials your intentions.
I used this book, C++ without fear, when learning C++ at school
https://www.amazon.com/Without-Fear-Beginners-Guide-Makes/dp/0132673266
its a good book for learning C++, its a bit dated but its good for starters. After that you should get something better, like C++ prime as recommended by /u/EraZ3712
C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart (2nd Edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Without-Fear-Beginners-Guide-Makes/dp/0132673266/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395309620&sr=1-1
Been using this one for a while and it's pretty good. It goes over all the concepts and many parts of the language without getting insanely technical out of the gate.
I use the codeblocks ide as of now.
I have these two books
http://www.amazon.com/C-Projects-Programming-Text-Based-Games/dp/1423902270
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0132673266/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I plan to get the efective c++ this weekend.