Re: What can C++ achieve and how to learn C++?
TB wrote:
I am thinking about learning a programming language and I want to
decide whether it is worthwhile spending my time learning the C++
programming language.
I am a starting C++ programmer. By that I mean that I have written one
small application in C++ on a real job that required some modular
programming.
Let me get this straight... You've already done some work, got paid
for it (hopefully that's what "on a real job" means), and you still
don't know if "it is worhtwhile" to learn the language?
I think this is the situation described best by "If you have to ask,
the answer is <<no>>".
I am also familiar with the Object-Oriented Programming
techniques although I haven't used them extensively with C++. I have
no experience with the STLs, the MFCs, COM/DCOM, or CORBA.
Not sure what you mean by the 's' in "STLs", there is one Standard C++
Library (sometimes referred to as 'STL') and there are many implementations
of it, all striving to adhere to the definition. MFC, [D]COM, CORBA, have
really nothing to do with the language itself.
I have a few questions regarding what it takes to pick up C++ and
regarding what good the language is for. Basically, I want to know -
1) what are the top five ways to learn the language and the associated
platforms and how long does it take to progress from the beginner's
stage to an intermediate or expert stage?
Top five ways? You would need to ask the top five programmers. I don't
know them. Each individual learns the tools of the trade in his/her own
unique way. I can tell you that I learned C++ from books and from using
it in a project. Many do that, however, the percentage of time spent in
each of those activities differ. Some read books and can program without
pressing a key on the keyboard. Some just write code and never open
a single book.
2) what can be achieved using the language that is difficult to
achieve using other languages (for example, Java)?
C++ is a general purpose programming language. You can achieve in it all
you can achieve with any other general purpose language. Comparing C++
with other languages is considered a waste of time and asking to compare
C++ with anything (Java especially) is considered *trolling*.
3) What are the areas where the language is found useful and what are
those uses (again, say, in comparison to Java)?
Again, it's a general purpose programming language. It's used literally
_everywhere_. And, again, comparing it to anything else is pointless.
V
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