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Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Sorry if this has been suggested already...

http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/CDT

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Quote:

Originally Posted by basicxman (Post 841792)

Hey everyone, I'm wanting to learn C++ (I have a basic knowledge of it already though, unfortunately it's mostly forgotten though) and using it to make windows applications with a GUI. Preferably free online material, does anybody know where to start? Thanks! Programming Level: Novice

My recommendation is to first learn the language, and then learn how to add a GUI.

The book I recommend for learning the language is C++ How to Program (ISBN-13: 9780136152507) or C How to Program (ISBN-13: 9780132404167). This is the book I used to learn C. There are probably lots of other good ones out there, but from first-hand experience, I can say that C How to Program is a top-notch book. It has lots of tutorials and problems and exercises for you to work through. Once you rate yourself above "Novice" level, then learn how to add a GUI. Unfortunately, neither of these books are cheap (you certainly don't need both), but you may be able to find one at a used book store for much less (especially if it's an older edition).

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ay2b (Post 843833)

My recommendation is to first learn the language, and then learn how to add a GUI.

I'm going to speak out against that recommendation.

A good GUI really wants to have the program written around it, rather than putting a GUI on top of a program. The event-driven model adopted by most GUI frameworks is something that needs to be considered from the beginning. If the goal is to write fully-functional and easy-to-use Windows applications, I would suggest starting with the GUI features right away, incorporating the necessary programming idioms and following high-level examples. Once the basic shape of the framework is known and mostly understood, then the task of closely studying the language in context can be fruitful.

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

I'm currently going through Sams Teach Yourself C++ in One Hour a Day, sort of a 888 page bible on C++. It's extremely well written with lots of good stuff. GUI is the next step afterwards... I'm probably going to use DirectX or OpenGL

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson (Post 843843)

A good GUI really wants to have the program written around it, rather than putting a GUI on top of a program.

I agree. What I meant was that I believe one should first learn the structures of the language -- how do pointers work? what are linked lists? what are queues? what are objects? how does inheritance work? etc -- before learning all the GUI functionality. I meant that one would "add GUI programming to their body of knowledge", not that they would "add a GUI on top of an existing program". I probably wasn't clear on that point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson (Post 843843)

The event-driven model adopted by most GUI frameworks is something that needs to be considered from the beginning. If the goal is to write fully-functional and easy-to-use Windows applications, I would suggest starting with the GUI features right away, incorporating the necessary programming idioms and following high-level examples. Once the basic shape of the framework is known and mostly understood, then the task of closely studying the language in context can be fruitful.

Everyone learns differently. In my opinion, the more linear nature of simpler non-GUI programs is easier to understand that the event-based, message passing model of most GUI frameworks. To other programmers, the event-based model might make more sense.

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nathan (Post 841972)

OK, I just checked on the Qt website. It looks like they do have a free version available under the LGPL license. But, if you ever decide you want to sell one of your programs with Qt, you'll have the pay the 4K licensing fee.

WxWidgets has a lot of features, maybe that's what you mean by complex?

If you decide to try out WxWidgets, use the "WxPack," not the "real" version where you have to build the library yourself.

http://wxpack.sourceforge.net/

You need to look into LGPL further. You do NOT have to pay for licensing if you want to sell a program later!

I will put in a huge word for Qt here. I've been using it for the last 5-6 years at work for cross platform development. Previous to this, I had used Microsoft MFC and also some other cross platform libraries. Qt is by far the best thought out and most comprehensive solution, and it's now free. I've convinced a few people to spend a weekend with Qt and a 'programming with Qt' book, and they've all been able to get started quickly. Certainly much faster than with straight windows calls or MFC. It was written by programmers for programmers and it shows in the logical design. The extras, such as networking, xml, database, and so on are just great extras.

Steve

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Wow! Thanks Steve! I didn't know the difference between GPL and LGPL before your post prompted me to check. I had no idea Qt was available for commercial apps, for free.

Time to check out Qt :)

Do you have any specific books you would like to recommend?

Re: C++ Windows Programming?

Andy, I was in almost the same place you were around this time last year. I was learning C++ and wanted to move on to some GUI programming.

For basic C++ turtorials, www.learncpp.com worked as an awesome tool for me.

As for Windows API and GUI work, this tutorial got me off the ground:

http://www.winprog.org/tutorial/

Visual Studio is an awesome IDE in my opinion, regardless if you're just doing console work or doing GUI stuff. It also has MSDN help built directly into it, which is extremely useful while doing Windows API work. You can the express version for free at http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/

Best of luck.