I'm new to c++

[swift nebula]

I need to know, how hard is c++, and what are the skills I need for standard c++ applications?

[split quiver]

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[mild tartan]

C++ is considered complex as compared to other languages out there but i believe nothing is hard if you put your mind on it, as for the second question i don't know what standard c++ application is but the skills you need to create command line applications is problem solving and c++ itself with decent knowledge on how to use compiler and debugger.

For applications with graphical user interface you'll have to learn a Gui framework of which Qt is one example.

[vital plaza]

it realy depends on what you consider standard

[swift nebula]

well, basic functions of a programming language, if, while, functions etc.

[vital plaza]

Honestly hard to say C++ is widly huge and what you need depends on what you want to do

[plush lodge]

Know at least how to convert between decimals, hexadecimals, octal decimals and binary. That alone will help a lot.
Learn about binary representation of numbers in the memory like: Two's complement, representation of signed numbers where highest bit is used to indicate if number is negative.

[vital plaza]

but honestly the best way to get started is just to get a good book

[swift nebula]

well that's a bad start

[plush lodge]

Floating point numbers have different representation too

[vital plaza]

Know at least how to convert between decimals, hexadecimals, octal decimals and binary. That alone will help a lot.
eh you realy don't need to know this for most applications

most of that realy isn't to important

[swift nebula]

Like float (or double) x = 5.3

[plush lodge]

Eh to learn C++ it helps a lot to know these

If he doesn't know C++ or programming overall then it helps

[vital plaza]

eh meh. for the most part it doesn't realy matter

[swift nebula]

alright good to know

[vital plaza]

just knowing some basics is plenty for these

[plush lodge]

But knowing it helps a lot

[vital plaza]

okay but like 2s complement etc basically doesn't matter

[plush lodge]

It matters when you want to understand what's happening

[swift nebula]

tomorrow

[coral prism]

I'd say this:
be prepared to take at least a year of practice before you get even slightly good.
Also the path from 0 to an application is especially complex in C++
mainly because you need to manually gather all sorts of ingredients

[plush lodge]

difference between unsigned and signed, and why they have different number limits, what's a good data type to store numbers you want etc.

[swift nebula]

I have 1 year of experience in python I should be good

[vital plaza]

I am not saying to never learn about it. just saying it's not all to important for beginners

[plush lodge]

I mean say what you want, that's my stance no matter what, you aren't wrong but he should know these

[coral prism]

you think 😉

[swift nebula]

yeah I'm learning the most broken language in the world rn (java... script) I'm fine

[plush lodge]

Python is not a static-typed language, whatever your variable holds is dependent solely on what you input into it so it takes care of many things for you

Here you will have to think about these things

You will see I guess

But sure that 1 year experience will help immensly

[vital plaza]

honestly python is more strongly typed then C++ 🤷

[open wigeon]

C++ is 30 hard.

[swift nebula]

ah I see

I have no idea what's going on, but I'm glad it's less toxic than the python community

well I think that's all I need to know

or do we keep this going?

[vital plaza]

honesdtly the most important thing I can say for C++ is get an good book

[swift nebula]

time to go online for that

[coral prism]

... as expected from a snake
wait. It's not poisonous!?

[plush lodge]

Yeah or if you want to, you can choose https://learncpp.com for starters

[vital plaza]

murachs C++ is supposidly pretty good

[swift nebula]

yippee, I'll take notes

[split quiver]

How to Learn C++ Programming

We generally recommend a good book to learn the necessary fundamentals:

• Murach’s C++ Programming
• Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++
• learncpp.com

To actually write and run C++ code, you will need a compiler, editor, and debugger. We strongly recommend to start out using an IDE, which will provide all these tools for you:

<:microsoft:1165512917047853127> Windows

• [Visual Studio](#1165492293810257920 message)
• CLion

<:tux:1165505626894520361> Linux

• Qt Creator
• Visual Studio Code
• CLion

<:apple:1165508607798943754> Mac

• Xcode
• CLion

Words of Advice

The wise programmer is told about the debugger and uses it.
The average programmer is told about the debugger and avoids it.
The foolish programmer is told about the debugger and laughs at it.

[swift nebula]

I have visual studio setup already

[plush lodge]

Community I hope

[swift nebula]

and I think I'm already gaining carpal tunnel .

[swift nebula]

yep it's conmunity

[plush lodge]

Visual Studio Code will be harder to set up for you

nice

[swift nebula]

I didn't find vs code fun to use

[plush lodge]

VS Community has everything basic set up for you

debugger is built in with GUI and keyboard shortcuts

managing project files is built in

[swift nebula]

well how nice ain't it

[plush lodge]

for linking libraries you have GUI

Basically whatever you would need, like tests for your functions can be set up.
Block-tree showing how your code functions connect to each other.
Profiler to check what's performant and what not

many useful things

[swift nebula]

so I did make the good choice

not setting up c++ on fleet that was stupid

[plush lodge]

best choice out there for a beginner right now, other good choice is CLion from what I've heard

but I've nver used it so I can't really say

[swift nebula]

I don't got 100+ dollars lying around to pay yearly

[plush lodge]

On Windows Visual Studio IDE (Community, Enterprise etc.) is king

[open wigeon]

best advice: actually take the time to learn the fundamentals. even though they seem really annoying and tedious.

[plush lodge]

students can get it for free

[swift nebula]

what are those fundementals

[swift nebula]

with the teachers right?

[plush lodge]

Basic features of the language

[swift nebula]

right?

[swift nebula]

be specific...

[plush lodge]

Yeah I think they have offers for schools over all

[plush lodge]

Understanding pointers for once, data conversions (very important, you can have data loss if you don't do it correctly)

[swift nebula]

well, uhh I need to pray that works, cause I ain't in school yet

Canada is intresting

[plush lodge]

Some data conversions look simple but aren't

[swift nebula]

yeah I can tell

[open wigeon]

in python.. a = b + c; move on, think no more about it. in C/C++. actually stop and think about implicit type conversions, unsigned overflow, signed overflow=UB.

[plush lodge]

Understanding scopes is important, so you don't create bug by simple overshadowing names

[swift nebula]

that's not gonna be annoying at all 😄

[plush lodge]

Understanding what keyword static does to variables

[swift nebula]

well its really not

[swift nebula]

so what does that do?

I always wondered

[swift nebula]

it depends 👁️

[open wigeon]

make the compiler work for you. -Wall -Wextra -Werror and fix everything!

[plush lodge]

If you declare it in the header file and split your code in few source files, and each of these source files includes this header, then this variable might just be declared multiple times for these source files. It will be bunch of different variables

rather than being one that you refer to

It can happen, doesn't have to but one should use when actually needed

[swift nebula]

alright?

[vital plaza]

static realy isn't that important for beginners

you rarely need it anyhow

[swift nebula]

how swell

[swift nebula]

its the varying usecase that makes it annoying in my opinion

but in MOST cases it just means a variable has static lifetime meaning it persist through the program in heap memory

actually not heap i shouldnt say heap

[swift nebula]

ah I see

[plush lodge]

not gcc here, he's on msvc side now

[swift nebula]

gcc had to be the most painful installs I've ever done

2nd place is windows server 2025

[proud osprey]

Just go through a course, such course will present to you all the knowledge you need to know.

[swift nebula]

ok

[open wigeon]

then /W4 etc

[swift nebula]

this makes me realize how unfamiliar I am with the terminal

dev-cpp WAS a mistake I see..

[plush lodge]

devcpp IDE? man.. yeah it's old as hell

[open wigeon]

you probably got bad advice; cause i just unzip a .zip and then click a .bat file, and it's working.

[plush lodge]

Isn't it using old Borland compiler?

[vital plaza]

I wish I could like W4 a bit more, but god is it annoying

[swift nebula]

I hate it here

[open wigeon]

yeah; it's close to a -pedantic but i find /W3 is missing lots of important warnings.

[swift nebula]

I got bad advice..

[vital plaza]

yeah, I kinda want somethign in between like yes I know my numbers can overflow but like it's not an issue get off my back

[swift nebula]

I'll come back to this tomorrow, give some ideas while I'm gone

[plush lodge]

btw. for that I meant that they are written into memory differently, in way different from how you would write integers to memory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating-point_arithmetic#Other_notable_floating-point_formats
Above you have an image showing how it's split, you can read the article(?) if you want.
Sooner or later it would be good to know this, so you will know why NaN and inf exist.

[open wigeon]

yeah.. /W3.5 is needed. i use /W4 and a bunch of pragmas to turn off the really annoying ones

[open wigeon]

i like these conversations, makes me quickly check/re-evaluate the situation.. i've got /W4 set, but also some more things turned on.. like c++ #pragma warning(1:4296) // an unsigned variable is compared with zero wtf?! i think i copied the comment wrong... cause if that's what it's doing.. it makes no sense

[plush lodge]

You guys know that you guys aren't in #1013107104678162544 or #c-cpp-discussion right?

Just saying, kinda bloat to the thread

[swift nebula]

!solved