Moving from C# to C++
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I already know C# and I'm trying to learn C++ (it seems to be more required by employers.) All the reference material I have on C++ is geared to learning from absolute basics and I get tired of reading about the difference between ++x and x++ etc (I still read it in case there happens to be something subtle that I wouldn't already know.) So can anybody recommend any good resources that are comprehensive, but won't re-cover stuff thats the same in C#? Thanks, Chris
c2423 wrote:
I already know C# and I'm trying to learn C++
Two rules: 1) Forget everything you know about C# - despite similar syntax it is a *very* different language with different goals. 2) Get a recent book (not the Eckel's one). Stroustrup's Programming -- Principles and Practice Using C++[^] is probably pretty good for a beginner. Another good one is Accelerated C++[^] Good luck.
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Anytime! The nice thing about the Meyers books (there are a few others such as "More Effective C++" and "Effective STL") is that they teach you the common mistakes not to make, hopefully before you get into a habit of making them. :) Whereabouts in M25 land are you by the way? Beth and I are based in Bournemouth, but we've family in in Redhill so we tend to be up that way reasonably often. :beer:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Tech Blog | Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
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c2423 wrote:
C++ pointer questions
I'm not aware of any great differences with C# pointers, what are they? Besides not requiring the
unsafekeyword to use.. -
Yes, but only C# programmers with strong C++ experience knows that the unsafe context exists in C#. ;)
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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You may consider Bruce Eckel’s “Thinking In C++” – its free for download I the web. It’s terrible book for learning C++, but is also perfect reference for the language with tons of examples and very deep look to templates. Do you have some C background?
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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c2423 wrote:
I already know C# and I'm trying to learn C++
Two rules: 1) Forget everything you know about C# - despite similar syntax it is a *very* different language with different goals. 2) Get a recent book (not the Eckel's one). Stroustrup's Programming -- Principles and Practice Using C++[^] is probably pretty good for a beginner. Another good one is Accelerated C++[^] Good luck.
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Not far away at all. Hang around here long enough, and sooner or later you may just run into Beth and I on our travels. :laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Tech Blog | Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
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I live south of London, inside the M25. Don't get me wrong, I still do OK without the C++ it's just that it seems it would give me the edge over people when it comes to it. Recently I did 7 (yes, seven) rounds of interviews for a position for a C# position, and I eventually didn't get it coz I couldn't answer their C++ pointer questions.
Interesting. Back in 2001 when I was a report writer / sql programmer and learning .net, (on the job) the senior programmer told me not to bother with C++. He said, programming .net was much easier and that he would not even take another C++ job. So I never bothered to learn it. Anyway, that sucks that you had 7 interviews and you didn't get the job. That's really awful, they should have paid you for going to all those interviews. You probably don't want to work in a place that bureaucratic anyway. If you are looking to get ahead and make some serious money you might want to try learning to program sharepoint 2010 before it released. I have a feeling it is going to be very popular. And it looks like programming it will be much easier than the current version (which is painful).http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx[^] It is just my opinion. Perhaps C++ will get you where you want to be, but I decided to specialize in ASP.Net only back in 2001 and it has really worked out great. If programming SP 2010 is pretty painless, I'm going to really dive into that as well. Another trick is to really learn a 3rd party tool such as Telerik or Infragistics. If you can get your company to purchase you a license, becoming an expert with Telerik (or another popular 3rd party suite) will not only help you get a better job, you'll be able to make really slick front ends easily. Style over substance. Good luck!
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I already know C# and I'm trying to learn C++ (it seems to be more required by employers.) All the reference material I have on C++ is geared to learning from absolute basics and I get tired of reading about the difference between ++x and x++ etc (I still read it in case there happens to be something subtle that I wouldn't already know.) So can anybody recommend any good resources that are comprehensive, but won't re-cover stuff thats the same in C#? Thanks, Chris
Even if you don't get a job doing C++, it's a good thing to learn C++. It helps to learn where newer languages come from, and it helps to learn where the "missing features" are as well (full use of const in c# anybody?).
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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Interesting. Back in 2001 when I was a report writer / sql programmer and learning .net, (on the job) the senior programmer told me not to bother with C++. He said, programming .net was much easier and that he would not even take another C++ job. So I never bothered to learn it. Anyway, that sucks that you had 7 interviews and you didn't get the job. That's really awful, they should have paid you for going to all those interviews. You probably don't want to work in a place that bureaucratic anyway. If you are looking to get ahead and make some serious money you might want to try learning to program sharepoint 2010 before it released. I have a feeling it is going to be very popular. And it looks like programming it will be much easier than the current version (which is painful).http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx[^] It is just my opinion. Perhaps C++ will get you where you want to be, but I decided to specialize in ASP.Net only back in 2001 and it has really worked out great. If programming SP 2010 is pretty painless, I'm going to really dive into that as well. Another trick is to really learn a 3rd party tool such as Telerik or Infragistics. If you can get your company to purchase you a license, becoming an expert with Telerik (or another popular 3rd party suite) will not only help you get a better job, you'll be able to make really slick front ends easily. Style over substance. Good luck!
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
All good points, but I am trying to position myself into a certain industry as part of a longer term plan. Unfortunately its hard to find jobs in the right area that don't need C++. I will take a look at the SharePoint 2010 though - I have already done some development for SharePoint so it would be good to see what new features there are. Thanks, Chris
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Even if you don't get a job doing C++, it's a good thing to learn C++. It helps to learn where newer languages come from, and it helps to learn where the "missing features" are as well (full use of const in c# anybody?).
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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I did C at university, but I got a C# job immediately after leaving so I'm a bit rusty. Thanks for the recommendation - I do like books to be free :) Thanks, Chris
In this case you may consider spending one week playing with the C pointers. Make your own queue, use multiple references, break the memory, use function pointers etc. In some OOP scenarios in C++ you will need to be very familiar with the pointers.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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My understanding is that you can also use C/C++ as a lingua franca when talking to other developers, so no shortage of reasons to learn! Thanks, Chris
That kind of depends - a lot of VB programmers won't understand you (and one heckuva lot of PHP developers either).
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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c2423 wrote:
This is the second reccomendation for Stroustrup,
Well, it IS his language :-)
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Yep, and whole conferences just stop when his hand goes up in the middle of a session.... :laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Tech Blog | Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
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Yes, but only C# programmers with strong C++ experience knows that the unsafe context exists in C#. ;)
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
I've seen it occasionally in 3rd party, or reflected framework code, but aside from one failed (performance issues) attempt at writing an rs232 library I've never actually written any in 4 years with .net.
The European Way of War: Blow your own continent up. The American Way of War: Go over and help them.
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My understanding is that you can also use C/C++ as a lingua franca when talking to other developers, so no shortage of reasons to learn! Thanks, Chris
IMO C#, Java, or even (shudder) VB are better for that than C/++. The former two share a syntax with their predecessors while not possessing as many obscure items or as complex a syntax to confuse people who haven't used it recently. By not having as many complex features C#/java are easier on someone who's familiar with a Cstyle language but not the specific one being used. The virtue of Vb's many sins is verbosity, and while annoying in many ways being verbose makes it easier to figure out if you're not familiar with it. That said, as long as you're not writing in an obfuscation tool masquerading as a programming language if you can't get the jist of a reasonable size snippet of code in an unfamiliar language you're probably not in the right business. EDIT: ... or at a minimum you should change your job title from developer/computer scientist/software engineer to code monkey.
The European Way of War: Blow your own continent up. The American Way of War: Go over and help them.
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I've seen it occasionally in 3rd party, or reflected framework code, but aside from one failed (performance issues) attempt at writing an rs232 library I've never actually written any in 4 years with .net.
The European Way of War: Blow your own continent up. The American Way of War: Go over and help them.
dan neely wrote:
but aside from one failed (performance issues) attempt
No why does that not surprise me... the performance issues, specifically ... ;)
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Yep, and whole conferences just stop when his hand goes up in the middle of a session.... :laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Tech Blog | Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
Sort of like when God says "Uh, excuse me..."
Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^] -
Sort of like when God says "Uh, excuse me..."
Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^]That's exactly it. A ball of silence emanating from the hand in question, followed by giggling from all around the hall as people began to realise exactly who's hand that was.... :laugh: It happened at ACCU 2007 during a slightly opinionated Dan Saaks session on the correct use of const. The price of the conference was worth it just to see that one event!
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Tech Blog | Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
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That's exactly it. A ball of silence emanating from the hand in question, followed by giggling from all around the hall as people began to realise exactly who's hand that was.... :laugh: It happened at ACCU 2007 during a slightly opinionated Dan Saaks session on the correct use of const. The price of the conference was worth it just to see that one event!
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Tech Blog | Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
I wish I would have seen that. We hired Saks to come in and teach a course in C++ back in the mid 90's. He was a good instructor, but I remember there were certain things that could cause him to go off on a tangent,
constamong them.Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^]