Author Topic: C++ Programming Resources (Read 32,596 times)

mouser · « **on:** April 19, 2006, 05:28 PM »

Free C++ Compiler/IDE for windows:
If you are using Microsoft Windows, and are new to C++, we recommend Dev-C++. Dev-C++ is a nice and friendly free (donationware!) c++ ide (which also installs a free c++ compiler by default):

website: http://www.bloodshed.net
direct download: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dev-cpp/devcpp-4.9.9.2_setup.exe

If you already have another c++ compiler for windows that you are comfortable with (like Microsoft Visual Studio), or if you are working in *nix with the standard gcc compiler, that's fine, but you must be familiar with how to use it before starting the assignments.

Free E-books and Tutorials:

Thinking in C++ - http://mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites
Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, Second Edition - http://www.cs.montana.edu/~mbauer/wwwback/c++/index.htm
C++ In Action - http://www.relisoft.com./book/index.htm
C++ Reference Guide - http://www.cppreference.com/
OOP Web - http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Files/CPP.html
About.com Tutorials on C++ - http://cplus.about.com/od/beginnerctutorial/l/blcplustut.htm
Standard Template Library Programmer's Guide - http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/
Pointers, References, and Arrays - http://www.gnomesane.net/code/doc/ptrarray/
C++ Source - http://www.artima.com/cppsource

Deozaan · « **Reply #1 on:** April 19, 2006, 05:34 PM »

I don't know C++ but I've heard that this is also a good resource:

http://www.cplusplus.com/

f0dder · « **Reply #2 on:** April 19, 2006, 06:04 PM »

A bit on the techier site, but really good: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/

Also, I would recommend Microsoft Visual C++ 2003 toolkit over the GNU compiler - it produces better code and has better C++ compliance. http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/ . Requires more setting up than dev-c++ though.

If you want something lighter than a full-blood IDE, I can recommend http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net - it has C/C++/... syntax highlighting.

There's also http://www.codeblocks.org/ instead of dev-C++, worth checking out.

app103 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 19, 2006, 06:22 PM »

These are titles from my programming ebooks page that aren't covered in the above post's list...and not on OOP Web either.

C++: A Dialog - http://www.steveheller.com/cppad/cppad.htm

Optimizing C++ - http://www.steveheller.com/opt/

An Introduction to C++ Programming - http://www.computer-books.us/cpp_1.php

Programming in C++ - Rules and Recommendations - http://www.computer-books.us/cpp_6.php

A Beginners C++ Book - http://www.uow.edu.au/~nabg/ABC/ABC.html

C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 - http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1

Eóin · « **Reply #4 on:** April 19, 2006, 10:14 PM »

Once you get going with C++ you'll want to check out the Boost libraries.

Also to confuse people with yet more options you can setup a nice console build environment with Boost Build System V2 (bjam). For my setup I use Programmers Notepad which has nice, if simple, project management, captures output from console programs like bjam and is able to nicely parse any errors and trace them back to the offending file, and has a couple of other nice touches.

mouser · « **Reply #5 on:** August 08, 2006, 09:03 AM »

Nice tutorial:
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/language/tutorial/

vivy · « **Reply #6 on:** April 16, 2007, 04:14 PM »

Openwatcom - for C,C++ and Fortran cross compilers and tools

icekin · « **Reply #7 on:** May 30, 2008, 09:32 AM »

Its worth noting that after a lot of development, Code::Blocks has finally hit a stable release (v8.02)and I've been using it for my programming courses this semester. Its quite decent. Download here : http://www.codeblocks.org

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** May 30, 2008, 10:07 AM »

Oh that is very cool news.. It seemed to stall for a while there (at least the stable releases did). Very good news indeed.

bgd77 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 08, 2008, 12:53 PM »

I am reopening this discussion to put a question that may had been responded in other parts of this forum (but I was unable to find those responses

). I hope you won't be tough on me. So, here it goes:

What books do you recommend to learn the syntax of C++?

I want to know, from your experience, what is the best book to learn C++.

Thanks!

fenixproductions · « **Reply #10 on:** October 08, 2008, 03:49 PM »

2bgd77
"Thinking in ..." books by Bruce Eckel are good choice IMHO.

Here's the download sites list:
http://www.mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites

bgd77 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2008, 06:34 AM »

Ok, thanks! It sounds good, I'll give it a try.

kartal · « **Reply #12 on:** May 03, 2009, 07:10 AM »

There is Codeblocks, it was easy to install and run without hassle

http://www.codeblocks.org/

SingingBoyo · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2010, 05:23 PM »

Eclipse CDT isn't bad, though I've never been able to set it up for OpenGL. Its great for me because I use so many different languages that having a single IDE for all of them is a great thing. I also use Code::Blocks for anything that needs OpenGL and for C++ graphics in general, but I find it is lacking the kind of code completion I get with most languages in Eclipse. The method completion really bugs me in Code::Blocks, because when you type in something it recognizes as a keyword, the method signature disappears and doesn't come back. (Makes constructing objects that have 5 or more parameters difficult.)

So, Eclipse CDT for non-graphic projects, Code::Blocks for others. Never liked Visual Studio, maybe because its a Microsoftism and those have always been too complex and involved for me.

Deozaan · « **Reply #14 on:** March 26, 2010, 12:02 AM »

Maybe this isn't the right place to ask, but does anyone have a a more recent opinion on a good C++ IDE/Compiler?

Bloodshed's Dev-C++ hasn't been updated in over 5 years (Feb 2005) and that was just a beta release.
Code::Blocks was last updated in Feb 2008.

I suppose if they were good and stable when they were released, and if C++ hasn't changed at all in that time then they could still be good IDEs, but I think they may have troubles with some aspect of Windows 7 64bit. Especially Dev-C++ which was released before Vista!

Oh, and I guess Code::Blocks most recent update was the Feb 27 2010 Nightly Build.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 26, 2010, 03:29 AM »

Quote from: Deozaan on March 26, 2010, 12:02 AM

Maybe this isn't the right place to ask, but does anyone have a a more recent opinion on a good C++ IDE/Compiler?

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but if you're looking for something on Windows MS has the free Express versions of Visual Studio, including one for C++:

- http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/#2008-Visual-CPP

Right now it's VS2008-based, but in a month or so it should be switched over to the VS 2010 version. There are some limitations:

- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/86562/what-is-missing-in-the-visual-studio-express-editions/86614#86614

but if you're just starting out or aren't impacted by the limitations, it's a very nice IDE. For C++ the big limitation is lack of support for MFC/ATL. There are some hacks for getting those libraries working (by downloading the driver kit, which has some support for them), but I'd say you might want to consider something like Qt instead and skip MFC altogether.

Speaking of Qt - I've never used their IDE, but I've heard good things about it:

- http://qt.nokia.com/products/developer-tools?currentflipperobject=821c7594d32e33932297b1e065a976b8

Lashiec · « **Reply #16 on:** March 27, 2010, 02:38 AM »

Code::Blocks is currently undergoing a testing and bugfixing phase in preparation for a new stable release, and I expect that at least it will support Windows 7 properly. 64-bit compatibility is another thing, the program should run fine, but generating 64-bit executables is a different thing, and I ignore if they will provide a 64-bit version of MinGW or not. Not that it's difficult to get such version by yourself, but it's always nicer to have everything configured in one step.

And, of course, if everything fails, you always have Linux as well.

ewemoa · « **Reply #17 on:** March 27, 2010, 03:46 AM »

Quote from: Lashiec on March 27, 2010, 02:38 AM

Code::Blocks is currently undergoing a testing and bugfixing phase in preparation for a new stable release

I've been using the nightly build that Deozaan referred to for some weeks now and it hasn't given me any trouble (though I'm just trying to see what it's like to create FARR plugins with it).

Quote

it's always nicer to have everything configured in one step.

Indeed! In retrospect, I don't think the steps involved in getting things working are hard -- what I found difficult was trying to find the appropriate instructions (note: here I'm referring to also installing MinGW and MSYS first) -- I misled myself via multiple sets of old instructions

daddydave · « **Reply #18 on:** July 01, 2010, 08:42 PM »

Some of the C++ links here have been mentioned before, some haven't. Just cleaned up the dead links.
delicious.com/daddydave/c++

EDIT: Later realized I had some more links tagged stl but not c++, cleaned those up and tagged with c++ so they show up in the list too.

ewemoa · « **Reply #19 on:** July 01, 2010, 09:42 PM »

Thanks for sharing!

I particularly found:

http://gigamonkeys.com/blog/2009/10/16/coders-c++.html

to be interesting.

I've started to read Bruce Eckel's Thinking in C++ which has been mentioned (or hinted at) on DC before. So far it has been helpful in sorting out various points I've been confused about and it's nice that it seems fairly readable on certain small-screen devices (being in HTML).

(Thanks to fenixproductions and jgpaiva for their recommendations of Eckel's works -- perhaps if I become interested in Java at some point, I'll take a look at Thinking in Java.)

ewemoa · « **Reply #20 on:** July 09, 2010, 05:46 AM »

Started reading An Introduction to GCC -- seems fairly clear so far.

(Although I'm mostly using Code::Blocks, since I'm using it with GCC, I figure it's worth understanding GCC somewhat especially for when things don't get so smoothly (e.g. understanding the output in Code::Blocks' "Build log" and "Build messages" windows -- I have the "Compiler logging" setting set to "Full command line" (via Settings -> Compiler and debugger... -> Global compiler settings -> Other settings -> Compiler logging)))