Reddit reviews Starting Out with C++: From Control Structures through Objects (6th Edition)
We found 3 Reddit comments about Starting Out with C++: From Control Structures through Objects (6th Edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
I started my summer semester with no experience whatsoever. Right now, I'm about halfway through Programming 1 (C++). I'm able to write basic programs (word counter, "day of the week" program, and other simple stuff).
As for doing something useful: I build a simple little robot recently. I did all of the mechanical and electrical work, and I had no idea how to do the programming side of it. I used a program that some people had suggested, so that kind of worked for the time being. My goal by the end of the semester is to write my own program for my robot!
I would really recommend a book like Starting Out With C++ - From Control Structures through Objects - 6th Edition by Tony Gaddis. I think it has a lot of well explained examples.
I hope that helps!
C++ was my first language, followed closely by Assembly and then Java. While I agree with you on the most part, I think it's better to learn something seemingly more "complex". Once you get into the flow of things, other languages seem easier.
OP, I started programming back in high school as well. While my instructor was fairly decent, I would still recommend you take the "sucky" teachers' c++ courses. That could help with getting started. YouTube tutorials and buying a relatively cheap book off of amazon worked wonders for me. Programming is "perfected" through practice, practice. A whole lot of the things (most of them, anyway) you're going to learn on your own, but having a teacher around could help a bit. Best of luck!
This is the book I most recently got (well, received from a friend) about a year ago. This is the one I used back in high school.
Join Stack Overflow to ask questions/learn from previous questions asked, and github to share your code.
Edit: Added links.
> I think if I learn how to program with an aim to work as a software developer and make games on the side, is this viable after just turning 20?
There's nothing wrong with the age of 20. I started school at 20, graduated in four years, and found work as a software engineer right out school.
What you have to figure out is how to make the best of your time left in school: should you take a class or two on programming and graduate on time, or (more dramatically) change your field of study to computer science and spend a few more years in school? That's something only you can decide. If you want to finish your architecture program and graduate in a reasonable amount of time, I can assure you that your math and physics background will be enough to get you work as a software engineer, but only if you can actually program.
Part of working as a software engineer means being able to program in multiple languages. That's because it's not really about the language, it's about the logic. All languages follow certain patterns and while syntax or wording may change, they all share ways to implement the same logic.
It also means knowing what data structures to use for what scenarios. The phrase "There's no such thing as a free lunch" comes to mind. All data structures have advantages and weaknesses and no data structure is perfect for every occasion. Know the differences, know the performance impact, and be able to speak to them. This won't just help you write better code, it will help you land a job. Interviewers love to ask questions about data structures.
As a corollary to data structures, you also need to know your algorithms. You need to know the performance impact of different ways to search and sort, traverse graphs, and find the shortest path (particularly relevant for game programming).
You said you're learning Python and that's great. Python is a great way to learn how to program. It's dynamic, it's friendly, and it has a rich library. Learn Python inside and out, then pick another language and figure out how to do the same things. C++, Java, and C# are all pretty popular in the industry, pick one of those. Once you know how to program in a few languages, you focus less on minute implementation details specific to one language and more on high level abstraction shared across multiple languages. By that point, you'll no longer be speaking in code, you'll be speaking in plain English, and that's the goal.
I don't know many good free online resources for learning languages, I learned mostly out of textbooks and lecture slides (along with lots of practice). There are some links in the sidebar to some tutorials that are worth checking out. Beyond that, I can recommend some books you may want to read.
EDIT: I added Programming Interviews Exposed because it's a good reference for data structures, algorithms, and interview questions