Best Beginners Book

[Crackle19]

I have Visual C++ 6.0 and I want to have a good book to start off with. I have pages and pages of online tutorials, but I want to have finished a book first before I dive into the online information.

Currently, I am learning through this page :

http://pomelo.ivia.es/mecanizacion/www/vcpp/section1/section1.html

The books which I am contemplating over are :

Sams Teach Yourself Visual C++ 6 in 24 Hours
Sam's Teach Yourself Visual C++ .Net in 21 Days
Visual C++ 6 for Dummies
Visual C++ 6 for Dummies Quick Reference

There are way to many books to count and these four are just the ones which stood out as beginners guides.

I would like to know your opinion on what book(s) ( Any book, does not have to be one I listed ) is best to start with.

Thanks,
Crackle19

 

[RbgoWeb]

I started out learning to program through these books:
-Assembly language for the PC by Peter Norton, John Socha
-Type and Learn C by Tom Swan
But that was at the end of MSDOS, beginning w95 time. I don't recommend studying MSDOS now, but do recommend learning the basics of programming in assembly and then learn C (C++ later); it give you a better foundation for understanding C, constructing statements and functions, solving problems, writing code that executes fastest etc. You'll learn how C is a step ahead of assembly and why it excists and is standard language for most API's.

Choose books that focus on teach you a language separate from a book that teach you a develope enviroment. Lots of books that focus on teaching an IDE, have only a language- syntax and library reference, and that does not learn nice.

When choosing a book for VC++ you are probably bound to work with MFC (microsoft foundation classes). MFC can be seen as a C++ layer through which you access the Win32 API.

I'm a kind of person that tends to feel lost, insecure and foundationless when making such a big jump over, and not considering, a lot of fundamental stuff. One will jump over assembly, C, Win32 API straight to C++ and MFC. While you should learn Assembly and C first and then choose a book that uses C explaining an API which functionality you need to make a program with. For Win32 API for example, that would be Programming Windows by Charles Petzold. Learning this way later enables you to program more preciese things and are not restricted by what the MFC API on top of Win32 API exposes to you.

Don't learn from books that promise you to teach C in 24 hours or a couple of weeks. Avoid disappointments, bad knowledge digestion and watching the calender. Practice patience for a lot of ground to explore, and be prepared learning the basics for 6-12 months, or any time you need to do it right.

 

[VincentP]

I really like Sam's Teach Yourself Visual C++ 6.0 in 21 Days, BUT: this book assumes you already know C++ and you only want to learn how to use Visual C++ and how to program a Windows GUI. If you don't know C++, I would not recommend it.

Vincent

 

[MeonR]

Hello

You might try also try; "Introduction to MFC Programming
With Visual C++" By Richard Jones. This is a good step-by-step guide.


MeonR

 

[Crackle19]

Do I need prior experience with C++ for "Introduction to MFC Programming With Visual C++" By Richard Jones?

Thanks,
Crackle19