So I just got through reading programming principles and practices using c++ I am wondering from the people in here who code
would you suggest c++ primer 5th edition next or c++ the programming language next.
Hey Uprentiss,
I am just going to repeat what I heard other people have said about Unreal 4.
If you learn blueprints you are learning C++ the only difference is that there is no GUI for making game logic. You need to do that in Visual Studio.
As for Books I heard that - This book is really good for learning C++
I figured i am going to get really good at c++ regularly then move to the ie4 version, i was going to buy the book you linked though but I seen someone say on here it is outdated already so I wonder if that is true
Books are good if they provide a structure to your personal experimentation, or if they are interesting and have a few tips and tricks for specific problems to refer to. Granted, StackOverflow is eating the latter use’s lunch for the last few years.
The best way to learn C++ (or any programming language really) is to have a project and do it. Don’t be afraid of not knowing something – there’s plenty that you’ll not know even if you plan for it. The advantage of having a project is that you will then be motivated to solve any problem that you come across, which is when you will learn. Granted, there will be a disadvantage: you won’t exactly know how much you do and don’t know until you hit a wall. Eventually, you will not only learn a healthy base of information, but you will also learn how to learn efficiently.
So yeah… don’t let books give you an excuse to not do. If you have something you really want to do? Do it. If you really want to do it, then very few things can stop you.
you know of any place i can find c++ projects to do?
And this is where the discussion gets interesting.
Before I answer, why do you want to learn to program?
I basically just want to be good at c++, I had it in school but my instructor was horrible bro and didnt care to teach or if his students learned. so I am taking it upon myself to learn. But while there is a lot of tutorials out there as you mentioned up there I also am better at hands on but when I go to use what i just read or learned. I dont ever know what to make to practice it lol
Hmm.
So another question: Why are you asking on Unreal Engine forums?
Be blunt with your answer. I have a purpose for these questions that I’ll explain later. The problem is that the explanation will change the answers, which could lead to me giving you bad advice lol.
Tbh I know there is a lot of good programmers and seasoned ones here, I don’t really visit other forums as I been here a year or more and feel comfortable plus the users is always willing to help. I know a good amount of people are programmers that got into development and not developers that had to learn c++ , if that makes sense?
So I figured instead of asking some place am not active at I would ask at a place where the c++ is a big part of the scene
the majority of the people here is amazing at helping with things or guiding people so figured it was the best place to ask., plus we’re a community 
Yup. Any reason is a good reason to learn, and this is definitely a place where many C++ programmers hang out.
I was trying to see whether you had an special love for a particular subset of programming, though. Rather than just assume that you want to develop video games, because you’re in an Unreal Engine forum, I wanted to see if you showed any hint of passion for anything specific. If you did, that would be “your in” because you would care enough to spend dozens of hours learning and debugging. I could suggest “make a game of Minesweeper in Unreal Engine 4” and tell you the basic structure of the engine. Namely, you’d want to make each tile be an Actor that has a hidden boolean of whether it’s a bomb as well as an OnClicked event handler, which points to your function that changes the tile’s material depending on whether it is a bomb or not (clear or the number of surrounding bombs if it isn’t, or end the game if it is). You would then need tile manager Actor that spawns a grid of tiles in the editor, sets a random number of them to bombs, and tells non-bomb tiles how many bombs are nearby when clicked (to determine which material to change to).
That wouldn’t be too difficult, but if you don’t care about video games, it would be a waste of time and might just bore you away from the whole subject. You could be more interested in creating libraries, front-end designs, enterprise software, apps, or something else entirely. I was hoping that you would accidentally hint at something that I could grab on to, but it sounds like you’re more interested in learning C++ itself, not learning it for a particular reason. If so, that’s okay for now. It may take you a little time to find a niche that you like. That said, if you already know some hint about what you want to do, then that would be the best place to start.
Is there any particular discipline that has interested you in the past?
Right now I am trying to get an understand of OOP better, I have the basics down I have a small understanding of OOP but it is my hardest area and I do not know why So I am looking for things that may help me grasp the concept of it better. I love building programs in c++ any kind. I just lack ideas of projects in programming that will really test my knowledge and test my learning of the subject. in our school we did small things like multiplication tables, snake, tic tac toe and etc. but thats as far as it went then the school moved on to math, math, math lol we have done no programming yet past that except this term we are touching it a small bit again with intro to computer graphics.
Video games are one of the better examples of OOP because it is fairly literal. Many objects are things that you can actually place, move, and interact with.
At a fundamental level though, they are just contained bundles of data and code. Some are pure data, which are often used as messages. Some are pure code, which are often used as helper classes. Some are data and functions that make sense. Making a demo game in Unreal Engine 4 is a good idea, such as Minesweeper or Breakout, although I am obviously biased to that. For the most part, it will just cement the first four sentences of this paragraph, though.
If I may ask, did you like the book you just finished reading? Would you recommend it to a wee C++ beginner like me? I would like to learn C++ in a more formal way than I have tried in the past.
I loved it and would def reccomend it, It is way more like a text book and less like a “we make it cool and jazzy to learn this” but it is very to the point and explains things very very well. Its over 2000 pages and just great. def recommend