   Beginner questions? If you have answers please feel free!
  I am not new to the art of gaming, been doing it most of my life. But, I am a complete and uter newbie to the art of programming. I have bought books on C++ and such but they start you by basically copying and pasting your first program from a book to your compiler. This is not teaching me anything what so ever, and i''m hoping to attend school to learn this but without some kind of knowledge i will more than likely fail. So my question is if anyone knows the easiest way to get familiar with c++ and its basics so when i look at these books i realize what they are telling me rather than being a drone and copying and pasting and getting excited over something i really didnt accomplish. Anything will help refrence for c++ what languages to learn that will help me learn or understand c++ anything. Well thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and i hope you have something to share....Thanks,  Raul C Corona  raulccorona@hotmail.com 
  If you''ve already got a book on C++, go though any excersises it has in it, start with the small example programs and experiment to get a feel of how the basics work. Start small and build up. ;  Well, my first thought is that any goodbook should list more than just code.  Sometimes their explanatations of what they're doing are a bit tricky, but make sure to reread all of the text, and don't focus too much on just copying code.  And maybe they do startyou off copying code, but that shouldn't last too long.  This would only be to get you familiar with the environment, compiler, code style, etc.  Stick with the book, it'll most likely improve, and get into more interesting stuff than just copy/compile/run.  If the book continues to suck, get another one, if budget allows.  Ask here, everyone (exluding me, it seems) has good suggestions and opinions on which books are worthwhile.Also, try modifying the code, to see what happens.  Actually look carefully at the code; try to understand it.  If you have a good IDE, learn how to use the debugger, and step through the code, one line at a time.  This can be invaluable to learning the basics of programming, or even the inner workings of an advanced algorithm.  But don't assume that programming is about copying text that just does stuff, without the programmer really knowing whyor how    .  That's a true programmer's job, to understand why they are writing something.Of course, for a while, during the initial learning, I suppose that won't be the focus.  You first have to learn the basics of which function to use to get input, which function prints stuff on the screen, how an if statement works.  But eventually, you should start thinking algorithmically    .  It's one thing to print "Hello World!", or ask for two numbers, and print out the sum.  It's another to input a bunch of numbers, and then sort them, or to accept any basic mathematical expression, say "5 + 14 * (32 / 4) ^ 2", and return the result.  The latter two examples actually get you to think about how to solve them, while the first two are for the most part copy/paste sort of problems.  But as OrangyTang   said, start small.  The simple programs have to come first.  You'll work your way up the chain of complexity as time goes on.And above all, stick with it for a while.  If you like to think about how to solve problems, and not just have someone else tell you how, then you're likely to make a good programmer.  And you don't needto know much when entering formal education.  A lot of people do, but the largest reason why people fail in CS is just because they don't have the correct mentality for it.  So try it out now, endure some of the boring stuff that inevitably occurs, and maybe you'll be able to learn whether you really enjoy or not.   [edited by - Agony on February 10, 2004 11:09:23 AM];  What you said about the debugger is correct, it is an invulable part of programming. I have been contacting companies in the industry left and right trying to figure out what they are looking for in an applicant and by far debugging was the most important aspect of programmers. Quote from one of them was you will spend twice as much time debugging than you will programming. So I should have a strong grip on it..ehhe but that is yet just another part i must learn. If you have anything else helpful please feel free, i appreciate everything...Raul C Corona ;  If you check around here, there are solid recommendations for the GOOD books.  These should help you get the basics down.It was said before, but the best way to learn in my opinion is to mess with pre-existing code to see how it changes the program.  I learn better doing this than trying to hack out code again and again and not have it work remotely right.One last important note: C++ is, overall, not insane difficult.  Once you understand the basics of decision making, input/output, functions, program flow and the like, even very complicated things you''ll learn later on will at least be comprehensible, because the IDEAS used are the same.I may get flamed for pointing away from this site and I know not everyone likes it, but the first couple of tutorials at gametutorials.com (these http://gametutorials.com/Tutorials/C++/Cpp_Pg1.htm) really helped a couple of my friends, as you work with code that has the bejeezus commented out of it.  Anyways, best of luck, most importantly dont give up, you will get it! ;  Thanks, for the feedback... Book wise i currently not of my choice but learn in 24 hours, and 21 days by Sams Teach Yourself... was going to get primer but school will be giving that to me anyway. I will try the link you gave me, all advice is helpful so keep it coming please...and thank you all.Raul C Corona ;  Another good C++ book you can look into is Thinking in C++. The author was nice enough to offer this online freely so you can go over there and take a look and see if it''s any easier to understand for you. If there''s stuff unclear to you or you''re having trouble understanding something just post back here with questions.  --{You fight like a dairy farmer!} ;  My only advice would be to create some mini projects for yourself. Maybe you want to program The Ultimate Game (tm), so start learning by creating small portions of that game. That way, you''ll be looking for specific answers to problems in the book excercises instead of just "copy, paste, hey it works!" ;  wow, i feel smart being a 15 yr old and actually being able to understand and learn quite some computer programming languages without buying a single book. my advice is to go to google and search for tutorials and then go to the library and start reading and keep reading the same thing if u dont understand it from different sources itll soon going to start making sense. and oh yah in my case its the exact opposite i have no idea how do even start making a game i just know a couple of programming languages though. 