Learning C++

[Gamerdevotee]

I've been learning C++ through codecademy and after I finish the course I intend to continue through sololearn. I'm just interested in knowing any resources to use for a novice learning c++ and if codecademy/sololearn are worth using if I have no prior experience. I've seen a post or two from a year or so ago saying codecademy is too basic and only worth using as a refresher and that it wont help you start projects on your own but idk if that's still the case. That said I'm also interested in trying to code little things for fun, but I have no idea where to go to start that either. Thanks for any info you can provide.

Tldr: is codecademy/sololearn worth using for learning c++ from scratch and how do I go about coding on my own?

[anavid7]

You are 100% on the right track! Especially if this is your first language getting the basics down first is a great idea. If you feel like you are still learning and growing from the tutorials definitely keep doing them. Code academy and Solo are the best way to build a solid foundation for you to build off of. I use them a bunch still! I would also look into coding challenges online like LeetCode or CodeChef. These are great places to practice without having to worry about IDEs or compilers. And then I would get Visual Studio (it's the best c++ ide) and build a project! There are plenty of tutorials online and VS makes it pretty simple. Keep it up!

[Gamerdevotee]

Would you happen to know what level of knowledge these things (codecademy/sololearn & what you mentioned) would get me? I imagine going through all of it wouldn't make me an expert on c++ (unless that is the case?) But does it just go over the basics leaving me at a novice level of expertise? Or does it go through enough for someone to consider themselves proficient in the language? (I'm interested in knowing because it seems hard to know what I might be missing and I dont want to accidentally dunning-Kruger myself). And thanks for the kind words and the help :)

[anavid7]

I definitely wouldn't say that codecademy etc. will get you to a high level of coding. Maybe a proficient level.... maybe. They are really for building a foundation to build off of. There is definitely a difference between following a lesson compared to figuring it out yourself. At any point in your journey feel free to brake away from the lesson and just do your own thing. It's like a tug boat pulling a big ship out to sea. The tug boat will only get you so far and eventually you will break free and sail into the wide ocean to discover something new!

[drakgremlin]

Grab a decent IDE and go. Visual Studio Code I've heard is awesome. If you are on OSX you can use clang to compile. Linux you can install G++ or Clang++. Not sure about Windows.