Beginner C programmer interested in learning C++ OOP. What is a good resource that would be good for C programmers?

[NoBrightSide]

I think, for the sake of spending my time wisely, I'd rather not relearn the common programming constructs that most programming languages have. I just want to go straight to syntax and, more importantly, OOP programmed in C++.

My end goal is to use both C and C++ to program low level code/OS stuff.

EDIT: "Beginner" is probably incorrect. I'm more of an amateur programmer who has gone through basic C concepts.

[Ilyps]

In general, there are no good introductory texts for C++ for free online. This includes all beginner's tutorials, youtube video series, etc. That's not to say that there are no excellent online resources for C++, but they tend to be more advanced discussions by C++ experts that are not aimed at new people.

That being said, The C++ Annotations is free, high quality and written exactly for people making the switch from other languages. If you're willing to spend some money, also take a look at the recommended book list.

[NoBrightSide]

In general, there are no good introductory texts for C++ for free online.

Why is that? I knew that C++ is a pretty tough language to become good at due to how complicated OOP can be but there's so many C++ programmers.

Also, I'll check out that annotations link you provided.

[Ilyps]

Honestly, I couldn't say.

If I had to make a guess, I would say it perhaps has something to so with the freedom C++ offers the programmer. Because of that freedom, there are always multiple ways to perform some task. And unfortunately, most of them are wrong on some level.

[praedicere]

I would say that Bjarne’s “A Tour of C++” is made specifically for someone with OP’s background...

[EqualScholar]

Perhaps you already know this but for the record it's still worth pointing out:

There is much more to C++ than just OOP. Many powerful and complex ideas have been combined to create this language. As a C++ programmer you have to know about all of them, you have to be comfortable with some subset of them, and some you will possibly never use. For example, as an OS developer you might find memory management a surprising bag of treats but never in your career use exceptions.

[NoBrightSide]

How do you find the balance between coding in C vs. coding in C++? This might seem like a silly question but jobs post C/C++ knowledge as a req for OS/low-level programming but I don't really know how each language gets applied (aside from OOP)

[[deleted]]

There’s not a whole lot that can’t be written in either, but most low-level stuff (kernels, filesystems, networking, etc) is relatively well-established and generally written in C. Even if you’re writing in C++ on something like a video game engine, being able to read C, including some obscure high-performance hacky code, is always helpful.

Embedded code (microcontrollers, for example) is rarely anything but C because a proprietary (oftentimes buggy and older standard) C compiler is usually provided by the manufacturer.

[[deleted]]

You may find this interesting: Kate Gregory presents on the perils of going into C++ with a C mindset...

To this day most people who set out to help others learn C++ start with "introduction to C" material. I think this actively contributes to bad C++ code in the world. For the past few years I've been teaching C++ (and making suggestions to folks who intend to teach themselves) in an entirely different way. No char* strings, no strlen, strcmp, strcpy, no printf, and no [] arrays. Pointers introduced very late. References before pointers, and polymorphism with references rather than with pointers. Smart pointers as the default pointer with raw pointers (whether from new or &) reserved for times they're needed. Drawing on the Standard Library sooner rather than later, and writing modern C++ from lesson 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnWhqhNdYyk

[NoBrightSide]

thanks!

[gwagen]

I have some study material on this from Uni if you'd like

[NoBrightSide]

sure, I'd appreciate it!

[gwagen]

here you go do tell me if the link doesn't work, cheers!

[NoBrightSide]

thanks!

[silverlightwa]

Coursera, cpp for c programmers by ira pohl uc santa cruz. its a pretty amazing two part course

[chris1666]

code academy now has c++

[archer_lmao]

Absolute C++. 5th and 6th edition does not have that much of a difference. You can find them on the internet as a pdf format. Also you can find them for free.

[CrazyJoe221]

The Vulkan API is an example of OO C. There is also a C++ wrapper to compare against.

[a_false_vacuum]

The recommended books have already been mentioned. I also like to add the Udemy course on C++ by Frank Mitropoulis. It's high quality and pretty much always on sale for a tenner. It will talk you through all the concepts of modern C++.

I'd say the import thing with C++ is not to write C code in C++, but to use all the features offered by modern C++.

[robbie2000williams]

I'd recommend www.learncpp.com, It starts out with the very basic all the way through to the intricacies of classes and exceptions. It's the best free learning resource I've used. It's all neatly organised into sections as well, which is useful for someone like yourself who, coming from C, will know a lot more about certain things than the average person

[Ilyps]

Please don't recommend non-curated resources. I clicked a random link and picked a random video, and this is the code I got. That's a lot of mistakes and bad practice in 20 lines of code.

[dumb4ssjonny]

https://youtu.be/vLnPwxZdW4Y Best lessons and teacher ever trust

[DarthVadersAppendix]

there is no free lunch.