C or C++

[Stefan Bruda]

At 21:39 -0400 on 2004-10-15 Eric Dunbar wrote:
 >
 > Has anyone on here stumbled across any useful (introductory) sites
 > on the web on C or C++? Especially useful would be ones centered on
 > the gcc & how to use the compiler (even just a basic primer on how
 > to set up files to prepare them for compiling with the gcc).

I am actually teaching in this term a course on advanced C++ (in which
I assume that students are familiar with the basic control structures
from their first year Java, but these basic structures are reviewed
too).  I am also offering in there directives on how to compile stuff,
how to create makefiles, and other goodies.  The course is
Linux-centered (our departmental labs run Linux), you may find the
Course's Web page (http://turing.ubishops.ca/home/csc218) and the
lecture notes therein useful.  You cat even try the assignments if you
feel like it. :-)

The site aside, I really believe that learning a programming language
(especially a complex one like C++) is best done through books and
practice.  Practice by itself does not solve anything though, you may
learn to do C++ programs this way, but you will likely learn to do bad
programs if you don't teach yourself the good programming practice
first (hence the requirement of a good book).  But then maybe this is
only the opinion of a prof who works in formal methods and has some
interest in programing languages...

One of the best C++ text I have seen to date is Data Structures and
Problem Solving in C++ (by Mark Allen Weiss, second edition,
Addison-Welsey, 2000, ISBN 0-201-61250-X), it is worth having it even
if it is not the cheapest book out there (Amazon carries it at
CAD113).  More texts (cheaper ones too) are mentioned on the site, as
well as some links to other Web resources on the matter.

Cheers,
Stefan

-- 
If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as
it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.
    --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass