C or C++

[Eric Dunbar]

I'm working my way through an on-line tutorial
(<http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/>), am also reading bits and
bobs of the "Thinking in C" book (free, on-line, very easy read), will
be living the student life (which I sorely miss... the mental
stimulation of the working world just isn't the same) vicariously by
snooping on Stefan's website, and I'm sure I'll find other things to
learn off!

In creating my first basic apps & have discovered a quirk with the g++
compiler in YDL (gcc 3.2.2). If I compile the following (g++
problem.cpp -o prob) (plus, it bitches about deprecated/antiquated
headers in iostream.h):

#include <iostream.h>
main (){
int c; int d=50; unsigned short Age; int e;
cout << Age << ", " << e << '\n';}

This is output:
32767, 268437604

If I add:
int a, b;
before
int c;
I get:
0, 0

I also manged to get Age to show up with 4068 at one point. Why does
the default value for a newly defined variable change depending on the
definition of another variable? Does this mean you cannot assume 0 as
the default value?

Anyhow, time for some more fun...
Eric.

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:14:21 -0700, Longman, Bill <longman at sharplabs.com> wrote:
> > 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...
> 
> In my practical experience, I've found it, *hands down*, most fruitful to
> work alongside a good programmer. You need an understanding of the language
> syntax, obviously, but once you master that, it's the semantics that throws
> you. That's when a helpful nudge in the right direction can help open your
> eyes. "Oh, that's the way you do that!" I programmed in 4GLs for years and
> *always* had the language book at my side. It takes a while to get familiar
> with the libraries and by far the fastest I was ever able to get up to speed
> was when I had my book nearby and I had a good chunk of existing code handy
> in order to stare and compare with.
> 
> When you don't have a programmer nearby, you have to find good code on your
> own. Luckily, you've got an entire hard disk full of it (or at least could
> have) on your Linux box. And if it isn't there, there's surely plenty of
> great code at Sourceforge or Freshmeat.
> 
> 
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> 


-- 
Sincerely, Eric Dunbar