Code::Blocks Forums
User forums => Using Code::Blocks => Topic started by: RKCole on January 13, 2006, 05:01:21 am
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I hope that this is not just taking up space. I wanted to write (I just joined this evening) and say thank you for this wonderful program. On my income there is no way I could afford Visual C++ (even the student edition as I am a college student). I also tried Dev-C++, which worked but had some problems on my PC.
I am a legally blind user, and I am still somewhat new to C++. I passed my C++ courses at the college I attend with high grades, but unfortunately the professor did not know much about C++...thus I do not know much even after two quarters of hard work.
The fact that this program is cross-platform is very wonderful. I have a goal, eventually, to try to begin programming a magnification program (something with universal scrolling) for Linux and Windows as for a commercial application the price is near $600.
I want to thank the makers of this program for the hard work; I am very impressed with what Code::Blocks has to offer. I also gave my uncle a link to this program. He was looking for a reason to leave MS Visual C++, and since obtaining Code::Blocks, he has found his reason.
Now that I have the program...I need to learn to program...in both wxWidgets and C++...Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks again for this great package, and keep up the good work!
Take care.
PS: At the risk of sounding ignorant, how would I go about downloading/installing wxSmith? I had read about it awhile ago, and it grabbed my interest.
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download one of the nightly builds --> wxSmith is included in it, no need to install; it's just there.
Good books about c++ : :
- "effetive c++" and "more effective c++" and "effective stl" from Scott Meyers
- "Exceptional c++" and "More Exceptional c++" and "Exceptional c++ style" from Herb Sutter
- "The C++ Standard Library - A Tutorial and Reference" from Josuttis
These are not that difficult, later on you can switch to books of Andrei Alexandrescu, but that's a little bit more complicated (but also very good)
Enjoy,
Lieven
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Hello,
Before beginning with wxWidgets, it would be better (IMHO) to begin with a good C++ book. I would like to add to the list of killerbot's books (which are good suggestions):
- The C++ Standard : Incorporating Technical Corrigendum No. 1
- Bjarne Stroustrup, "The C++ Programming Language"
Naturally, if you have a strong interested in C++, these two other books are worth to be bought:
- Bjarne Stroustrup, "The Design and Evolution of C++"
- Margaret A. Ellis and Bjarne Stroustrup, "The Annotated C++ Reference Manual"
Once you have the basis, you can switch to advanced books as:
Andrei Alexandrescu, "Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied" (I think it is this one that killerbot suggested you).
You can find all these books in www.Amazon.com and usually you can go inside a book and see how it is.
I would also advice this link which is full of useful info:
http://public.research.att.com/~bs/homepage.html
Concerning wxWidgets, you will find this book a good one:
Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets (http://www.wxwidgets.org/book/index.htm)
and without forgetting the website www.wxWidgets.org
Anyway, a lot of info, articles, tutorials, examples and so on can be found in Internet by using www.google.com
Best wishes,
Michael
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Hello,
Before beginning with wxWidgets, it would be better (IMHO) to begin with a good C++ book. I would like to add to the list of killerbot's books (which are good suggestions):
- The C++ Standard : Incorporating Technical Corrigendum No. 1
- Bjarne Stroustrup, "The C++ Programming Language"
The second one by Bjarne Stroustrup is very good. I find it hard to understand at times. Seeing that I am teaching myself C++ as I go along. :)
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other good c++ books (they rather start from know knowledge whatsoever) and teach from the start also STL, for example strings , f*** char* ;-)
Essential c++ from Stanley Lippman
Accelerated c++ from Koenig-Moo
and to get a good hang of templates :
c++ templates from Josuttis/Van de Voorde
Also the books from Stephen Dewhurst are nice, but Meyers' books are better.
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The second one by Bjarne Stroustrup is very good. I find it hard to understand at times. Seeing that I am teaching myself C++ as I go along. :)
I have found it relatively hard too :), when I have begun with C++. This book is one of the best, but IMHO it requires relatively a lot of hard work to be "fully" understood.
Michael
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Some excellent books have been recommended so far; to that list I'd like to add two things.
First, hang out with experienced coders and learn from them. This is easiest done online, where words speak louder than actions; I learned much of what I know at the feet of the masters at GameDev.net, a community I highly recommend. (The ones who know what they're talking about can seem rather elitist at times, so try not to be offended if your questions get anwered in a condescending way. You can recognize these people by their correct spelling, grammar and usage.)
Second, learn by imitation. Look at code that someone else, and find a way of modifying it to do what you want to do or reimplementing its design in your own code.
As you learn C++, wxWidgets will provide with an excellent example of how it's properly used. When you're ready to graduate from command prompts to interactive windows, I'd definitely recommend skipping Win32, MFC and .NET/CLI, and moving straight into wxWidgets. (Make sure you know the workings of the compilation process, e.g. library includes vs. libraries vs. DLLs, compile time vs. link time, search paths, before you try your first program that relies on an API such as wxWidgets.)
Cheers, good luck, and all that,
John E. / Twilight Dragon Media
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Thanks for all of the great responses, everyone.
As far as the console goes, I have quite a bit of understanding of that. When I took the C++ courses at the college, they were advertised as Windows programming courses, but never touched the subject. We went through many aspects of console programming such as: arrays, multi-dimensional arrays, pointers, inheritance, polymorphism, and so on and so on.
I have been trying to keep these skills sharp, but I'm beginning to get a bit rusty. All of the recommended books I will have to try to get hold of. I know that I should probably check out the library (but I am sure the one in this small town has nothing program related...unless it's related to COBOL or BASIC...ha-ha), but for some odd reason I have the strong urge to own the books I read...I guess for future reference. It will take awhile, but I eventually plan to try to build my own library of C++ books. I am currently living off of a minimal disability income until (hopefully one day soon) I can find work...so it will take awhile for me to build that collection.
As for Win32, MFC, and so forth...once I came across wxWidgets, I told myself that I was going to stick with it. I do not wish to be constrained to making applications specifically for Windows as I eventually want to learn and hopefully switch to Linux....I've got a lot of Ubuntu CDs here that the company sent to me...
Thanks a bunch for the loads of information. It is all much appreciated.
Take care.
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Another nice book to bring you quickly to C++'s reality is Danny Kalev - ANSI/ISO C++ Professional Programmer's Handbook, especially if your professor taught you old C++ (old = before the standard).
I don't think you can get it new easily, only a few used. If you don't mind do a quick search in Google and you'll find it.
Useful as a reference too, but it won't teach you how to program in C++ :P
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I don't think you can get it new easily, only a few used. If you don't mind do a quick search in Google and you'll find it.
I did not know it. And I have spent time in searching high quality C++ books :). Anyway, you can get it not very easily, but quite :D. Just go to Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789720221/qid=1137176107/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3439719-2561742?s=books&v=glance&n=283155).
Michael
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Actually, Half.com (an affiliate site of eBay) has a lot of used books that are in great condition for low prices. They do not auction there; you just pay the price that is listed. They have a few copies of that book there (a few meaning about two)...so it seems that that book is truly hard to get hold of.
I use Amazon.com and Half.com for all of my book searches, and I usually can find what I'm looking for.
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I use Amazon.com and Half.com for all of my book searches, and I usually can find what I'm looking for.
I have never used Half.com, but a lot Amazon (and not just Amazon.com, but .fr, .at and .uk) for all my books and others :D. I could just advice it.
Michael
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Anyway, you can get it not very easily, but quite :D. Just go to Amazon.
Amazon has 2 used, 0 new.
I said "I don't think you can get it NEW easily" :)
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Sorry about that, Ceniza.
So...here is yet another (probably) dumb question. How exactly do I install the nightly builds? I have used 7-Zip for years now, so that part is not a problem. but once the files are unzipped, what then? Do I copy them into the CodeBlocks directory?
Thanks, everyone.
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Wow, 132€ for a 1999 book. Does that book come with a personal tutor?
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Sorry about that, Ceniza.
So...here is yet another (probably) dumb question. How exactly do I install the nightly builds? I have used 7-Zip for years now, so that part is not a problem. but once the files are unzipped, what then? Do I copy them into the CodeBlocks directory?
Thanks, everyone.
That it is very easy. First install MinGW (see in the C::B wiki on how to do that). Then decompress the nightly build where you would like and that is :D.
Well, do not forget to download the DLL too together with the nightly build.
Michael
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Amazon has 2 used, 0 new.
I said "I don't think you can get it NEW easily" :)
ehm...2 used & new :D. But you're right. Anyway, the first one is like new and very cheap ($12.75). A very good offer IMHO :).
Michael
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RKCole: Sorry about what? :?:
How exactly do I install the nightly builds?
I'mn't the one providing the nightly builds, it's killerbot, but the installation should be quite similar to those I used to provide.
Unpack the latest build in a folder where you want to keep Code::Blocks (I don't suggest you to overwrite an old copy, like RC2, with this one).
If you'ven't got the wxWidgets DLL (http://download.berlios.de/codeblocks/wxmsw26u_gcc_cb.7z) yet, do so and unpack it in the same folder.
I guess that should do it, I'ven't tried those builds :P
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I'm not having the best of luck with the nightly build installation. I know I am doing something wrong.
I have the latest nightly build and the wxWidgets DLL as well. Once everything is extracted to the folder, I receive an error that states that mingw10.dll cannot be found. Is there a way which I must extract the MinGW information into the same folder?
Also, would it be best to keep Code::Blocks 1.0RC2 alongside the nightly build?
Thanks for the help and support, everyone.
Take care.
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Ah, so that's your problem. If you're going to use MinGW, you can either add the path to the bin folder of MinGW to your system PATH or just copy mingwm10.dll from MinGW's bin directory to your Code::Blocks directory.
I'll upload that DLL to my binary snapshots directory just in case. Check my signature for the link.
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Or copy mingwm10.dll from RC2 to nightly build :).
Michael
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killerbot: I suggest you adding the mingwm10.dll to the wxdll 7zipped, so the users willn't have to download it from another place. (Moreover, the mingwm10.dll change from versions to versions for sure).
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good idea, will do that from tomorrow on, today's is already out the door.
[edit] Is that the only needed dll ? And where do we advice users to put it ??
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In the same place as you're advicing to put wxwidgets dll. (unless you want to start a dll hell from hell) :P
And yes, I think it's the only needed dll, at least for systems with updated controls (2000/XP).
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Thanks for the input, everyone.
I just did some very extensive searches for some online C++ tutorials. I also downloaded the free "Thinking in C++" eBook by Bruce Eckel as well. Along the way I downloaded the wxWidgets manual in the .hlp format as well. I think I should have plenty of material to read...I'm planning on trying to purchase the wxWidgets book next month, hopefully. (Maybe a Valentine's Day gift from my wife...ha-ha).
You all have a great weekend.
Take care.