How much more do I have to learn?

[jeezcak3++]

My goal is to "master" C++. I barely learned up to classes... destructors within a month from watching videos on youtube. My question is how much more do I have to learn to be like you? It seems like long way to go... I feel discouraged already after reading 7 chapters from "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Das." There are times I felt stupid or I was just impatient to read thoroughtly, or the book is just too confusing. I always love programming and I want to learn different languages and I want to learn to write iPhone programs. I had to follow my career and gave up what I have always loved to do. Enlight me.

[iamthwee]

To be like me?

That is impossible. No amount of time will help you here. I'm sorry but I can't enlight you.

[jeezcak3++]

To be like me?

That is impossible. No amount of time will help you here. I'm sorry but I can't enlight you.

why is it impossible!? ;[ you could do it, why can't i?

[tinchektinc]

Well, I have read a few books myself and I will tell you the same thing that my teacher told me a while ago. Read some books to understand the basics, when you learn the syntax you practice, practice and again practice. You write simple programs, loops, then you move up, 100 lines, 300 lines of code, 500 lines of code etc. It isn't all about syntax, it is also about logic and logic can be improved with practice. If you really want to learn it, you will

[jeezcak3++]

Thanks! i guess it was not easy for anyone at first?

[zoner7]

Thanks! i guess it was not easy for anyone at first?

well, let me give you one tip that no one ever gave me. Do Not use learn c++ in 21 days. It is decent, but there is a much better tutorial: Use the tutorial at learncpp.com.

It is a FANTASTIC site, and the tutorial is simply so much more clear.

[Narue]

>My goal is to "master" C++.
That's a nice goal, but don't plan on actually attaining it. I doubt there's anyone in the world who's mastered C++. There's just too much involved, too many nuances. But you can certainly be a C++ badass. That's more than possible given a decade or so of hard work.

>My question is how much more do I have to learn to be like you?
Quite a lot, to be honest. But it's the journey that you should be looking forward to.

>There are times I felt stupid or I was just impatient to
>read thoroughtly, or the book is just too confusing.
Feh, get used to it. All programmers of any ability spend most of their time in a state of confusion because they're always pushing themselves.

[Democles]

Yes, I too am more of begineer when it comes to programming. You learn while experimenting basically. Don't use the book you're reading. The name itself tells you it's a fluke. I would suggest the C++ books in the forum that is stickied. I've had great sucess with Addison Wesley Accelerated C++. It forces you to think and problem solve.

[firstPerson]

To be a expert programmer rating 10 out of 10, you have to be
born to program. But fortunately, there is 9.99. To achieve that
rating from range 1 - 10, you have to study and work hard like
everything else in this world. One thing I will tell you is read read
and read more books. For C++, my suggestion is to read C++
Primer Plus 5th edition. Its a good start. FORGET about
learn X language in X days. Its not good enough.
Keep it up. As time goes one you will get used it to, and sooner
or later you will realize the power of C++, its a true beast.
Then after you have a solid understanding about C++,
ranges from few years to decade, go on to other language and
diversify. In fact you might want to diversify your language
in a year or two.

[Frederick2]

It'll take exactly 10,000 hours.

That's what this article says, if my memory serves...

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm

Hardest thing I ever tried to do was learn how to pick a five string banjo. With that, you've got three fingers, and five strings. The notes sound really sharp and fast, and if you make the slightest mistake, you'll hear it. And everyone else will too. And for up tempo picking, you've got to pick about ten notes per second. They've all got to be in perfect timing. And that's just the picking hand. As for the fretting hand....

I'll leave that to your imagination.

Computer programming is a little easier than that, but not much. I started with Fortran in the 1970s, C in the 80s, VB in the 90s, back to C, C++ and PowerBASIC in the 2000s. I've only scratched the surface of what can be done. The nice thing I'll say about programming though, is that even if you only know a little bit, you can do much better with the computer than folks whose sole method of interaction is visual GUI drag and drop type stuff. Using code you can deal with the beaste on its own terms.

[vincent2085]

you can master in c++ ,
by studying this book , object oriented programming by bala guru swamy, which is really good..
download turbo c++ n work ...

[jeezcak3++]

Thank you all for your advices! I am very inspired.

[thelamb]

My experience in learning a language has always been doing.
Of course the learning-style differs per person but I can only give you my view.

From when I was young(I still am, but younger ;P) I was always in interested in programming, I tried to start a few times but simply gave up at some point because all I was doing was reading books. Then at some point I met a person who I had been chatting with for over a year in real life and from that point on she changed everything :P. She had an idea for a project that had to be done in C++ and told me that I should do it, so then we sat on the sofa and she told me: "What are you waiting for, start typing."

And since then I havn't stopped learning C++. Of course it will be hard in the beginning, but if you just read from books you wont become a pro. In my experience starting out with just the very basics is the best way, you really have to think about what you want to achieve with your code then and search for everything you need and step by step your understanding of the language AND of logic will grow.