Hello all,

I'll hopefully be attending a cognitive neuroscience PhD program next fall and I'd like to learn some programming beforehand (having programming skills helps for lots of neuroimaging labs). Labs I've worked in used UNIX, MATLAB, and E-Prime (visual basic) and I'd really like to improve my knowledge before I go to graduate school.

I'm working on learning UNIX and Visual Basic with decent success but as far as C++, I'm lost.

I know the book by Eckels (thinking in C++) is highly recommended but it just seems too advanced for me. I get overwhelmed with the material quickly and I don't know what the best approach to start learning it is.

So my question is, what is the best approach to start learning C++ with a limited programming background? I'd like to be familiar with MATLAB and create and run some simple programs in C. I know I won't become an expert programmer overnight (or ever probably) but I'm hoping to increase my proficiency before grad school.

Thank you for any feedback!!

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Try Accelerated C++ by Koenig and Moo. While it may also be too fast if Thinking in C++ is too fast, I'd rather not recommend some of the more accessible books unless absolutely necessary because quality tends to drop rather quickly as the pedagogy methods are simplified.

I have been in graduate school in the mighty neurosciences in the past, and I'll tell you that it's nice to be able to program, but Matlab should probably be your main focus. There are options to compile it (into mex files) and to generate C code from it. There are plenty of solutions for MRI that are already in packages (SPM in Matlab, Brain Voyager for standalone). Many have scripting capabilities.

Before I take this too far OT...

It can't hurt to learn C++, so a good book is probably Koenig and Moo, "Accelerated C++." It teaches C++ for C++'s sake (and not "built upon" C). I like C++ Primer Plus, but that takes the approach of building off of C, so it starts off with a lot of procedural programming.

Anyway, send me a PM if you want to know more, as I'm sure the faithful readers don't want to hear me tell old "war stories."

I've read several C++ books in my life, and "C++ in a Nutshell", written by Ray Lischner, is in my opinion by far the most coherent and complete C++ book I've ever read or browsed. On the other hand I've read a lot of good things about Accelerated C++, and it's named twice here so far.

Hi, I have done my IT courses with Koenig Solutions in India. I must say boot camp are the best way to learn IT. It is cost saving and at the same time very effective.

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