I am in an 11th grade computer science class learning C++ and I feel that the class is going to end before I learn how to apply C++. What I want to know is what do I need to learn to start applying C++ into tasks like software development, game design, and anything along that sort. How long will that take and if there are any books that will teach me how to successfully apply C++ into real world situations.

I am in an 11th grade computer science class learning C++ and I feel that the class is going to end before I learn how to apply C++. What I want to know is what do I need to learn to start applying C++ into tasks like software development, game design, and anything along that sort. How long will that take and if there are any books that will teach me how to successfully apply C++ into real world situations.

How long it will take depends entirely on what you are trying to do and your current skill level. I assume by "apply" you mean "apply it to something useful" as opposed to writing airline reservation systems, which is useful only to people who either own airlines or are employed by people who own airlines. Ditto writing programs like finding all the prime numbers less than a million or calculating definite integrals, etc. Those are all useful in learning C++, but don't have a real purpose.

As far as writing games, I'm sure you've already written some. Tic Tac Toe and the like. If you want to write REAL games like you buy in the stores, well that's a multi-person, multi-year project beyond the skill level of the average 11th grade student. A second year student might or might not have the ability to write a cool graphical game worth showing people in C++ in a few months.

With a year or two of experience, you could write a CGI script in C++ that accesses a file from your home computer from anywhere in the world via a web page. The sky's the limit. It all depends on what you want to do. Any book suggestions would depend on that too.

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