• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 17:22
CET 23:22
KST 07:22
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Rongyi Cup S3 - RO16 Preview3herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational10SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview5RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion8Weekly Cups (Jan 5-11): Clem wins big offline, Trigger upsets4$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)22Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns7
StarCraft 2
General
PhD study /w SC2 - help with a survey! Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued StarCraft 2 not at the Esports World Cup 2026 [Short Story] The Last GSL Stellar Fest "01" Jersey Charity Auction
Tourneys
$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) OSC Season 13 World Championship $70 Prize Pool Ladder Legends Academy Weekly Open! SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 509 Doomsday Report Mutation # 508 Violent Night Mutation # 507 Well Trained Mutation # 506 Warp Zone
Brood War
General
[ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Fantasy's Q&A video BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Gypsy to Korea
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Azhi's Colosseum - Season 2 Small VOD Thread 2.0 [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10
Strategy
Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason Awesome Games Done Quick 2026!
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread NASA and the Private Sector
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How Esports Advertising Shap…
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2121 users

Learning C/C++ from beginning?

Blogs > stalife
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
stalife
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
Canada1222 Posts
January 21 2010 09:19 GMT
#1
which books would you guys recommend for picking up C/C++ from the beginning? I started with Java, and I'm not really good at it, but I can write some codes.. I'd like to pick up C/C++ as well to start some basic projects of my own.

Any recommendations?? Thanks!

****
www.memoryexpress.com
keV.
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
United States3214 Posts
January 21 2010 09:28 GMT
#2
A billion good C and C++ books. IMO, start with C and practice with data structures; linked lists, binary trees, memory managers etc... After that knowing some Java and C you will pick up C++ very fast.
"brevity is the soul of wit" - William Shakesman
haduken
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Australia8267 Posts
January 21 2010 09:28 GMT
#3
www.cplusplus.com

Better than any book.

To make it useful

Pick up a book that teaches you frameworks once you are done.

Qt, Visual C++, etc.. and learn libraries such as boost...

Understand the strength of C/C++ versus say Java. Understand the application of such strength where it fits. Understand the downfall and weakness of C/C++.
Rillanon.au
imDerek
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States1944 Posts
January 21 2010 09:41 GMT
#4
c++: the book by bjarne stroustrup the author himself.

go with c first though
Least favorite progamers: Leta, Zero, Mind, Shine, free, really <-- newly added
Marradron
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Netherlands1586 Posts
January 21 2010 10:02 GMT
#5
For what purpose ?

You might as well learn c# or something like that. seems a bit more advanced than c++
Aim Here
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Scotland672 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-01-21 10:08:35
January 21 2010 10:05 GMT
#6
On January 21 2010 18:41 imDerek wrote:
c++: the book by bjarne stroustrup the author himself.

go with c first though


I disagree. If you're planning on writing C++, then learn it straight off. C++ is superficially a superset of C, but the philosophy and the mindset of writing C++ code is very different from that needed for C code.

Plus, old C hands are likely to get into the bad habit of using C-isms, like malloc/free or pointer manipulation, rather than use the C++ variants.

Not that I'm opposed to learning C - C is a much nicer, cleaner language than C++ and is worth learning as the only low-level language you really need. C++ on the other hand, unless you have a specific need for it, I'd recommend saving all that memory space you'd use for C++ and using Java or Python or C# or something instead...
BlissX1
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States328 Posts
January 21 2010 10:16 GMT
#7
C++ and C and C# are easy TBA. i would suggest you learn java first, then Python. Then see if you still want to learn C++ and what not. if so, it will be easy. Java is already easy, Python is amazing. all the C stuff looks like total uselessness compared to Python cause Python is so efficient. That's why NASA uses it. C is nice though, but i suggest dont learn it for the first time. get some experience first. it will make it much easier.
XtremeOneZ 4 Life Bliss[x.1]
Amnesty
Profile Joined April 2003
United States2054 Posts
January 21 2010 10:56 GMT
#8
Accelerated C++

Pretty good book. Actually uses C++
The sky just is, and goes on and on; and we play all our BW games beneath it.
Aim Here
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Scotland672 Posts
January 21 2010 11:08 GMT
#9
I forgot to recommend a book for the OP, and so I suppose somebody had better recommend K&R as the definitive book on straight C, and unrecommend anything by Herbert Schildt, whose books are both very popular and yet so egregiously wrong that they spawned a jargon file entry.
iaretehnoob
Profile Joined June 2004
Sweden741 Posts
January 21 2010 11:08 GMT
#10
On January 21 2010 19:16 Bl1ss wrote:
Fortran is amazing. all the C stuff looks like total uselessness compared to Fortran cause Fortran is so efficient. That's why NASA uses it.
mptj
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States485 Posts
January 21 2010 11:31 GMT
#11
I recommend C for the absolute beginner i'm reading it and it comes with the software and its very interactive. It's kind of old, but it works with vista, while you're running a linux shell.
"Only the Good Die Young"
FirstBorn
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
Romania3955 Posts
January 21 2010 11:33 GMT
#12
On January 21 2010 18:28 haduken wrote:
www.cplusplus.com

Better than any book.


I'm going to second this, VERY usefull site. Helped me a ton with getting the hang of C/C++.
SonuvBob: Yes, the majority of TL is college-aged, and thus clearly stupid.
agorist
Profile Joined July 2009
United States115 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-01-21 11:46:01
January 21 2010 11:42 GMT
#13
C first.
C++ second.



What is your current skillset? Know the difference between the heap and stack? Can you wield pointers?
CTStalker
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
Canada9720 Posts
January 21 2010 11:47 GMT
#14
as has been said, learn C first (and then never learn C++: learn Lisp instead)

this is the book you'll use to learn C
By the way, my name is Funk. I am not of your world
araav
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
Armenia1590 Posts
January 21 2010 11:59 GMT
#15
don't go for C first, don't go for C at all if you are not planning to be a system programmer.

C++ is a moderate OO language and I would recommend doing it this way -
first pick an easy book, not a fancy one, like any book for dummies, get the grasp of pointers, templates, classes, encapsulation, polymorphism, etc

then go for more master series, like take Effective/More Effective C++ books.
then go for expert series, like Alexandresku
then take up the C++ standard and make it your bible

this is your true path of a C++ guru
The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.
Neshapotamus
Profile Blog Joined May 2006
United States163 Posts
January 21 2010 13:18 GMT
#16
http://www.learncpp.com/
Amnesty
Profile Joined April 2003
United States2054 Posts
January 21 2010 13:19 GMT
#17
Disagree with the C first approach. Strongly strongly disagree.
The problem is you don't end up learning C++ next. You learn a bastard child mish mash of both next. Its like you are learning C but with some cool classes thrown in. And its just bad.
It's not that the C language is horrible, its not. The problem is coding C++ in a C POV that is horrific.

The main problem with that is you won't even realize you are writing bad C++ code so you wont even try and fix it. It takes a lot more effort to unlearn C to learn C++
God have mercy if you read a whole chapter on macros in C and then crack open a different C++ book. And a lot of C++ books are really C books in disguise beware.

Start with the book I recomended. I really wished that book came out a lot earlier.

You didnt say why you wanted to learn C++. There might be a better option for you. Right now, im using C#/WPF for my project. It would be a nightmare to do using other options.
The sky just is, and goes on and on; and we play all our BW games beneath it.
Marradron
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Netherlands1586 Posts
January 21 2010 14:04 GMT
#18
for online c instructions http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/CTutorial/CTutorial.html#
Flaccid
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
8866 Posts
January 21 2010 14:12 GMT
#19
I don't understand the 'learn C first' idea. Sounds like a waste of time.

What type of projects are you looking to do? I ask because you might want to consider spending that time learning C# (as others have said) instead. The thing about C++ is that it can be tough to jump into because it can be so convoluted. It's just been built upon and built upon until there are 100 different ways to do any one thing and you end up agonizing over which is the 'best' way.

C#, on the other hand is much more intuitive (C++ is only intuitive to those that have coded C++ for the majority of their lives) and you will climb the learning curve much more quickly. Microsoft is pushing it hard too so each update to the framework brings more and more useful goodies. I coded C++ and C for years and have switched almost entirely to C#. Another nice thing about C# is that you can jump right into coding web-applications and ASP for web junk, if that's an ambition of yours.

Anywho, if you do decide to go that route, these guys have a nice series of books for each step of the learning curve: link
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
ProoM
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Lithuania1741 Posts
January 21 2010 14:19 GMT
#20
On January 21 2010 18:28 haduken wrote:
www.cplusplus.com

Better than any book.

To make it useful

Pick up a book that teaches you frameworks once you are done.

Qt, Visual C++, etc.. and learn libraries such as boost...

Understand the strength of C/C++ versus say Java. Understand the application of such strength where it fits. Understand the downfall and weakness of C/C++.

Knock knock. Whos there? -After very long pause- Java.
IMBA - International Mountain Bicycling Association.
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 38m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nathanias 127
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 137
ggaemo 21
Dota 2
febbydoto19
League of Legends
JimRising 453
Counter-Strike
minikerr16
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox1069
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor211
Other Games
tarik_tv10265
summit1g7195
gofns5620
Grubby2264
FrodaN1489
Mlord601
Liquid`Hasu406
RotterdaM251
QueenE129
KnowMe36
Organizations
Other Games
EGCTV1686
gamesdonequick1623
BasetradeTV60
StarCraft 2
angryscii 51
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 8
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 24 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH156
• davetesta81
• Hupsaiya 49
• printf 47
• musti20045 23
• RyuSc2 17
• Sammyuel 10
• Kozan
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota2811
• WagamamaTV716
League of Legends
• Doublelift4120
• TFBlade1145
• Scarra557
Other Games
• imaqtpie2733
• Shiphtur263
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
1h 38m
Replay Cast
10h 38m
RongYI Cup
12h 38m
Maru vs Cyan
Solar vs Krystianer
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
13h 38m
BSL 21
16h 38m
Replay Cast
1d 1h
Wardi Open
1d 15h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 18h
OSC
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S1: W5
OSC Championship Season 13
NA Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Rongyi Cup S3
Underdog Cup #3
Tektek Cup #1
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025

Upcoming

Acropolis #4 - TS4
Escore Tournament S1: W6
Escore Tournament S1: W7
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate marketing links that support TLnet.

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.