Beginning Programming with C++ For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Introduction

Welcome to Beginning Programming with C++ For Dummies, Second Edition. This book is intended for the reader who wants to learn to program.

Somehow over the years, programming has become associated with mathematics and logic calculus and other complicated things. I never quite understood that. Programming is a skill like writing advertising or drawing or photography. It does require the ability to think a problem through, but I’ve known some really good programmers who had zero math skills. Some people are naturally good at it and pick it up quickly, others not so good and not so quick. Nevertheless, anyone with enough patience and “stick-to-itiveness” can learn to program a computer. Even me.

About This Book

Learning to program necessarily means learning a programming language. This book is based upon the C++ programming language. Versions of the suggested compiler for Windows and Macintosh are included with the online materials accompanying this book. Linux versions are available for download at www.codeblocks.org. (Don’t worry: I include step-by-step instructions for installing the package and building your first program in the book.)

The goal of this book is to teach you the basics of programming in C++, not to inundate you with every detail of the C++ programming language. At the end of this book, you’ll be able to write a reasonably sophisticated program in C++. You’ll also be in a position to quickly grasp a number of other similar languages, such as Java and ...