I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to programming in general. Although i've been learning c++ for about a month and a half, and i've learned the concepts, such as: Conditional Statements, Pointers(dynamic memory management using the basic data types), arrays, functions and data types, function overloading, and using cin & cout. I've made some very very basic programs that display some sort of information to the screen using cin and cout. As a newbie, i'm looking for some ideas as to what programs i should know how to create using those concepts which i mentioned above, if someone could give me a few ideas i would really appreciate it. Because before i move on to ADT and OOP I really want to fine tune my skills in the language... so any ideas to get to me to think hard will be greatly appreciated -Zeke''s Signature [edited by - dark_radeon on June 19, 2003 2:20:17 PM]

Hmm, I have two ideas off the top of my head.

Create a text-based Mastermind game
Create a db appz to store phone numbers or something

Assuming you haven''t done thing like them already.





You fight like a dairy farmer.

Maybe a magic 8 ball program or a simple calculator?

all of those ideas sound great, i'll try to make that advanced Calculator first, then i'll post the code on here so you guys could see, and tell me how i can optomize it and make it either cleaner or more efficient! Thanx. Also, anymore ideas is greatly appreciated, because i've got a lot, and i mean tons of free time and (no cash so i can't buy new books) so post up all of your ideas here please hehehe

[edited by - dark_radeon on June 19, 2003 4:05:53 PM]

First, try to make a text-based game. This will teach you the basics, like game logic. A short adventure game in DOS should only take about 2 or 3 hours. If you want to try and be good, take about a month and try to create the best text-based game possible. The best idea for these games is a quest for glory or adventure game. The thing to do here to make the game intresting is to try and create an advanced rules system like Dungeons and Dragons. Also, try to find new approaches to your current programming knowledge. Try to make programs that solve basic tasks. Some examples are a utility to store information, a calculator, or some other type of simple application. I think you should also learn some stream I/O. I''m not talking about cout and cin, but more advanced methods like ostream and istream. Try to make a program that will print something to a basic .txt file. Also, try to look through game source code. This way, once you get into 2D games, you will know what you are doing. There ius some source code on this site under Game Programming Articles and Resources, as well as on this site. After this, try to brush up on anything you don''t know. Take this link to find a site with some really good C++ tutorials. Also, try and find more advanced books on C++. To make the leap to game programming, try the book C++ for Game programmers from Charles River. After you know what you are doing, learn some basic win32 programming, and then choose between DirectX and OpenGL. Try to spend more time on the language. i''ve been coding in C++ for seven months now. Good luck, and e-mail me if you need more information.

Scott Simontis
Engineer in Training
Have a nice day!