Hello, as the title says I am an absolute beginner to programming. I've just been studying C++ for a couple of days now. I can make the simple things, like the Hello World and making some basic math functions. Although I'm a beginner, I seem to really be a visual learner and learn from the actual code itself. I want to type in some code I find online to make some simple games. It would help me understand a lot, and help me further down the road. But boom, I don't have any of the right libraries yet!

After watching a tutorial on how to install allegro, I was still unsuccessful in getting it to work. I was using the Microsoft 2010 C++ Edition, but I got frustrated and uninstalled it haha. Now I'm using Code Blocks. For example, I'd like to type the stuff in from this guys tutorial on roguelike games and build it to actually see the code and game in action for myself. http://www.kathekonta.com/rlguide/about.html

But, I don't have that <console.h> library or whatever, so I can't do it. I feel like getting the libraries is tougher than actually learning some of the code -_____- haha.

So I have a few questions...

1) Is C++ still the right place for me to start? Or are most languages similar where you have to download all these libraries and such? (I'm not an expert with computers so I guess this is the area that i'm lacking in, like downloading the libraries, extracting them and what-not...). Many people have recommended python to other beginners; I seem to be doing alright with C++, but am I better off there?

2) If C++ is still an okay place to start, WHERE and HOW can I get these libraries to work with my code? Like the <console.h> and even allegro? Or should I try something else like SDL or SFML?

3) Any suggestions, tips, or recommendations for this beginner? I may look into getting a book too. Was thinking about that one by Dawson.

I'm sorry this is oh-so long... I really tried my best to trim it down! Thanks for all the help and suggestions in advance as well, I really appreciate it!

I would recommend that you start off with C# personally.

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-csharp-express

C# allows for much higher productivity than C++ and offers a lot of functionality in its "base" library. XNA has a large community with many tutorials as well, so there is a wealth of knowledge to pull from.

Even though you've started off with C++, I would recommend making the switch to C# until you're almost intermediate level ( like 8-12 months of constant programming ) and then go explore some other languages.

Thank you for the advice!

Any other recommendations?

Yes, it helped a lot! Thanks for all your help. I'll definitely start with "the boring stuff" though to get a grasp on C# first. Thanks again!

Thanks again! You guys have a lot of great info. I will definitely start off by looking more into C# and XNA. Thanks!

C# is an excellent language. It would be nice to one day move onto C++ yes (although you should have console.h included with code blocks) but with the mono platform's popularity rising and the huge list of external .net libraries available I think we're approaching the point where you could launch a career in C# and never have to touch C++ (It is an aim for me to one day learn C anyway and then maybe C++).

Hmm, saying you'd like to move onto C++ is similar to a tradesman saying he's moving on from bandsaws into circular saws.

Programming languages are things you add onto your toolbelt, there is little to no "progression" between languages in the traditional sense.