Getting a solid grip on C++ : Where to go next?

BogdanV · 2013-11-26T21:36:57

I studied C++ during my college/high school (ugh, these language variations between US and British English can get pretty annoying sometimes) days: syntax, some algorithms for sorting, graphs, recursive functions etc. mostly basic stuff. Now, being in my second year at University, I realised I've spent a ridiculous amount of time almost exclusively in C# (and Unity to be more precise), much to the detriment of my general programming skills. Managed languages are awesome. Heck, I'd say they're the best thing since sliced bread but they kind of keep you ignorant towards low-level stuff and its this ignorance that I want to address. I had a chance to talk to someone from Microsoft at a recent conference and he simply told me that the best way to go forward is to "learn C++". That was a pretty humbling experience as mundane as that statement might seem, realising that there's a whole universe out there that I probably don't know. He also suggested looking into DirectX's HLSL or for that mater, anything that "talks" to the graphics card. What I already started to do was to dig into OpenGL and I'm currently using OpenGL: A Primer by Edward Angel as my main learning material, however, I still need to address the more general issue with C++... and I'm not sure where to start because there seems to be a lot of things that I probably don't know. I know for instance memory allocation is a big part of C++ which I haven't learned (and managed languages like C# aren't very helpful here xD). Optimising code using binary operations (or heck, even assembly although this cuts portability) is another one that I think would be good to know. I've also seen Exceptional C++ mentioned here and there so this might be a good starting point (if the library didn't run out of it). What are your thoughts on this? What C++ concepts / aspects should I try to study next? [Later Edit: Should've changed the title to "Getting Better at..." because I already know something]

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Started by BogdanV November 25, 2013 08:44 AM

9 comments, last by Satharis 10 years, 5 months ago

Serapth

6,672

November 26, 2013 06:01 PM

Also, even a mediocre C# (programmer) will be able to produce a working program faster than a good C++ programmer!

I feel like that difference shrinks as the caliber of the programmer goes up. Will a really good C++ and C# programmer be appreciably faster when working in C#? Not sure. C++11/14 with extensive use of standard libraries (and good 3rd party libraries) can be very expressive, and also pretty safe if you choose to use a safe coding style (which may or may not come at a performance cost). Certainly it's faster to write some things in C++ compared to e.g. Java, even for a klutz like me.

At the low end of skills the difference is the most striking. I think it's accurate to say that a poor C++ programmer will generate negative value to a project. With C++, either plan to get pretty good, or spend your time more constructively with another language.

If you mean faster as in programmer productivity, then yes, a really good C++ and C# programmer will be faster in C#, often by an order of magnitude. That's a side effect of the purpose behind each language. The design principals behind C++ of pay for what you use and that undefined behavior should be decided by the programmer has a cost on productivity.C# doesn't follow this ethos at least not as closely. As a result things like runtime type information is just much more accessible in C# and more pervasive in the libraries.

Oh, and of course that is the biggest productivity win of C#. As languages, C# and C++ aren't really all that different. Some aspects of C# are much cleaner due to the newness of the language ( generics for example ), but at the end of the day this isn't the stuff that profoundly effects productivity. (Although spend a weekend working with LINQ and you will have a hell of a time going back!) Nor really is memory management, the normal big boogieman. No, the big difference is the standard libraries. C++ has improved quite a bit since STL then Boost, but compared to C#, they are absolutely shit. Sit a great C++ programmer down beside a great C# programmer and ask them to accomplish many common programming tasks... read an XML file, string manipulation, parse and transform data, make a network connection, archive and expand a file, etc... and the C# programmer will generally spank the C++ programmer. There are exceptions and edge cases, but they are just that.

Then of course are all the other little things that add up as performance wins. The compile/link cycle for example. The lack of cruft is another big win in C# ( and to a much lesser degree Java ). These things all contribute to programmer productivity.

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Satharis

2,488

November 26, 2013 09:36 PM

Personally I think people put too much emphasis on "perfect" learning, where in reality it differs on the individual. For instance, is it a good idea to stick to one language when you're starting out? Well yes, it is, because it usually implies someone is simply "hung up" on whether the language is good enough to learn or not. Does that mean you shouldn't learn another language for the heck of it? Of course not, myself in particular I learned rather early on that sticking to one thing is very challenging for me, and the best way for -me- to become a better programmer was actually to try new things. Even working on a project when I got really tired of being stuck on something, i'd stop and look up some other programming concept I was curious about, maybe AI or networking or a language I'd wanted to learn. It's refreshing in a way, and you always learn a new little thing doing it.

Basically what I'm saying is that if you think you'll get something out of C++ then don't be afraid to dip your fingers into the language, I can guarentee you that it won't -hurt you- to learn another language, especially one thats about as bare metal as you can go without being assembly. My personal experience with learning has been that one book, one language, one library, one project, none of them teach you everything about them, you learn a lot of the most important information by accident while learning something completely different sometimes. At he very least it may help something "click" in another language, "Oh THATs why they do that in C#!" sort of thing.

Pogrammers tend to have this little problem(myself included many a time) that they learn so many little things in order to understand a concept that when they have to explain it to someone or direct someone they don't remember those thousands of little things they had to accidently learn in order to understand it. Knowing anything in coding is usually a -lot- of information, like there's a difference between knowing pointers and really KNOWING pointers. These things are often best learned by ones self.

Getting a solid grip on C++ : Where to go next?

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Getting a solid grip on C++ : Where to go next?

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