My two cents for beginning c++ books:

1. Waite Groupes "Intro to object oriented programming in c++"

2. Wrox "Beginning C++" by Ivor Horton

Don''t let your lack of finishing school get you down, its just a piece of paper after all, and remember BillyBob Gates is a college dropout.

I second the book The Waite Group''s C++ Primer Plus by Stephen Prata, as it is well written.

One book that I''ve found extremely useful is Herbert Schildt''s C/C++ Programmers Reference. I haven''t read anything else from him, but this is by far the best investment I''ve ever made. I''ve got a slightly outdated version, but it''s only 20$, and it''s a great reference for the language, and STL if you decide to use that.

As far as books for actually learning though, I''d recommend you go to your favourite local bookstore and pick out a few, then sit down and read a few pages from various locations in each of them. Spend 15 minutes or so in each book. When you''re done, you should have a pretty good idea of which one you like the most (ie. Will learn the quickest). Get it. And pick up the Programmer''s Reference while you''re there

Get a good grasp on the basics first, otherwise you''ll struggle with everything else later on. As for game programming, I learned through NeHe (which is openGL, I think there is one called Xehe or something for directX)

Good luck

ok let me explain. Visual C++ is not a language. It is a program that lets you compile programs written in the C++ programming language. Visual studio also lets you do a bunch of windows related stuff by pointing and clicking.

So when it comes down to it, what should you learn? Well you need to know how to write programs and how to compile programs. Since programs are written in programming languages you will need books on a programming language (C++). I recommend starting with "Accelerated C++". It is considered to be the best introductory C++ book. However if you are very new it might not be appropriate for you. Still that''s my recommendation, buy it right now. Then I recommend getting "The C++ standard library" by Jossutis. Next get "The C++ programming language" by Stroustrup (the designer of the C++ language) but make sure to get 3rd edition or special edition. 1st and 2nd edition are obsolete. If you get these three books you will have a very good set of books to work with. They cover different things. Also they are a mix of tutorial and reference.

Next you will need to know how to compile programs. Working a compiler is fairly simple, I''ve never bought a book with any windows specific infomation and somehow I''ve managed. I''m sure the VS book that you already have is good enough. So you''ll want to read it eventually, but it isn''t your top priority by any means.

I would recommend using DJGPP, a 32-bit protected mode DOS port of the GCC compiler, along with the Allegro game programming library (a little like DirectX or OpenGL, but far simpler, and runs on DOS/Win/Linux/Mac).

Windows introduces a lot more complexity, and you shouldn''t attempt it until you can at least write decent console/DOS graphics mode apps.



BTW, forget about learning C/C++ in a few weeks if you intend to do a 3d RPG ... any decent RPG will need a scripting engine and an 3d engine, and those require years of experience IMHO, as well as a firm grasp on data structures and algorithms. Assuming you''re never written an RPG engine before, I''d factor in a few years of trial and error before you get it down right. From my experience (and all I do is try to write RPGs ... with better results every time), 3d RPGs are just about the hardest code you can write ... they usually even include interpreters/compilers ... very heavy stuff (GCC and MSVC++ are examples of compilers, Visual Basic and Java are examples of interpreters).

I''d suggest you just go out and hire a few competent RPG coders.

You can get Allegro and DJGPP from http://www.delorie.com/djgpp

They''re both free software.