The Like/Hate Thread

[Jarka]

I'm not actually looking to make game programming my career, though it does overlap. My main interest has always been virtual reality. Of course that is huge a pipe dream right now, but worst case scenario I end up with some extra skills and get a job somewhere else in programming. I'd still much rather get a B+ at being awesome than an A+ at being okay.

And noted about the particularly useful languages, both from you and Vad.

For C++, I recommend Absolute C++ by Walter Savitch. He goes at a pretty nice pace (although he sometimes is all, "You can totally skip this chapter until you've read chapter 10!" which is strange), and intersperses everything with self-test questions. Each chapter is ended with, like, 3 - 10 smallish programs to build on your own using the information from that chapter. Also, the previous edition is pretty much exactly the same as the newest, so you can save your money a little.

Also, if you don't have a compiler, the Bloodshed Dev-C++ environment is free and easy to use. It's for Windows/Linux.

Well, there's all the advice I have as a fairly n00bish programmer myself. Also, don't forget to have fun with it!