C++ for Lazy Programmers: Quick, Easy, and Fun C++ for Beginners

  • 6h 31m
  • Will Briggs
  • Apress
  • 2019

Learn C++ the quick, easy, and “lazy” way. This book is an introductory programming text that uses humor and fun to make you actually willing to read, and eager to do the projects -- with the popular C++ language.

C++ for Lazy Programmers is a genuinely fun learning experience that will show you how to create programs in the C++ language. This book helps you learn the C++ language with a unique method that goes beyond syntax and how-to manuals and helps you understand how to be a productive programmer. It provides detailed help with both the Visual Studio and g++ compilers plus their debuggers, and includes the latest version of the language, C++17, too.

Along the way you’ll work through a number of labs: projects intended to stretch your abilities, test your new skills, and build confidence. You'll go beyond the basics of the language and learn how build a fun C++ arcade game project. After reading and using this book, you’ll be ready for your first real-world C++ application or game project on your own.

What You Will Learn

  • Program for the first time in C++ in a fun, quick and easy manner
  • Discover the SDL graphics and gaming library
  • Work with SSDL, the Simple SDLwrapper library
  • Use the most common C++ compilers: Visual Studio, and g++ (with Unix or MinGW)
  • Practice “anti-bugging” for easy fixes to common problems
  • Work with the debugger
  • Acquire examples-driven concepts and ideas
  • Build a C++-based arcade game application
  • Apply built-in Standard Template Library (STL) functions and classes for easy and efficient programming
  • Dip your toe in C, C++'s ancestor, still extensively used in industry
  • Use new C++11/14/17 features including lambda functions, constexpr, and smart pointers

Who This Book Is For

Those who are new to C++, either as a guide for self-learners or as an accessible textbook for students in college-level courses.

About the Author

Will Briggs, PhD is a professor of computer science at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia. He has 20+ years of experience teaching C++, 12 of them using earlier drafts of this book, and about as many years teaching other languages including C, LISP, Pascal, PHP, PROLOG, and Python. His primary focus is teaching of late while also active in research in artificial intelligence.

In this Book

  • Getting Started
  • Images and Sound
  • Numbers
  • Mouse, and If
  • Loops, Input, and char
  • Algorithms and the Development Process
  • Functions
  • Functions (Continued)
  • Using the Debugger
  • Arrays and enum
  • Animation with structs and Sprites
  • Making an Arcade Game: Input, Collisions, and Putting It All Together
  • Standard I/O and File Operations
  • Character Arrays and Dynamic Memory
  • Classes
  • Classes (Continued)
  • Operators
  • Exceptions, Move Constructors, Recursion, and O Notation
  • Inheritance
  • Templates
  • Virtual Functions and Multiple Inheritance
  • Linked Lists
  • The Standard Template Library
  • Building Bigger Projects
  • History
  • Esoterica (Recommended)
  • Esoterica (Not So Recommended)
  • C
  • Moving on with SDL
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