On 7/30/2011 12:23 PM, Warp wrote:
> stbenge<"egnebts<-inverted"@hotmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> With C's vector class, you can create easily-manipulated dynamic arrays.
>
>    Don't you mean C++'s?

Yes... I jumped straight to C++, which was probably a mistake since I 
haven't clearly defined the differences between it and its predecessor 
:| I'm guessing /the/ major difference is C++'s OOP capabilities, 
without which the vector class couldn't be possible, right?

Despite having written a few programs, I'm still undereducated on the 
whole subject. My biggest concern is to prevent memory leaks and 
outright crashes. As for writing clean code... I still have yet to 
finish one program that doesn't use global variables `:/

Post a reply to this message

On 7/30/2011 14:08, stbenge wrote:
> I'm guessing /the/ major difference is C++'s OOP capabilities, without which
> the vector class couldn't be possible, right?

That and templates. The vector class isn't a class as much as it is a template.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

Post a reply to this message

On 7/30/2011 11:30, stbenge wrote:
> great to just get a program up-and-running with gfx, input, etc., it's an
> absolutely horrible language in all other respects.

On that front, you could look into Tcl, or Java, or C#. If you're just 
learning, I'd say C# is an excellent introduction to the C-like languages. 
It has powerful development tools, "visual" builders to make input and forms 
easy, portable file I/O stuff, fairly portable (if older) windowing stuff, 
etc etc etc.  I.e., it has an excellent development environment, along with 
being a quite powerful language in the C family.

Tcl is really easy and portable with good I/O and graphics and stuff, but 
it's so unlike other languages that what you learn there isn't really going 
to apply to other systems as much, so it's probably not a real good first 
language.

I'd stay away from "Visual Basic" or "VB.NET" myself. That's a rapidly 
decaying body that the worms are still feasting on.

> The basics of C++ aren't so hard to learn,

It's annoying, tho, for a beginner. There are a large number of fairly 
senseless rules that just become frustrating fairly quickly, not even 
counting ho hard it can be to debug a fairly simple mistake like using an 
uninitialized variable.  It's like someone's learning to drive, and you give 
them an 18-wheeler and say "this'll do everything, as soon as you learn the 
14 different gears, and as long as you remember to hook up the air brakes 
before you drive."  I'd never start a student learning on their own with an 
unsafe language that doesn't tell them when they've made a mistake.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

Post a reply to this message

Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> That and templates. The vector class isn't a class as much as it is a template.

  It's both. (Being a class is important because of RAII.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I'd never start a student learning on their own with an 
> unsafe language that doesn't tell them when they've made a mistake.

  Using a good compiler with a good debug mode helps a lot. For example
VC++ adds bounds and other checks to all STL operations in debug mode,
as well as many other things. (gcc also has support for this, but
unfortunately it's such an obscure flag that a newbie will never find
it unless someone tells him.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

On 7/31/2011 0:12, Warp wrote:
> Darren New<dne### [at] sanrrcom>  wrote:
>> I'd never start a student learning on their own with an
>> unsafe language that doesn't tell them when they've made a mistake.
>
>    Using a good compiler with a good debug mode helps a lot.

That's probably true. The only time I've really been using C or C++ lately 
is in environments that were so sucky that's the best they could manage. :-)

I guess if you get a compiler that detects stuff like uninitialized 
variables and you stay away from the native types that are most dangerous, 
it probably wouldn't be too hard.  I'm not sure why you *would* want to 
start with something like that, mind.



When you gaze into the void, the void gazes back. When you cast into the 
void, you get a type error, which just means Nietzsche wasn't a C programmer.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

Post a reply to this message

Ok, sorry for the delay first, I was off over the last days.

Well, after all of this very good information, I guess I try Ruby and go on from
that. My experience with C was only, using PovMan's shading language and I tried
Prosessing as well before (nice toy... ;)

Thanx for all hints, folks :)

Best rgds,
Holger

Post a reply to this message