Goal Accomplished: Finished C++ Primer Plus
I have written more C++ then I have read about how to write C++ and this might be the typical way people learn programming languages.
When I needed to learn Perl, I went the other way around. I read and worked through all the exercises in Learning Perl and then followed that up by reading the first two thirds of Programming Perl. This was all accomplished before I had written more than a 1,000 lines of real perl and I think this gave me a much stronger base for understanding the how and why of things. Of course when I learned Perl, I was able and willing to devote 80 hours a week to the task, and going through Learning Perl and Programming Perl probably only took 3 weeks.
Last year when I went to talk to by soon to be adviser about working on my Master’s thesis, he said that he wanted everything written in C++. No big deal I said, but I have never taken the time to develop a strong ground work in the hows and whys of C++. Thus I ordered C++ Primer Plus.
I was planning on reading the entire book over Christmas break, but instead spent all my free time working on my thesis. Obviously, I had waited too late to do the right thing and did not really start on the book until after graduating. I am certain that the code for my thesis could have been better, but certainly was no where near the worst that has been written. After graduating, I made it one of my goals to finish the book since I really enjoyed writing C++ for my thesis.
Reading this book gave me some insight into C++, but it is no Programming Perl. What I now have is background in C++, and know that I probably should read a book just on IO and spend a very long time working through template examples. My weakness in C++ is really what has been developed in the last, oh, 15 years.