Comment by freyr
7 years ago
Considering that C++ has evolved a lot over the years (and grown quite large), what are good resources for a programmer to get started with the language in 2019?
I've heard Accelerated C++ is a good introduction, but it's quite old at this point. Would Accelerated C++ followed by Effective Modern C++ bring someone up to speed with modern C++? Is there a single book or online resource that would service this purpose better?
I'll second Scott Meyers and add that Essential C++ covers the most fundamental parts of the language. Books beyond that tend to cover much more specific and optional tools.
Reading Essential C++ cover-to-cover was very worthwhile in my job as a programmer in AAA games. Books beyond that have mostly involved thumbing around different items to see which I might find useful at some point. Games in particular tend to be very performance sensitive, but also compile-time and debug-performance-sensitive. A lot of the STL is not as respectful of those latter two, meaning a lot of game code uses little or even none of the STL. (Working with UE4 will involve using none, for example.) I'd definitely focus more attention on understanding core language features that the huge amount of content that exists in the STL.
By far the best element of C++ that a lot of other languages lack is const and const-correctness. The second best would be the robust features templates have in comparison to generics of other languages (though the applications allowed by that robustness can be mildly horrifying at times).
Const correctness in C++ is a nice feature, but to say it is missing in many other languages is a bit exaggeration. Many other languages offer a much superior tool - immutable data types. Immutability is stronger than C++ const correctness and easier to use at the same time.
Templates are nowhere near capabilities and ease of use of languages with proper (read: not accidental) macro/metaprogramming systems (e.g. Lisps) or languages with modern generic type systems designed from the ground up (Haskell, Scala/Dotty, Idris, etc). Templates are IMHO a powerful hack, but hack is still a hack with all the consequences - terrible error messages, slow compile times, difficult debugging, late error detection, a lot of accidental complexity caused by templates not being first-class citizens etc.
> Immutability is stronger than C++ const correctness and easier to use at the same time.
C++-style const appears to be stronger than just immutability, since you can have immutable objects in C++, but you can also pass const references to mutable objects.
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> Const correctness in C++ is a nice feature, but to say it is missing in many other languages is a bit exaggeration. Many other languages offer a much superior tool - immutable data types. Immutability is stronger than C++ const correctness and easier to use at the same time.
Technically C++ const can be used to implement immutable types just as they exist in other languages (and can be hidden behind a library entry point) but I agree that conceptually it's easier to think of an immutable string or vector as an inherent property of the object rather than one applied. And in C++ I don't think you can prevent casting away constness.
> Templates are nowhere near capabilities and ease of use of languages with proper (read: not accidental) macro/metaprogramming systems (e.g. Lisps) or languages with modern generic type systems designed from the ground up (Haskell, Scala/Dotty, Idris, etc). Templates are IMHO a powerful hack, but hack is still a hack with all the consequences - terrible error messages, slow compile times, difficult debugging, late error detection, a lot of accidental complexity caused by templates not being first-class citizens etc.
Templates were not an accidental hack for macros; as Stroustrup once said to me, "the ecological niche of 'macro' had already been polluted so templates were my only way to put macros into the language." I agree it sucks next to lisp macrology (but as a lisp developer since the 1970s I would say that wouldn't I?) but hell, the language makes a distinction between expressions and statements so there's only so much you can do.
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> By far the best element of C++ that a lot of other languages lack is const and const-correctness.
Add to that volatile-correctness... which most people aren't even aware of. http://www.drdobbs.com/cpp/volatile-the-multithreaded-progra...
This article is nearly 2 decades old and gives very bad advice for multithreaded c++ programming. To a first approximation, volatile should never be used for multithreading safety.
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Despite that it was written by Alexandrescu, I can say that without a doubt this 2001 article doesn't represent the current state of thought around MT programming and volatile. I'd think of it more as a historical artifact than anything.
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“A tour of C++” (second edition) by Stroustrup is a great starting point.
C++ is deep and nuanced, so reading books will help structure your learning. I've found Scott Meyer's books to be great for starting out. Those will give you a fantastic foundation, from which you can dive deeper. Those and others have added significantly to my ability to write clean and maintainable software.
This SO post is a great guide for where to look: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-...
I've been learning C++ for the first time starting in 2019.
I used Marc Gregoire's Professional C++ which has a version that was published last year and includes C++17, alongside Scott Meyer's line of books, and watching a variety of YouTube videos (e.g. Jason Turner, CPP talks...)
I second the recommendation of Professional C++. I am just a self-taught programmer, and to be quite honest, felt I was getting in a bit over my head by buying a book aimed at professionals. But I have found the material to be perfectly accessible even for someone without a CS degree, and I am now using C++ for my personal projects. I cannot recommend that book highly enough. Just my $.02
I recommend going through some recent CppCon presentations, especially these by committee members and people who implemented features/libraries -- Bjarne Stroustrup, Herb Sutter, Howard Hinnant, Chandler Carruth, etc.
Also have a look at Mike Acton's DOD videos -- he'll tell you that modern c++ (and even oop) is garbage, and he'll be right for his own particular case :)
It's hard to name just a single resource and some HN mates have already listed excellent resources. I'd like to add a little bit that perhaps someone will find useful: - Books by B. Stroustrup are excellent if you already know programming. I wish for a new edition of "The C++ Programming Language" to be honest. I learnt a lot of useful "tips" from many books but only by reading his books was I able to see why C++ made certain choices. That really helped me "level up".
Stroustrup -> Meyers -> Alexandrescu (optional but lots of very clever ideas)
Tour of C++, 2nd edition, from Bjarne Stroustroup is quite good to get to know all major updates how to write good C++20 code (the book goes through all relevant updates since C++11).