[InterKnight]

Hello, everyone.

It has been a little while since I last posted here. I would first like to start off by thanking everyone for their help during my spring quarter of college. Thanks to all of the help and direction, I was able to score an A (highest in the class) at the college. Thanks again for the advice that I needed.

The C++ programming course which I took last quarter was the final C++ course that is offered at the college. I thought that I would learn more, but from what I am told the professor barely scratched the surface, which I am aware of myself. I was hoping on learning to create Win32-based applications, but the professor only took the class as far as classes, inheritance, polymorphism and just a small bit about stacks and queues. All of this was done in the command-prompt program, though, rather than an actual windows application such as a dialog box.

I am quite disappointed because there are no further courses in C++ at the college, and I am not sure where to look in order to get further in my learning. This is not something that I want to just forget after time due to lacking of use, but I have no idea where to look in order to progress my knowledge and skills. Are there any Web sites that have tutorials and such for this sort of thing?

I am currently looking into another college because there are few programming languages offered there...than I was originally led to believe.

I would greatly appreciate any help that could be provided in this matter.

Thanks again, everyone, for all of the help and guidance that has been given me throughout my duration as a member here.

Take care.

[jiml8]

The best way to learn a language is to come up with a project you want to complete that uses that language. You'll learn it then.

To learn/use C or C++ you might, for instance, port an application written in that language from one platform to another. Personally, just for grins, I am now doing a bit of work to modernize the ancient Unix game LARN to work in Linux. That is C, not C++, but getting it running is keeping me amused for a few hours

I already know C, but I want to play Larn.

You might try something like that, or you might come up with a utility that you want and rather than download it you write your own.

[Regicide]

If you want to learn how to code Win32 based applications, I would recomend a book by Herbt Schildt called Windows 2000 Programming From the Ground Up: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846. It is a great read that is VERY informative. It is very useful even if you are programming for Windows XP.

[GCDude]

Totally agree with the two posts here. Get reading some books, and get programming by setting yourself some projects to do. Maybe create yourself a little utility from the ground up might be a good start. Have a look at the site www.codeproject.com, there are lots of articles and tutorials on c++ programming (specifically for windows).

Your time at college has a familiar ring to it. But then the courses are to get you to understand the theory and concepts of the programming rather than giving you actual programming experience. Probably not what u wanted, but it will set u in good standing for future though.

[InterKnight]

Thanks very much for the advice.

I had an idea for a project, but right now it is too far out of my league, but that doesn't mean that it can't happen. I am visually impaired, and there is some really good magnification software out there, but the companies that create it know that blind users will need it in order to work with PCs, so they skyrocket the prices so that it is practically unaffordable. One day I hope to create software that will have the same quality, but that can either be free or little cost to those who really need it.

But for right now, maybe a project such as a program to enter heart rate and other health information into a flat database file would be good? My neighbor goes through a hassle of trying to line up all of his medical information manually for his doctors...maybe if I could come up with something where he just enters all of the information in text boxes, then the program automatically outputs the information in a fashionable format to a file...something along those lines...then I could get some experience and help my neighbor at the same time...

Sorry for rambling and going off into another tangent there...

It's worth a thought.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll mark this as solved now. You all have been a great help.

[codejockey]

I echo the sentiments of previous posters -- a project and a good book are tremendous aids when learning. Your suggested project -- entering heart rate/health data and storing in a database -- is an excellent choice. Go for it -- and don't be afraid to ask for help/suggestions here.

Good luck.

[aewarnick]

Good luck on creating the heart rate monitor program! It shouldn't be hard and neither is the magnifier.