C++ Workshop - Getting Started with C++ (Ch. 1 & 2) - CPP Workshop

Jeromy Walsh · 2008-05-18T16:41:20

Welcome to the GDNet C++ Workshop – Ch. 1 & 2For a complete introduction to this workshop, please look here.Workshop Overview This workshop is designed to aid people in their journey to learn beginning C++. This workshop is targeted at highly motivated individuals who are interested in learning C++ or who have attempted to learn C++ in the past, but found that without sufficient support and mentoring they were unable to connect all the pieces of this highly complex but powerful programming language. This is a 'guided' self-teaching C++ workshop. Each student is responsible for taking the time to read the material and learn the information. The community and tutors that arise out of this workshop are here for making the learning process run more smoothly, but are not obligated to baby-sit a person's progress. Because everyone will be working from the same textbook (Teach Yourself C++ in 21 days 5th Ed.), students may find it easier to get answers to the specific questions they might have. There is no minimum age requirement, and there is no previous programming experience required. Additionally, this workshop does not attempt to defend C++ as a language, nor does it attempt to demonstrate that C++ is either more or less useful then other programming languages for any particular purpose. People who intend to start a discussion about the differences between C++ and ANY other languages (except as are relevant to a particular discussion), are encouraged to do so elsewhere. This workshop is for educational, not philosophical discussions. Quizzes & Exercises Each chapter will have quizzes and exercises. Please try and answer them by yourself. If you try with reasonable effort but are unable to answer the questions or complete the exercises, feel free to post a clarification question here on the thread. Tutors, myself, or others will do the best we can to point you in the right direction for finding the answer. Chapter 1 – Getting Started, Chapter 2 – The Anatomy of a C++ ProgramIntroduction Greetings! Most weeks will be 7 days, beginning on Monday and ending on Sunday, however as this week starts on Thursday, and is the first “week” in the class, we will extend it to a full 10 days to get on a better schedule and give people a chance to obtain their textbooks in the mail. Additionally, as the topics are relatively straight forward, requiring little programming, etc…Week 1 will be a combination of the first 2 chapters. Chapter 1 is about 16 pages and chapter 2 is an additional 14 pages. Participants have 10 days ( ending Sunday, June 10th ) to read the first two chapters, at which point we will move on to the next chapter. Participants are welcome to post their questions for these chapters within this thread and myself, the tutors, and other participants will do the best we can to answer your questions. As the thread is likely to grow to a hundred or more posts, the C++ workshop threads will be closely moderated. Discussions which become narratives, flame-wars, or philosophical will either be removed or moved to another forum, unless entirely relevant to the current chapters. If you have trouble installing your compiler or getting “Hello World” to build, please ask for help. You will not be able to move forward with the workshop until you’ve done those two tasks successfully. Good Luck! Finally, feel free to post quiz-like questions after about 5 days. This will give people an opportunity to test their knowledge and understanding after they’ve had a chance to absorb the information. For questions which require further research then what is in the book, mark the question with an [Extra Credit] tag. Topical Outline of the Reading (Not literal due to copyrights) A History of C++ Which language should be learned first C or C++? How does C++ compare to Java and C#? An introduction to Managed C++ The ANSI Standard Getting in the right mindset to program How an .exe gets created Building your first program. – “Hello World” An introduction to compiler errors A review of Hello World An introduction to “Console Out” An introduction to the Standard Namespace Commenting your code An introduction to functions The difference between Methods and Functions Additional Resources None... Creating and Building a Project w/ VC++ .NET 2005It has come to my attention that the instructions for creating a project/file in the book on pages 19-20 are for Visual C++ 6. Visual C++ .NET 2005 is actually version 8. The correct approach for .NET 2005 is: Step 1: Create an empty project File->New->Project Select 'Win32' from Project types Select 'Win32 Console Application' from the Templates Type the name of the project and the location in the edit box near the bottom. Click OK When the dialog box appears click on "Application Settings" on the left Click "Empty Project" under Additional options. Click Finish Step 2: Add files to your project Right click on your project in the Solution Explorer Add->New Item Click Code in the Categories List Select either C++ File or Header File as appropriate to the task Type the name of the file in the edit box near the bottom. Click Add Building your executable For solutions which only have a single project, Build Solution will do the same as "Build <projName>". Once you have solutions which are containers for multiple projects, you will need to choose either to build individual projects, or the whole solution. I believe all of the tasks we will attempt in this workshop will require only a single project. As such, "Build Solution" should work just fine. Week 1 Errata Chapter 1, Exercise 1 says "...try to guess what it does without running it." If you DO put it into a compiler it will give you a compile error as the listing is not correct. The author meant: #include <iostream> int main() { int x = 5; int y = 7; std::cout << std::endl; std::cout << x + y << " " << x * y; std::cout << std::endl; return 0; } Note that 'endl' is also part of the Standard Namespace, and thus requires std:: at the beginning. [Edited by - jwalsh on May 30, 2007 5:25:07 PM]

Sr_Guapo

876

June 01, 2006 08:47 PM

Quote:
Original post by _EpcH_
*** Source Snippet Removed ***

First of all I am using Visual Studio Standard Version (Just received it yesterday :) ). I created a standard Win32 Console Project (didn’t select the empty project option), and it comes with the main function as seen above.

My question is, What are the int argc and _TCHAR* argv[] parameters for ? Why do we need them?

Thanks,
Cheers!

You can pass parameters to a program though these. Common uses include specifying a file for out/input, or any other uses. argc is the number of arguments passed, while argv[] is the actual items. Most C++ compilers will accept that form, or the empty "int main()" for the main function.

Sean Henley [C++ Tutor]Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Alpha_ProgDes

6,963

June 01, 2006 09:06 PM

Quote:
Original post by Palejo
Wow. Thank you for the fast responses and information:)

My pgm, however:

// Exercise1.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
int x = 5;
int y = 7;
std::cout << endl;
std::cout << x + y << " " << x * y;
std::cout << end;
return 0;
}

Still gets me:

error C2065: 'endl' : undeclared identifier
error C2065: 'end' : undeclared identifier

I've been staring at the code for a while now, making sure there are no typos...

Quick tip for posting code here in the forums. You have two options [source] or [code]. Here's an example:

//visual help :)#include <stdafx.h>#include <iostream>int main () {    std::cout << "Look at me I work!" << std::endl;   std::cout << "std:: is the namespace qualifier for cout and endl." << std::endl;       return 0;}

error 6951: "No one invited me to play."

to see how i did that just hit "Edit" in the upper right corner above my post.

Beginner in Game Development? Read here. And read here.

_EpcH_

150

June 01, 2006 09:08 PM

Thanks for your time Sr_Guapo :)

I think I understand the very basic idea of why these arguments exist and that is communicating with the outside world ( from the frame of a console application)I guess.

By the way, I strongly suggest anybody following this workshop to get familiar with using MSDN. If you are using Visual Studio, just highlight a word and press F1.

Have we sent the "Don't shoot, we're pathetic" transmission yet?

Sr_Guapo

876

June 01, 2006 09:12 PM

Quote:
Original post by _EpcH_
Thanks for your time Sr_Guapo :)

I think I understand the very basic idea of why these arguments exist and that is communicating with the outside world ( from the frame of a console application)I guess.

By the way, I strongly suggest anybody following this workshop to get familiar with using MSDN. If you are using Visual Studio, just highlight a word and press F1.

No problem. MSDN is a great resource for windows development. It is great for finding tutorials, source code, and error messages. I recommend getting aquanted with it early on, it will help immensly.

Sean Henley [C++ Tutor]Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

warsen

123

June 01, 2006 11:32 PM

I'm just starting out here, so I may be missing something, but using MS Visual C++ 2005 EE and following the book word for word doesn't seem to have the intended result.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, or if there is a better way to do things. I needed to make the following changes to the steps in the book:

PAGE 19-20: Building the Hello World Project

2. Choose File, New - should read - File, New, Project

6. File, New - should read - File, New, File

7. C++ Source File - should read - C++ File (.cpp)
- also there is no option to name the file here

At this point, if you enter the code and Build as indicated in steps 9 and 10, you end up with nothing at all, because the file created seems to have no connection to the hello project.

There are two ways I found to get it working.

A) The less efficient way: Follow step 9, then manually save the Source1.cpp in the /hello/hello folder. Then in the Solution Explorer window, right-click on the hello project > Source Files folder and select Add Existing item, then choose the Source1.cpp that you just saved.

B) The better solution: Instead of following step 6, right-click on the hello project > Souce Files folder and select Add New Item and choose C++ File (.cpp) and name it hello. Then you can enter the code and follow the rest of the steps.

10. Build hello.exe - there is no .exe extension in the Build menu, it is simply Build hello or Build Solution.

Are my changes to the book's instruction correct for Visual C++ 2005 EE or am I missing something?

The only reason I figured this out is because I had already looked at Microsoft's Walkthrough: Using the Visual Studio IDE. Otherwise, I might have been completely lost.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235632.aspx

Sr_Guapo

876

June 01, 2006 11:44 PM

Quote:
Original post by warsen
Are my changes to the book's instruction correct for Visual C++ 2005 EE or am I missing something?

I think the book may be dealing with Visual Studio 6.0, which is notably different. As for creating a source file: Once you have project, just click the "add new item" button and select C++ file (or whatever it is). You may have to search a bit to find the correct file type. Also, you solution B sounds perfectly fine as well.

Sean Henley [C++ Tutor]Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

JWalsh

Author

498

June 01, 2006 11:48 PM

Warsen,

Indeed you are correct. The instructions, as indicated on page 19, are for Visual C++ 6. Visual C++ 2005 is actually version 8. The earlier versions of C++, much like Dev-C++ didn't have as tight of integration with projects, and thus allowed you to add a file much more quickly, and without the need for a project at all.

The correct approach for .NET 2005 is:

Step 1: Create an empty project

File->New->Project
Select 'Win32' from Project types
Select 'Win32 Console Application' from the Templates
Type the name of the project and the location in the edit box near the bottom.
Click OK
When the dialog box appears click on "Application Settings" on the left
Click "Empty Project" under Additional options.
Click Finish

Step 2: Add files to your project

Right click on your project in the Solution Explorer
Add->New Item
Click Code in the Categories List
Select either C++ File or Header File as appropriate to the task
Type the name of the file in the edit box near the bottom.
Click Add

Building your executable
For solutions which only have a single project, Build Solution will do the same as "Build <projName>". Once you have solutions which are containers for multiple projects, you will need to choose either to build individual projects, or the whole solution.

I believe all of the tasks we will attempt in this workshop will require only a single project. As such, "Build Solution" should work just fine.

Cheers!

[Edited by - jwalsh on June 2, 2006 1:48:07 PM]

Jeromy Walsh
Sr. Tools & Engine Programmer | Software Engineer
Microsoft Windows Phone Team
Chronicles of Elyria (An In-development MMORPG)
GameDevelopedia.com - Blog & Tutorials
GDNet Mentoring: XNA Workshop | C# Workshop | C++ Workshop
"The question is not how far, the question is do you possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to go as far as is needed?" - Il Duche, Boondock Saints

warsen

123

June 02, 2006 12:00 AM

Sr_Guapo and jwalsh, thanks for the responses. It's good to know I'm headed in the right direction. Hopefully, it might also help out other absolute beginners like myself.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the tutors making this possible!

JWalsh

Author

498

June 02, 2006 12:09 AM

Quote:
Original post by warsen
Sr_Guapo and jwalsh, thanks for the responses. It's good to know I'm headed in the right direction. Hopefully, it might also help out other absolute beginners like myself.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the tutors making this possible!

Warsen,

No problem. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have added instructions for VC++ .NET 2005 in the primary post. If any further people have difficulty, just direct them there. Now we've got workable instructions for most of the major compilers.

Cheers!

Jeromy Walsh
Sr. Tools & Engine Programmer | Software Engineer
Microsoft Windows Phone Team
Chronicles of Elyria (An In-development MMORPG)
GameDevelopedia.com - Blog & Tutorials
GDNet Mentoring: XNA Workshop | C# Workshop | C++ Workshop
"The question is not how far, the question is do you possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to go as far as is needed?" - Il Duche, Boondock Saints

DinGY

204

June 02, 2006 01:01 AM

Setup First Code::Blocks Windows Console Project

1. Run Code::Blocks Program

"This image hosted by imageshack.us"

2. Click on File>New Project...

"This image hosted by imageshack.us"

3. Click on the "Console Application" then Click on "Create" button

"This image hosted by imageshack.us"

4. Save your project. I suggest you should create New Folder and name it what you want. And save it in that folder.

"This image hosted by imageshack.us"

5. Surprise! You complete the setup process now.

"This image hosted by imageshack.us"

------------------------------------------------
If you think it is useful, I will do the Visual C++.NET 2003 setup with the screenshot like it you

DinGY
Yesterday is history.Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift"

C++ Workshop - Getting Started with C++ (Ch. 1 & 2)

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