I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what?

Re:I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what? by jey on Monday May 21, 2007 @02:07PM (#23662)

If you have enough balls to learn C from K&R, you could try learning C++ from Koenig & Moo's "Accelerated C++" instead. C++ contains everything in C, and has a lot of handy higher level constructs. You can deal with the specific idiosyncrasies of pure C later, but can get started quickly with C++. http://tinyurl.com/26cjz9

If you don't have any background in programming, or don't really know that you want to learn C or C++ specifically, I would recommend starting with Python. C++ is good if you know that you want to write systems software, or need to interface with C/C++ libraries. If you're just looking to learn to code, then learn Python. kyro said that he enjoyed learning from the free ebook "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python". http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/

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Re:I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what? by benhoyt on Monday May 21, 2007 @06:05PM (#23714)

Hmmm, I definitely wouldn't recommend newbies learning C++. Every time I've tried to dig into C++, it's been a turn-off. K&R's great. C's great, and it's small enough to get your head around, but if you want to know a language like C++, yeah, definitely agreed about Python.

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Re:I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what? by jey on Monday May 21, 2007 @06:38PM (#23723)

What's the trouble with C++? It seem to me that using the higher-level constructs of C++ is a lot friendlier than having to malloc and free things all over the place. You don't have to jump into C++ template metaprogramming. :-)

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Re:I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what? by benhoyt on Tuesday May 22, 2007 @12:43AM (#23792)

True, it's just that if you want those features of C++ you're better off jumping up to something modern: Python/C#/Java. Those languages (perhaps even Java) feel well-designed and friendly instead of like a hacked-on OOP addition to C.

I'm aware that C++ is not just a hack, but compared to modern designed-from-scratch languages, it does feel like one a lot of the time.

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Re:I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what? by euccastro on Monday May 21, 2007 @10:19PM (#23768)

Similarly, automatic garbage collection is a lot friendlier than C++ memory management.

With C for close-to-the-metal stuff and to optimize bottlenecks, Python for high level, and ctypes to glue both, I find no niche left for C++.

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Re:I'm new to Linux. I've got Ubuntu and K&R. Now what? by jsackmann on Monday May 21, 2007 @02:37PM (#23671)

Ditto the recommendation on "How to Think..." ...a few years ago, I had no programming knowledge whatsoever, read about 1/3 of the book, and was already building useful stuff (to me, anyway).

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