****GOOD DAY GUYS*****

after completing the necessary topics in C++ programming language, HOW can I use it to build a software, big or small, pls your answers are appreciated

Find a need. Preferably one that you have. And use C++ to solve it. But I think you should learn Python and learn how to mix it with C++

THANKS Mr Seun.....learning python is not a bad idea, but they must be a medium in putting this two programming languages together

Back to your first opinion.
I want to create a simple program that calculates the C.G.P.A of a student, right from year 1 to final year, I will I make it USER INTERACTIVE, and not the way my windows command line shows it.....
OR even creating, a program for calculating measure of central tendency(mean,median,mode,standard deviation,variance,mean deviation) in graphical interface...



Thanks in advance, all suggestions would be helpful.

Start by looking for open source projects using C++ to see how its actually used in practice. Once you get comfortable with the project design and aims, try submitting a few patches to the community so they can critique it and sharpen up your skills. I suspect that you will find the actual use of C++ in practice looks like incantations, not the examples you may have seen so far

Beware - C++ is not Python or one of the newer generation languages. Python, Ruby etc are powerful for developing applications. C++ is powerful for systems programming, developing frameworks and writing languages like Python. Based on your last post, you should probably pick up Python instead. Even very experienced C programmers avoid C++ and jump to Python.

Using C++ for most user applications is like trying to use a chainsaw to slice bread. you will make a mess of things. Even the experienced cats do. C++ is too much raw power for most real life app development. Python lets you concentrate on on developing a powerful app in weeks, instead of spending nights chasing memory leaks from copy constructors.

In short. Start with Python. You will probably never go back

birdman: Start by looking for open source projects using C++ to see how its actually used in practice. Once you get comfortable with the project design and aims, try submitting a few patches to the community so they can critique it and sharpen up your skills. I suspect that you will find the actual use of C++ in practice looks like incantations, not the examples you may have seen so far

Beware - C++ is not Python or one of the newer generation languages. Python, Ruby etc are powerful for developing applications. C++ is powerful for systems programming, developing frameworks and writing languages like Python. Based on your last post, you should probably pick up Python instead. Even very experienced C programmers avoid C++ and jump to Python.

Using C++ for most user applications is like trying to use a chainsaw to slice bread. you will make a mess of things. Even the experienced cats do. C++ is too much raw power for most real life app development. Python lets you concentrate on on developing a powerful app in weeks, instead of spending nights chasing memory leaks from copy constructors.

In short. Start with Python. You will probably never go back

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ADVICE

That phyton looks so scary to me...just like a real phyton, am a php guy and wants to learn something more wicked.lol

birdman: Start by looking for open source projects using C++ to see how its actually used in practice. Once you get comfortable with the project design and aims, try submitting a few patches to the community so they can critique it and sharpen up your skills. I suspect that you will find the actual use of C++ in practice looks like incantations, not the examples you may have seen so far

Beware - C++ is not Python or one of the newer generation languages. Python, Ruby etc are powerful for developing applications. C++ is powerful for systems programming, developing frameworks and writing languages like Python. Based on your last post, you should probably pick up Python instead. Even very experienced C programmers avoid C++ and jump to Python.

Using C++ for most user applications is like trying to use a chainsaw to slice bread. you will make a mess of things. Even the experienced cats do. C++ is too much raw power for most real life app development. Python lets you concentrate on on developing a powerful app in weeks, instead of spending nights chasing memory leaks from copy constructors.

In short. Start with Python. You will probably never go back

Birdman....concerning the bolded part, I have done some research on C++,and have read a lot of people using c++ for solving real life problems, even like creatin music players, pdf reader e.t.c though, i agree with you it is also used for what you mentioned......but from the little I know on python, python is a scripting language and mainly used for WEB programming, don't you think it will be strenuous writing applications for windows in python, rather than c++ or even java

Python is a good language to learn but use the ones u already have knowledge in, cos learning a new language might take some weeks..

Tolustar:

Birdman....concerning the bolded part, I have done some research on C++,and have read a lot of people using c++ for solving real life problems, even like creatin music players, pdf reader e.t.c though, i agree with you it is also used for what you mentioned......but from the little I know on python, python is a scripting language and mainly used for WEB programming, don't you think it will be strenuous writing applications for windows in python, rather than c++ or even java

If you dig further, you will also see former C++ programmers either switching to Java, or recommending Python. Computer Science departments used to teach C as the first language. They skipped C++ and moved on to Java and Python for the same reasons. Python can be used as a scripting language, eg a replacement for Perl. But it is much more powerful than that. Can you write a music player in C++? Yes. But you could also do it in C. The question you have to ask yourself as a pragmatic programmer is which tool solves my problem best?

I saw one guy turn his laptop camera into an image recognition hardware to detect a cars parking in his assigned spot outside by finding and parsing the license plates. Next he trained his laptop to recognize his face. He did both demos in under 20 minutes, with less than 30 lines of python code. It would take a C++ programmer a a week or two of coding and debugging to come up with the same polished app.

Now I bet you some of those python libraries are written in C++ and C for speed, but the python programmer is free from the underlying complexity and can concentrate on his ideas.

Thanks Birdman, for your support.

There is more to C++ than it meets the eyes *sighs* I have to DIG more in my research

@birdman,what programming languages do you base on.

Peeps more suggestion pls. Any suggestion would be helpful,

Tolustar: Thanks Birdman, for your support.

There is more to C++ than it meets the eyes *sighs* I have to DIG more in my research

@birdman,what programming languages do you base on

peeps more suggestion.any suggestion would be helpful,

what kind of applications do you want to write? And for what audience? That would dictate the direction you want to go? Btw, since you have taken a course in c++, you should keep that skill sharp with open source projects and blogs just in case. I'd look on github first to see if there is something interesting there.

If you are talking web, Seun can definitely point you in a better direction. For anything else, there are tons of fun python communities doing amazing things. Well worth your time, even if you are doing it on the side.

Me, Im more of a systems/embedded guy, usually c or c++. I used to be a perl and php dev back in the day. I hear they laugh at those guys now

birdman:


I used to be a perl and php dev back in the day. I hear they laugh at those guys now

U r funny o...who is laffing at them and what do you even mean by that Am not a system guy nd I don't think I have interest..my wife is the internet and I communicate with her in the language she loves most php, to my concubines I use: perl,asp,ruby on rails

Thanks Birdman.

@Cbrass lol, programmers and there love for certain programming languages, it doesn't matter the language, so far you are using it to do something better in life, if not na to work harder, perhaps there is nothing bad in knowing more than 3different languages and using there languages for there main purpose.
As for me sha, i'm hoping to learn java before python, but if python seems a bit easier to java, i do it before the other.

wao!
these guys are speaking in parables; Python, Ph, C++ and so on
For heaven sake what is a Python doing in Port Harcourt

etc006: wao!
these guys are speaking in parables; Python, Ph, C++ and so on
For heaven sake what is a Python doing in Port Harcourt

etc006: wao!
these guys are speaking in parables; Python, Ph, C++ and so on
For heaven sake what is a Python doing in Port Harcourt

Tolustar:

Birdman....concerning the bolded part, I have done some research on C++,and have read a lot of people using c++ for solving real life problems, even like creatin music players, pdf reader e.t.c though, i agree with you it is also used for what you mentioned......but from the little I know on python, python is a scripting language and mainly used for WEB programming, don't you think it will be strenuous writing applications for windows in python, rather than c++ or even java

Do you know that these applications were developed with python
VLC media player, Opera browser, and Google earth?

Python is a good language when you're much concerned about fast development and rapid prototyping and it can be used for other crunching tasks and gets your project quickly delivered but when your project requires speed or requires more interaction with a system's high level layer, then C/C++ becomes your preferred option. That said, you can be a badass in C++ but then use Python to write extension modules or as a component in a large C++ application!!
You'd gain both ways.

As for what to do with your knowledge in C++, start by either looking at what program you can write for your pc to automate basics tasks or go online and start solving challenges, inspiration 'd fall on your path!!!

That said, you can be a badass in C++ but then use Python to write extension modules or as a component in a large C++ application!!

I think it's better to use Python to write your large application and then create C++ modules to speed up the parts that are very CPU intensive. That's what many Python shops e.g. Eve Online do. Python is better for expressing the high level logic of your app while C++ is fast but ugly.

C++ has been and still remains a beastly beauty.... u need to b mature at it to work with extension languages especially python....wen u near that bridge u can choose d Lua language.

wonder y all d mobile os's r slowly but surely heading to pure native with C++?

Seun: Find a need. Preferably one that you have. And use C++ to solve it. But I think you should learn Python and learn how to mix it with C++

i dont think this is really necesary. C++ has evryfin u cn nid to develop any software, except wen it comes to GUI when which u should simply download the open source QT4 or 5, read so ebooks on it, nd dats all. U'r ready to create powerful nd awesome c++ apps without havin to slow ur codes down scripting python in.
Oh nd bout the memory leaks and problems; you cant create memory efficient and short mighty apps in c++ if u think like a pythonist. Check this out.

--Python---
Variable = [x*(x*x) for x in range(0,9999)]
del Variable

---c++---
unsigned int* variable=time(NULL)*9999;
delete variable;

Now tell me how python is better at dis dan c++.

birdman:

If you dig further, you will also see former C++ programmers either switching to Java, or recommending Python. Computer Science departments used to teach C as the first language. They skipped C++ and moved on to Java and Python for the same reasons. Python can be used as a scripting language, eg a replacement for Perl. But it is much more powerful than that. Can you write a music player in C++? Yes. But you could also do it in C. The question you have to ask yourself as a pragmatic programmer is which tool solves my problem best?

I saw one guy turn his laptop camera into an image recognition hardware to detect a cars parking in his assigned spot outside by finding and parsing the license plates. Next he trained his laptop to recognize his face. He did both demos in under 20 minutes, with less than 30 lines of python code. It would take a C++ programmer a a week or two of coding and debugging to come up with the same polished app.

Now I bet you some of those python libraries are written in C++ and C for speed, but the python programmer is free from the underlying complexity and can concentrate on his ideas.

excuse me...wen u say that.. U'r talking about accessing inbuilt os tool and passing or lemme say scripting its control which any1 here with a good c++ knowledge knw that opening ports in c++ is a matter of including few libraries and few lines of clever codes. Again, that doesnt only apply to c++, in java accessing os tools was one of the main buzz java had with c++, though pple prefered c++'s native access back then, but wif few advances, accessin os tools is as easy as dawg...all high leveled programming languages ar built to bridge the gap btwn assembler/machine world of microcontrolers AVRs, EPROMs e.t.c to abstract human comprehensive codes. K, i got this guy who built a software in c++ that piled a server to windows and produced an interface that u could use to control and find anyfin on ur computer by just talkin to it or typing in some relevant texts. Wat do say bout dat? He finished it in less than 2hours.

Olyboy16:
i dont think this is really necesary. C++ has evryfin u cn nid to develop any software, except wen it comes to GUI when which u should simply download the open source QT4 or 5, read so ebooks on it, nd dats all. U'r ready to create powerful nd awesome c++ apps without havin to slow ur codes down scripting python in.
Oh nd bout the memory leaks and problems; you cant create memory efficient and short mighty apps in c++ if u think like a pythonist. Check this out.

--Python---
Variable = [x*(x*x) for x in range(0,9999)]
del Variable

---c++---
unsigned int* variable=time(NULL)*9999;
delete variable;

Now tell me how python is better at dis dan c++.

I can give you several:

1. Lets look at this c++ statement. What you wanted to write was:

unsigned int variable=time(NULL)*9999;

Notice there should be NO pointer operator here. You want an unsigned integer, not a pointer to one. The crazy part is, there is a good chance you will corrupt memory silently with careless use of pointers.

2. Lets assume you actually wrote that c++ statement correctly, and used unsigned int. In python, you did not care about the size and type of your Variable. x could be a really large number and you would still get the right result. If time() returns a 32 bit number, there is a good chance your c++ variable will overflow. It gets worse. By using unsigned int in c++, you have can have a 32 bit number on some machines, and a 64 bit number on others. So you could test forever and never see this overflow on your machine. Someone else runs it and it breaks for them.

3. You need that del in C++, otherwise you will have memory leaks. In python, you typically do not need del. Part of its purpose is to hint the garbage collector. Why is this important? In a real c++ program, there will be several lines of code before delete, so forgetting a delete is very possible. If you forget the delete in Python, worst case is a less than optimal garbage collector. In C++, this is a memory leak. Not only with your program crash, but it will do so long afterwards. Memory leaks are nightmares to debug - this issue does not exist with Python

You wrote a 2 line c++ program, and I just showed you one bug that can cause memory corruption, one that will cause an overflow on some machines. I also showed you how Python is better than c++ in preventing memory leakage. What is even worse is that these are all silent bugs. They kill your program without you knowing immediately. By the time the crash becomes obvious, the footprint of these bugs is gone already.

dueal: C++ has been and still remains a beastly beauty.... u need to b mature at it to work with extension languages especially python....wen u near that bridge u can choose d Lua language.

wonder y all d mobile os's r slowly but surely heading to pure native with C++?

Most mobile os run C, not even C++ for the best performance. An example in Linux for Android. Then there are fast C++ libraries built on the C layer. Finally, there is Dalvik and a Java layer at the top. Application developers only need write Java apps, and can call into faster c++ libraries if they need to. I think Seun has alluded to this practice already. Bottomline, mobile os want you as an app developer to stay away from C++/C as much as possible. You want to concentrate on your prototype, not specific machine issues.

birdman:

I can give you several:

1. Lets look at this c++ statement. What you wanted to write was:

unsigned int variable=time(NULL)*9999;

Notice there should be NO pointer operator here. You want an unsigned integer, not a pointer to one. The crazy part is, there is a good chance you will corrupt memory silently with careless use of pointers.

2. Lets assume you actually wrote that c++ statement correctly, and used unsigned int. In python, you did not care about the size and type of your Variable. x could be a really large number and you would still get the right result. If time() returns a 32 bit number, there is a good chance your c++ variable will overflow. It gets worse. By using unsigned int in c++, you have can have a 32 bit number on some machines, and a 64 bit number on others. So you could test forever and never see this overflow on your machine. Someone else runs it and it breaks for them.

3. You need that del in C++, otherwise you will have memory leaks. In python, you typically do not need del. Part of its purpose is to hint the garbage collector. Why is this important? In a real c++ program, there will be several lines of code before delete, so forgetting a delete is very possible. If you forget the delete in Python, worst case is a less than optimal garbage collector. In C++, this is a memory leak. Not only with your program crash, but it will do so long afterwards. Memory leaks are nightmares to debug - this issue does not exist with Python

You wrote a 2 line c++ program, and I just showed you one bug that can cause memory corruption, one that will cause an overflow on some machines. I also showed you how Python is better than c++ in preventing memory leakage. What is even worse is that these are all silent bugs. They kill your program without you knowing immediately. By the time the crash becomes obvious, the footprint of these bugs is gone already.

correcting my hastily written snippet:
unsigned int * variable;
*variable=time(NULL)*9999;
delete variable;

nd bout d 32-bit numbers u said causes overflow. I'm sorry, do u use ANSI c++? And i'm thinkin ur c++ environ is probably outdated. If non of these, then, i'l just say my debbuger has never told or show me any signs of variable overflows.. Even when i work with cryptographic intensive codes, my apps work with accurate precision.
And why would a variable overflow occur in a 64-bit system? U declare a variable in 64-bit, it gets wat it needs shikena! Dnt confuse pple wit wat u arnt sure of..

The use of delete statement in c++ can be likened to opening a database conection in a constructor of a class and closing it in its destructor.
1. If u dnt close it, it does no harm bt u get heap dumps
2. Dats wat we call efficient programing.

If any1 cnt handle d heat of langs like c++ nd likes nd seeks refuge in scripting, its fine. Bt dnt defame these languages.

U knw their's no way u'l build a server or a database in scripting langs and get uptimum speed as in c++ nd oda native langs.
Peace!

^sure bro. if its working for you, so be it

if anyone is using this forum to learn stuff, you should know that 80% of what he just posted is wrong. anyhow im not here to argue endlessly so im not going to pinpoint anything - I have other things to turn my attention to. btw, stackoverflow is also a very good resource for anyone who hasnt used it yet. you can, and should use it to verify anything you read on nairaland

^^^
Okay.. This is getting interesting...stackoverflow is a lovely site for c++ and cplusplus.com

Am lost