₦airaland Forum

According to Bjarne "C++ is a language you grow with", so we all are learners though I don't mind helping out with the little I've learnt . This is a thread incase you need to ask some questions on C++ www.nairaland.com/1820615/c-helpline

asalimpo: Going thru explanation of smart pointers in a recent c++ book(c++11) and it all sounded like GC to me.
If c++ uses gc wont tht mean tht modern c++ is going to b slower than its predecessors?

No, smart pointers implementation is not the same as garbage collector. Smart pointers are actually classes that act like pointers they internally keep pointer to the object they hold and a reference counter for the number of references to the object in the program code. When any of the smart pointers holding a reference to an object goes out of scope, the destructor decrements the counter, if the counter has a value of 0 the objects pointed to is deleted. So in effect there is no background object (GC) tasked with monitoring your program to know when an object is no longer referenced

It had been quite long I updated my humble self on this thread some stuffs have been eating a sizeable portion of my brain .

During the week I thought of scratching up a decent simple model to use in experimental tests in a Game Project I'm involved in. Currently I'm rigging her and when it's done (later today perhaps) a link to the blend file for those that might be interested will be posted . Each image contains the base mesh at the left, the sculpted mesh at the center followed by the retopologized mesh.

@Yinksey, Nice work, I love the look of your textures

Greetings and Happy New week to you all...

A little update to the Incub8 story has been made. This is actually more like the game play objective . The earlier posted storyline is still where it had always been for you to read and understand what we are up against: http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/6/proof-concept-story, the update is at http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/17/incub8-invitation

Greetings

Its unfortunate that I have been a bit pre occupied for some times now but project DARKDOVE is still moving on. For those that are interested but are yet to join you can head over to the forum at [url]darkdove.proboards.com[/url] and join up . Two basic introductory tutorials have been posted at the tutorial board; one for Urho3D Editor http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/15/urho3d-editor-simple-guide and the other for In-Game physics http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/16/game-physics-basic-intro. Any one battling with the Game Engine should not forget to share any difficulty encountered so that we all can solve it together and better still arrange a tutorial for others to learn from.

And last but not the least, for those that might be interested in knowing the philosophy guiding DARKDOVE this will give you a better understanding http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/10/step

Here is a C++ helpline where you can ask further questions on C++ https://www.nairaland.com/1820615/c-helpline

asalimpo: @blue mag
If d process is too agonizg , i'll chill out. They really are instances where d api is the only solution. E.g i've found no high level language with an api for detectg d disc drive and ejectg,closg or initiatg disc burning. I guess only api knowledge will do here.

I currently use wrapper libraries for the Windows API except there is need for low level implementation. Though if you intend on solely targeting the Windows platform its generally advisable to learn a bit of how to the API

asalimpo: Windows application dev.
What does a microsoft c++ programmer use?
Is native windows programming usg win32 api obsolete?
Is there any advantage to usg it over the dot net lib?

What is the mfc? (microsoft foundation classes )
what language is used on it?

Can latest versions of windows (7,8+) b programmed natively in c++?

Wat free compilers are compliant with d latest cpp standards (c++11,c++14)?
And for win32 systems.


Is there any justfcation to learng c++ being tht there are faster development languages out there
(c#,vb etc)

in terms of making a living, is a c++ programmer @ risk in 9ja?

1. Microsoft C++ compilers or compilers from other vendors made for the Windows platform, like GCC.

2. No it is not obsolete, its just that there are now libraries to make programming with it easier

3. All applications running on Windows directly or indirectly make use of the Win32 API.
The Windows API (Win32) is primarily focused on the C programming language and since C++ is more of a superset of C it goes for it as well. A some what slight exception is the WinRT api that is additionally provided by Windows 8. WinRT is implemented in C++.
Basically anything that wants to talk to the Windows system, be it the dot net lib or Java Virtual Machine, has to go through the Windows API.

But you don't have to take the gruesome task of programming with Win32 when you have wrapper libraries like MFC, dot net and other third party libs like wxWidgets and Qt


4. MFC is a C++ wrapper for the Win32 API. It groups the Win32 functions into logical components like Classes.
If you've tried creating a simple window in Win32 you should know how tasking it is, but MFC simplifies these steps for you.

5. MFC is implemented in C++

6. Yes Windows 7 and 8 can be programmed on with native C++ ( and also with Win32 API)

7. I am very sure of MinGW (GCC 4.7.2 and upwards supports C++ 11), better still you can go for MinGW-w64 which is a port of MinGW with added goodies . C++14 implementations is not all that good to go yet, vendors haven't even implemented the complete C++11 in there compilers (implementing these standards are not as easy as it seems)

8. There is no justification. But there are places those languages can't go that C++ can.

9. you might be at risk depending on what you are hunting for.



And just in case of IDE you can go for QtCreator, its free and has features to make your C++ programming sweet. CodeBlocks is also good

Zarama7: I'd love to join but it will be for more of learning than actually helping

We all are learners so you are welcomed

Greetings All...

A basic tutorial article on Urho3D Editor has been posted on the DARKDOVE forum. So all those that might have been confused by the Editor can read it up for directions. http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/15/urho3d-editor-simple-guide

3pleo: I'm not a programmer but I will love to join the group

So long as you have one or two ideas and suggestions to make then you are welcomed

For those that might be far away from Urho3D there is now a board for tutorials on it at [url]darkdove.proboards.com[/url]. But first you would have to make a request for the tutorial you want and we'll have it prepared for you . You can make the request here http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/11/tutorial-request

asalimpo: Solved d problem l8r.
The program exited quickly instead of pausg after the

cin>>

so i added anoda pause statement.

 getchar() 

making it two.
The textbook code was wrong by d way.
I've dloaded code block,mingw,gcc, borland compiler before, but there was a particular piece of code i compiled with them dat got differg results (1 compiled,the others spat errors) . It was a textbook code, the inconsistency made me exit c++ learng.
Devc++ is also notoriously crash-prone , think it has to do with d nullsoft installer . I'll try and download vc++. I think its d best.

I'll b postg my problems here as i venture into this wrld.
Are u also into c?

Good to learn you got the problem solved.
I actually came to C++ from C. Though I sparingly use C these days I can still help out in one or two ways .

asalimpo: Hello Op , since ur versed in c++ cud u investigate this problem for me?

I dloaded a copy od devc++, and compiled and ran som simple programs ( they printed a string using cout).
Next, i fished around my ebook collection for a beginner book on c++. Found 1 . Typed a basic example . It compiled but didnt run as expected. The program just exited prematurely.
It was a very simple program. Basically,it did this:
print a string out to console (a question)
read user input from console (using cin) into a string
process the user input stored in d string
print result of step 3 to user.
Pause program using getchar()

Issue:
program exits at step 2, reading data console input,using cin.
Step 3 never was reached.

My os is win7.
I'v been put off c++ in d past because of this kinda bhvrs frm available compilers.

its unfortunate that some C++ issues can be so annoying.

I tried to reproduce this error you mentioned of but didn't succeed . Below is the code I used

#include <iostream>
#include <string>       //needed by VC++ but including by default in GCC
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string myName = "";
    cout << "Enter your name?" << endl;
    cin >> myName;
    cout <<"Your name is " <<myName <<" with a character length of " <<myName.length() <<endl;
    return 0;
}

The code was tested on Visual C++ 2010 (Express) and on two versions of MinGW ( GCC 4.7.2 and 4.9.1) and they both compiled and ran the code without undefined behavior. Did your program exit or it crashed, was there any return code other than zero on program exit. Can you paste your code here so I may understand better what you mean, but from my observation, I believe the problem might be from your development kit.

First of all the devC++ you are using is probably the outdated one which comes with a rather old version of MinGW. Why not try out another IDE with a relatively new version of MinGW, something like codeblocks [url]codeblocks.org[/url], but if you still insist on staying with DevC++ then get the Orwell version which is an active project http://orwelldevcpp..com/

felixchip: Well, I probably would love to be part of the crew.

My first contribution: If I'm permitted, I'll like to Re-design the Logo to something more professional.

I do 3D but not character rigging.
Well, I'll also try and do the custom Dark Dove sound.

And, will contribute to where I possibly can.

You are highly welcomed to be part of the team. For the Character rigging part, that's not a problem, you can contribute static models.

... and the Logo, though I don't really know the extent of professional you mean, but if you've got some cool stuffs on it then you are welcomed to showcase it

CODEEATER: Another game thread... D programming section is a graveyard of ideas of games that people wanted to start, but couldn't...or started but didn't c it through.... Let's c how far darkdove can go

#GoodLuck

Yeap, another game thread ... But unlike any other game thread this is actually a personal project that I decided to open up for those that might be interested in joining. That means I'm never droping it any time soon.

Starting small and simple but then advancing as time goes bye is the developement principle of this project, so there is definitely no pressure to producing a next-gen AAA game .

As for Unity3D, well... C++ is the developement language here.

And thanks for the Goodluck, I definitely need it

Good Morning and Happy New Month...

This is an invitation to every artists, 3d modellers and Animators that might be interested in joining an Open Source game project. If you've got time to spare why not read more about it here on NairaLand https://www.nairaland.com/1544725/opensource-3d-game-participation-call. The team is growing and your talents are well needed

jacob05: Having Problem Building and too much per-requisites (DirectX 2010 ~500MB )

C:\Users\Py_jac\Downloads\Compressed\Urho3D-1.31-Source-with-file-permission-fix
ed>cmake_mingw.bat -DENABLE_64BIT=1

C:\Users\Py_jac\Downloads\Compressed\Urho3D-1.31-Source-with-file-permission-fix
ed>set "OPT=-Wno-dev"

C:\Users\Py_jac\Downloads\Compressed\Urho3D-1.31-Source-with-file-permission-fix
ed>cmake -E chdir Build cmake -Wno-dev -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DENABLE_64BIT=1 ..\
Source
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 4.7.1
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 4.7.1
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc
.exe
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc
.exe -- works
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/g
++.exe
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/g
++.exe -- works
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Looking for include file stdint.h
-- Looking for include file stdint.h - not found
-- Looking for include file wbemcli.h
-- Looking for include file wbemcli.h - not found
-- Building SDL without DX joystick support due to missing wbemcli.h
-- For MSVC, get it from Windows 7 SDK. For MinGW, get it from eg. Wine sources
or from MinGW-w64
-- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_DEPRECATED_ATTR
-- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_DEPRECATED_ATTR - Failed
-- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_DEPRECATED
-- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_DEPRECATED - Failed
-- Found Urho3D: as CMake target
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: C:/Users/Py_jac/Downloads/Compressed/Urho3D
-1.31-Source-with-file-permission-fixed/Build

C:\Users\Py_jac\Downloads\Compressed\Urho3D-1.31-Source-with-file-permission-fix
ed>cd Build

C:\Users\Py_jac\Downloads\Compressed\Urho3D-1.31-Source-with-file-permission-fix
ed\Build>make
'make' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

I am so sorry for this late reply, I just realized you replied to about your having problem building on windows. I sincerely Apologize.

Now to the matter, as noted in the Readme.txt file included with Urho3D source

If using MinGW to compile, DirectX headers may need to be acquired separately.
They can be copied to the MinGW installation eg. from the following package:
http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/common/directx-devel.tar.gz. These will
be missing some of the headers related to shader compilation, so a MinGW build
will use OpenGL by default. To build in Direct3D9 mode, the MinGW-w64 port is
necessary: http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/. Using it, Direct3D9 can be
enabled with the CMake option -DURHO3D_OPENGL=0.

A similar information is in the log you posted. The issue is that MinGW has some kind of problems when building Urho3D. One of this problem is the fact that the SDL source, as used in Urho3D, makes use of some header files and libraries, some of which belong to DirectX9. These component would have to be acquired separately if you want to build with MinGW. And perhaps you wouldn't want to dare building with MSVC with the requirement of having to download the colossal library called DirectX 2010 ~500MB.

The solution to this problem is to get MinGW-w64, as adviced in the readme.txt, mind you it is not the same as MinGW32 and the "w64" does not mean its a 64bit MinGW, no its not. You can visit the site at [url]mingw-w64.sourceforge.net[/url] and find out more about it for yourself but to explain it in summary: MinGW-w64 is a port of MinGW that can be used to build 32bit as well as 64bit Programs, It has better support for Win32 api and other stuffs. Its new releases even comes with MinGW equivalents of DirectX libraries and header files allowing you to build DirectX based programs with it.

Here is a link for a MinGW-w64 installer that worked for me I believe it will definitely work for you too [url]http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/files/Toolchains%20targetting%20Win32/Personal%20Builds/mingw-builds/installer/mingw-w64-install.exe/download[/url]. Its an online installer, so you've got to keep your Internet on .When you run the installer after the first initial page, it will do some checks and then bring up a Settings page with options for Version, Architecture, Thread, Exception and Build Revision. The Below was the setting I used for my build
Version : 4.9.1 (This is the GCC version to use)
Architecture : i686
Thread: posix (This is the threading method to use)
Exception : dwarf (My advice is to use dwarf)
Build Revision: rev0 (I should have chosen something higher )

When you are done setting it up the way you want, move ahead and complete the remaining Jamb Questions that might follow . When all have been done, it will download and install the package for you, you might want to spare like 80mb for that.

When the downloading and installation are through, add the installation folder to your System's PATH variable. NOTE: if you already have a MinGW installation path in the PATH variable, clear it and add this new one.

Now you should be able to build Urho3D using MinGW-w64, don't forget to set CMake option -DURHO3D_OPENGL=0 so as to build in Direct3D9 mode

pcguru1: BlueMagnificient i got a request to do some C and C++ assignment and it was funny how i solved most basic question even using Arrays and Pointers somehow i can feel my interest in C++ coming back however i wanted to know more about Application of C++ in Nigerian Environment, however am working towards getting updated to C++11 as it seems easier for me now since when i tried it this time it was more easier to grasp than before.

C++11 is really an awesome piece of improvement to C++ making programming with it more easy and fun. Unfortunately in the Nigerian Environment I kind of feel C++ is underated due to the false information of it being hard, as a result of that people here tend to stick to web application programming or C++ wannabe Languages

@Ijeezlux, there is always that feeling of not getting enough challange when you learn something on your own, , that is actually normal. Still continue with the learning and gain the fundamentals first then you can face the challanges out there.
Or you can couple your solo C++ learning with challanges by picking up an open source project, going through its codes and seeing if there are some modifications or additions you can make. [url]sourceforge.net[/url] is a good place to find such projects.

If you have a problem its best you bring it here so that the solution you get will be available for someone else with the same issue

promise46: Hello Nairalanders I got a laptop and am a newbie want to learn the c++ .how do I start,what are the basic perquisite

First of all get a c++ compiler and probably an IDE as well. For free IDE and compilers: there is codeblocks [url]codeblocks.org[/url] which is an IDE and here is a download link for it bundled together with the MinGW compiler for C++ http://sourceforge.net/projects/codeblocks/files/Binaries/13.12/Windows/codeblocks-13.12mingw-setup.exe/download. There is also Visual C++ Express Edition which comes with the Visual C++ compiler and here is the link http://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/download-visual-studio-vs.

Now that you have gotten and installed the compilers, get a good book on c++, hardcopy or ebook. Here are two download links to free C++ ebooks http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html, http://it-ebooks.info/book/1256/

With all these done, you are set to learn

losprince: maybe server issues, anyway I still dey board. ride on CAP'n!!!!!

Glad to have people like you on board

The Proof-Of-Concept of Project DARKDOVE has been officially announced http://darkdove.proboards.com/thread/7/officially-announcing-proof-concept

losprince: well it didn't

I'm really sorry about that, though still wondering why its happening like that because some people did their registration without hitches

losprince: the registration page just asks for email.... that's all! no notifications... nothing!

after entering your email, it will take you to another page for further registration

losprince: that your forum... I've been trying to register but e no gree

That's strange, please how is the registration problem like

losprince: wow! magnificent story.... you da BOMB!!! !

, little by little we are moving on

Good Afternoon Everyone...

I really want to thank everyone that has shown interest in this project (and those still considering ).
The Storyline for the proof of concept game of Project DARKDOVE is out and has been posted on the Project's forum [url]darkdove.proboards.com/thread/6/proof-concept-story[/url].
Headover there when you are free and read it up

@jacob05, also I will start a simple introductory tutorial on Urho3d in the forum so as to pass along the little I've learnt . But bear in mind that Urho3d is really easy to understand, once you get the fundamentals there is no stopping on what you can do with it ( I almost distracted myself with an idea of making a Urho3d based Animation Creator , though I will still do it ).

Please I will like to know the issue you had in building on Windows

jacob05: @BlueMagnificent Couldn't get much resources to get started in urho3D , Any Pointers

Sadly, besides the online documentation and forum, there are no much resource out there cause its still kind of young. But included in Urho3d cmake file is the option to build the html document file. For this you'll need doxygen (mandatory) and Graphviz (optional). When you are done building the doc you can now readup some topics about Urho3d in it.
Also the sample codes included in the source is also helpful both those that are scripted with AngelScript and those that are coded in C++. Its advisable to enable the c++ sample build in your cmak build option so that the c++ samples will be build as standalone executables

Chuksxy: I suggest we make a skype group and create a dropbox folder so we can share files among each other.

Definitely we'll do that, but first we need to get our conversation in the new forum started, that is where most of these will be deliberated. And Chuksxy, we need to discuss some concept art stuff at the forum