Fastest way to lean CPP?

[Jim Hubbard]

I want to do driver development and activeX creation......w hat would you
suggest as far as the best/fastest path to learning C++ for these tasks?

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Jim Hubbard wrote:

I want to do driver development and activeX creation......w hat would
you suggest as far as the best/fastest path to learning C++ for these
tasks?

For general C++ development, the fastest way to learn, IMO, is to write code
and have it critiqued by others. There are literally dozens of excellent
texts on C++ programming, get several of them and start reading. Start
reading comp.lang.c++.m oderated. Perhaps there's a computer club in your
area where there are other C++ developers who can help. Read everything on
www.gotw.ca (be sure to read the older stuff first or you'll be in over your
head quickly). Visit http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ frequently.

Some reading recommendations :

Bruce Eckels "Thinking in C++"
Andrew Koenig "Accelerate d C++"
Scott Meyers "Effective C++"
Scott Meyers "More Effective C++"
Scott Meyers "Effective STL"
Herb Sutter "Exceptiona l C++"
Herb Sutter "More Exceptional C++"
Herb Sutter "Exceptiona l C++ Style"
Matt Austern "Generic Programming and the STL"
Andrei Alexandrescu "Modern C++ Design"

(If you work your way through Eckels and Meyers you'll be up to speed on 95%
of the language. The other books teach advanced styles and idioms that
you'll appreciate more after you've done without them for a year or two).

and for reference books:

Bjarne Stroustrup "The C++ Programming Language, 3rd Edition"
Nicolai Josuttis "The C++ Standard Library"
Nicolai Josuttis and Daveed Vandevoorde "C++ Templates"
Angelika Langer and Klaus Kreft "Standard C++ IOStreams and Locales"

Once you have a firm grasp on the C++ language, you can tackle ActiveX and
other platform-specific technologies.

The general rule of thumb is that it takes the typical programmer 2 years to
become a proficient C++ programmer. Note that if you do follow the course
of study above, you'll learn more than 90% of the people writing C++ today.
The vast majority of "C++ Programmers" are really doing strongly typed C
with code roughly arranged into classes.

If you want to do driver development, you need to learn C, not C++. Expect
to spend 6-24 months learning the DDK after you're very comfortable with
programming in C. Learning C++ and Object Oriented design first would help
somewhat because the DDK is highly object-oriented even though it's exposed
only in C.

-cd