macOS Best books to buy

[toothyXdip]

Well I'm starting to learn C++ and am having trouble finding all I need on the web. So I decided to order some books (not all at once). I might want to make some games, apps (maybe just something along the lines of textedit to start with), or really anything else that has to do with graphics so these are some topics I thought I would look into.

C++
OpenGL
SDL
Lua

What other topics would be good to get a book on for what I aim on doing.

Thanks

 

[Cromulent]

If you are only just starting then just concentrate on C++. It is a language that takes a lot of time to learn because it is so complex.

 

[toothyXdip]

So which would you recommend for C++ only. It would be nice if it started basic then progresses. It would be nice if it was a mac only book so there isn't a time where something is only for PC or something. I know that C++ is cross platform but it could happen.

 

[lazydog]

I'm not sure about which beginners books to get, but at some point in the future (hopefully not too far!) once you're confident in C++ you might want to grab copies of Effective C++ and Effective STL by Scott Meyers, and Exceptional C++ by Herb Sutter. These won't teach you C++ but they will show you how to write better C++.

For OpenGL I would recommend the red book. Actually learning C++ and OpenGL in tandem might be a good way to go forward. To get up and running quickly try using GLUT. It's very easy to set up and there are tons of sample code written for GLUT on the web. The simpler demo's and tututorials will make for much more interesting C/C++ code to study than your average boring terminal based demo code.

b e n

 

[chrono1081]

Two books I would recommend hand in hand....

The first book is to get you up and running fairly quickly with C++. It would be this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Through-Game-Programming-Second/dp/1598633600/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240147580&sr=8-1

And this would be the second (and my favorite C++ book)

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Problem-Analysis-Program-Design/dp/1423902092/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240147699&sr=1-1

The second one is pricey but I have yet to find a book that covers more and I have a lot of books...This one pretty much replaced them all except for graphics specific books.


Oh, one more thing, I would suggest skipping Lua for now but C++ -> SDL -> OpenGL would be a nice way to go. Make sure you learn pointers and classes in C++ before hopping to SDL. Also SDL is very hard to find books on for whatever reason but http://www.lazyfoo.net has great tutorials.

 

[toothyXdip]

At first when I saw the second book I thought "Holy ****, 130 bucks?". Then I saw other sellers (96% 17000+ sells) with it for 51 dollars. So I think I will buy that one. I mean it has over 1000 pages of material, plus an index, etc.

I just have one question for you. Would I have to pull out my old XP to follow this book or would I be able to completely follow this book on my Macbook? I just hate when i'm following a tutorial and I get to a part when I need something else or can only be done on another computer, and if I start using XCode (instead of compiling with terminal) I do not want to have to stop to find a way to do something that would be done on Visual. I prefer using the terminal to compile so in this book does it say what to compile with? Like when using ncurses you have to say g++ <filename>.cpp -lncurses -o <whatever>. I'm guessing since this is a mac forum it would be cross platform (as c++ is) but just wondering.

 

[Heath]

Free Books

Don't forget the free C++ books out there.
Bruce Eckel's Thinking In C++ will give you a very well grounded understanding of C++.
You can hunt around and find other free books as well, but this one is what I would consider one of the best C++ references and texts, free or not.

 

[chrono1081]

I don't use XCode so I cant comment on it, I use Netbeans on mac and everything I've done from that book in netbeans has worked fine for me.

I would assume XCode should be the same.