I’ve been spending my “inbetween” time at the office looking into C++. I’m primarily a flash & web developer, also working on a bunch of flash games, but I thought it was time to have a look at some non-web-based languages and see if I could get some real games going.
I’ve got the hang of how typing works, arrays, outputting using cout, structs, classes and so on and so on.
I seem to have found myself stuck in terms of what I can do next. Outputting to a DOS window obviously isn’t that exciting – how do I get started on doing something graphical? A square moving around on the screen, even. Simple is better in this case.
As for the compiler – I’ve been using devcpp by Bloodshed; is this adequate or am I missing a more common compiler somehow?
Graphics can be done using DirectX in Windows, or OpenGL on every platform. It’s a whole different discussion upon which to choose.
In addition to trying to work with graphics, you could try your hand at developing GUIs. I’d give Qt a shot. Be warned though, Qt is being sold by Nokia, but it’s overall a very well known and heavily used framework. Or try direct Win32 (not necessarily something I’d suggest unless you’re interested). Or try WinForms (requires .NET experience, and steals from the true C++; C++/CLR is NOT the same C++ you are learning–it adds to it). If you do go the .NET route, avoid “Managed C++” examples, as they that was the first iteration of C++/CLR, and they simply redid it and vastly improved it.
Two most common compilers: gcc (Linux, Mac and Windows) and Visual Studio’s for development on Windows’, I always use Visual Studio (there is a free version called Visual Studio Express that is a solid product) for Windows development simply because I love the IDE.