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1

General discussions / Re: Using an API(SFML), early on in the learning process.

« on: March 14, 2013, 09:14:05 pm »

For someone like me with very little programming experience, C++ Primer has been fairly in depth on the basics given that the first 400ish pages covers the fundamentals. It also seems to expect no prior programming experience.
But like you pointed out eXpl0it3r it can be quite expensive( long live used book stores! )

2

General discussions / Re: Using an API(SFML), early on in the learning process.

« on: March 13, 2013, 11:38:06 pm »

Thanks for the very detailed answer Nexus!

I'm currently working my way through C++ Primer fifth edition (Which seems to come highly recommended  across boards in terms of teaching good C++ standards, as well as incorporating C++11). Effective C++ is in fact next on my reading list.

I guess SFML's beginner-friendliness can be a double-edged sword.

Ones again, thanks for shedding some very needed light on the area and confirming some of my fears regarding premature exposure to API's!

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General discussions / Using an API(SFML), early on in the learning process.

« on: March 13, 2013, 10:34:52 pm »

Evening SFML Community!

For the past month or two I've been doing my best in learning C++ (and programming in general for that matter). While I'm starting to get the fundamentals down fairly well, I'm well aware that I've just seen the tip of the iceberg that is programming and C++.
    This morning I started playing around with SFML, just basic stuff, movement and collision and stuff like that. I found it a great deal of fun with a break from console programs and I found the very detailed documentation to be of tremendous help. However I'm wondering if introducing an API this early on might act more as a source of confusion and actually hinder and slow down my learning.
   So, to the actual question. What's your experience and/or opinions on using an API such as SFML while still learning the basics of programming? Would I be better of focusing more on the core concepts of C++?
   I know this is a very vague question, but please any input would be helpful.

Thanks in advance(sorry for the possible broken English)

- omfgkittens