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Ask HN: Best way to learn 'modern' C++?

14 points by zensavona ↗ HN
I have experience with a bunch of 'higher level' languages (Erlang, Elixir, Ruby, JS, PHP, Clojure) but haven't used C or Java in any non-trivial way. What's the best way to learn C++ in a pragmatic way today?

I'm looking for something hands on (either a book or online).

I particularly like Pragprog's approach to learning, but can only find one book 'Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development' - this seems more about TDD than C++ though.

FWIW I'm interested in learning C++ for use with the JUCE framework, in relation to building audio software and VST plugins

7 comments

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bejrut
checkout Scott Meyers "Effective Modern C++" book, and his talks with same title. It's also worth looking at his older books from "Effective" series.
olavgg
I'm currently learning C/C++ by just jumping into it, reading, trying, failing, (some swearing!) retrying and so on! It may not be the fastest or the most efficient path of learning, but at least I'm getting way better day by day.

What I really miss is some kind of partner to learn together with, that would be awesome and we could have a lot of good discussions.

dhoerl
Bjarne's book on C++ - the newest - is pretty good IMHO.
alstrex
Here are some general books for getting up to speed with the C++ language itself:

-Programming Principles and Practice using C++ 2nd edition (by Bjarne Stroustrup). This covers everything, although is a bit dry at times.

-Effective C++ (by Scott Meyers). A bit "outdated" from a language standpoint, but many of the techniques still apply and also, not every C++ codebase is using the latest and greatest anyway.

-Effective Modern C++ (by Scott Meyers). A new set of "best practices" for a more modern C++ environment

I haven't found many good resources for JUCE other than reading through the JUCE forums, the project doc (often lacking), and reading examples. What is often helpful is to first understand C++ a bit, then learn the audio specific code and underlying DSP principles in a C++ context. Then it shouldn't be too hard to transition to JUCE on your own. The best books I know for this are:

-Designing Software Synthesizer Plug-Ins in C++ (by Will Pirkle)

-Designing Audio Effect Plug-Ins in C++ (again by Will Pirkle)

zensavona
Thanks so much for those very specific book recommendations! I'm working through "Discovering Modern C++" by Peter Gottschling which I'm finding pretty good. Those two books by Will Pirkle sound great and are now on my to-read list, I did some Googling before for audio specific C++ books but didn't come across them.

Also I've found some of the talks from JUCE Summit to be quite insightful.

nivertech
What do you mean by "modern C++"? C++11, C++14 or C++17? There are older book that a word "modern" on a cover, but they cover old-style C++ with template meta-programming.