1. The recommended (not required) book is pretty outdated and, in my opinion, bad compared to all other C++ programming books I've owned (explains concepts in an odd order, gets things wrong). And it's *way* overpriced.
https://www.amazon.com/crappy_book/dp/013454484 so I'm just using a pirated PDF copy of it. Bleh.
2. The online labs/course work (in something called "Canvas") is hodge-podge, contradictory and just kind of a mess of video "labs" (more demos, with very low audio levels), bad copy/pasted UNICODE-translated (so, not compilable) source code
3. This professor seems to have internalized some incorrect idioms they repeat over and over (e.g. you #include a libarary in C++, "cout" stands for "console output", confuses declarations and definitions, etc.), has no concept of UNICODE, never bothers to explain *why* the preprocessor and C++ language are they way they are, depends on the IDE's editor to detect errors/warnings in the code (rather than the compiler), has no concept of the command-line, command-line options (e.g. for the builds tools), how to use Windows effectively (forget about MacOS, Linux, or ChromeOS). It's pretty frustrating watching/listening to them write code and explain concepts.
More than once, I've thought "aha! that's where these candidates that don't do well in our interview process got that wrong-concept from!". There's some fundamental stuff that's just not being taught correclty in some schools apparently.
I'm thinking of making a video series on programming in C and then later maybe C++. I've been reading a lot of (mostly C++) programming books in preparation for this project.
My first video series will probably be a deconstruction/analysis of the 2nd edition of the K&R book (though yes, that's a really old version of
C now).
Sometimes I wondered why they chose the books they chose. I remember the initial book for the C++ classes seeming a bit complicated, at least compared to the book used by the CS teachers.
Digital Man wrote to All <=-
I'm thinking of making a video series on programming in C and
then later maybe C++. I've been reading a lot of (mostly C++)
programming books in preparation for this project.
2. The online labs/course work (in something called "Canvas") is hodge-podge, contradictory and just kind of a mess of video "labs" (more demos, with very low audio levels), bad copy/pasted UNICODE-translated (so, not compilable) source code
Interesting.. Canvas sort of rings a bell, though I'm not sure if I've used it. My instructors in college just had us do our work in Visual Studio.
One time in my career, I was surprised to learn of something I didn't know, which apparently was not mentioned in my classes in college: That it's unsafe to do GUI-related things from anything other than the main thread. Either that wasn't mentioned in any of my classes, or somehow I missed it.
I did have a couple of classes in college pertaining to making a GUI (one in MFC with C++, and another with WinForms using C#).
So far, it's all console input (using std::cin) and output (using std::cout), sic math, algorithms, and now looping constructs. There's been a lot of focus
stream formatting (using of <iomanip>) which in my experience is not somethin
used much in most C++ projects, but whatever. I am learning *some* things ther
that I hadn't used before. But I have to keep reminding myself: I'm not here t
teach this class (or the professor) or even to get the highest score ever, jus
to learn what's good and bad about how C++ is being taught in schools these da
. And towards that goal, it's going good!
More than once, I've thought "aha! that's where these candidates that don't Now you know why so many people feel betrayed after getting their degree andtrying to get into the employment market. Half of what they have been taught was full of shit and the other half is outdated. If anybody exits college with useful knowledge, it is because their did their own research.
Sounds like the prof maybe needs to take a lesson from you and take a refresher course. ;)
Now you know why so many people feel betrayed after getting their
degree and trying to get into the employment market. Half of what they have > been taught
was full of shit and the other half is outdated. If anybody exits college with useful knowledge, it is because their did their own research.
I'm thinking of making a video series on programming in C
Re: Taking a community colleg
By: Digital Man to All on Tue Jan 16 2024 04:51 pm
I'm thinking of making a video series on programming in C
I'd be interested to know what fields or modern applications there are for C these days (besides vehicle automation apparently :)).
Have you checked out Dave's Garage? He's done some programming youtubes, so may give you some ideas on how to keep the interest level up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0zxIfJJLAY&t=430s
Interested to hear how this progresses.
I'd be interested to know what fields or modern applications there are for C these days (besides vehicle automation apparently :)).
Most Linux (kernel and driver) work is in C. Android (and several other embedded OSes) run on the Linux kernel.
I'm thinking of making a video series on programming in C and then later maybe C++. I've been reading a lot of (mostly C++) programming books in preparation for this project.
My first video series will probably be a deconstruction/analysis of the 2nd edition of the K&R book (though yes, that's a really old version of C now).
I plan to take the follow-up C++ courses (at minimum) at this same community college and will hopefully get a better sense of what the
other professors have to offer. I hope it gets better, but either way, it's been fun so far. --
On 17 Jan 2024, Digital Man said the following...
I plan to take the follow-up C++ courses (at minimum) at this same community college and will hopefully get a better sense of what the other professors have to offer. I hope it gets better, but either way, it's been fun so far. --
what do you do for homework, interactions in class, etc? are you pretending to be a noob or do they know what you're up to?
Oh yeah, and you know all the smart bulbs, switches, thermostats, doorlocks, appliances, etc. in your house? They're most definitely running some code (there most critical coe) that is written/maintained in C.
Will C++ knowledge translate to C?
Yeah, C is roughly a subset of C++. The languages have diverged and re-converged a bit over the years (and versions of their standards), but yeah, almost any experienced C++ programmer can program in C, though they often groan about it. :-)
I created a Discord server for the class and have been tutoring students there when I have time too.
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