C++ Project Ideas to Encourage Learning in Free Time
I'm learning the basics of C++ and I feel having a project to work on in my free time would greatly encourage me to learn the language more. I mean, learning from homework is fine but kind of boring and I'm more talking about something to do in my free time.
To give you an idea of how much C++ I know, I know functions, math operators, if, else if, and else statements, loops, functions, & some basics of classes & structures (still pretty new to them). Also, I need to know pointers but still don't really understand them or why they are useful (yet). I also kind of know arrays, It's been a while since I've used them though. I still need to learn overloading, templates(?), and data structures, among other things.
Here are my ideas so far:
(Please Note: You are more than welcome to suggest your own ideas!)
1. Plugins for a game. I'd like to do this for Minecraft but it is made in Java not C++ and I have yet to find any tutorials on how I could get started with something like this (if it's even possible).
2. Automations for stuff in general. I could learn to make a program that will automatically install another program using it's installer and going through the steps (for example). Or check my grades automatically by clicking firefox, then searching my University website, etc. :P
So, my questions to you guys are:
1.) Do you think my ideas would sufficiently teach me C++ knowledge? If so, how could I start learning to do these things (with good programming practices in mind).
2.) Do you have any other ideas you think would be fun and encourage me to learn C++ in my free time? How would I go about learning such things? Books? Online tutorials (with good programming practices in mind).
Thanks! I look forward to your replies. :)
To give you an idea of how much C++ I know, I know functions, math operators, if, else if, and else statements, loops, functions, & some basics of classes & structures (still pretty new to them). Also, I need to know pointers but still don't really understand them or why they are useful (yet). I also kind of know arrays, It's been a while since I've used them though. I still need to learn overloading, templates(?), and data structures, among other things.
Here are my ideas so far:
(Please Note: You are more than welcome to suggest your own ideas!)
1. Plugins for a game. I'd like to do this for Minecraft but it is made in Java not C++ and I have yet to find any tutorials on how I could get started with something like this (if it's even possible).
2. Automations for stuff in general. I could learn to make a program that will automatically install another program using it's installer and going through the steps (for example). Or check my grades automatically by clicking firefox, then searching my University website, etc. :P
So, my questions to you guys are:
1.) Do you think my ideas would sufficiently teach me C++ knowledge? If so, how could I start learning to do these things (with good programming practices in mind).
2.) Do you have any other ideas you think would be fun and encourage me to learn C++ in my free time? How would I go about learning such things? Books? Online tutorials (with good programming practices in mind).
Thanks! I look forward to your replies. :)
Alas, the ideas you have have caveats that are above your level right now... So a steep learning curve is involved.
However, the idea of writing a game, or a utility of some kind that you might find useful, etc, is a good one.
I started programming because I wanted to make video games and do pretty stuff with the graphics card. (Back then, it was just HGC, and EGA/[Super]VGA stuff. I could make those things jump! Wrote sprite editors, level editors, variations of DND, Ladder, Pong, Breakout, a semi-3D POV starship shootem-up game, etc.)
I’ve also written utilities to play with the desktop picture, mess with process environment variables (for other processes!), parse and manage the path, text editors, a slick graphical universal turing machine, a sudoku-like video game mockup, etc.
Some of them are ongoing projects. Some of them have been wasting away for years. Some of them are finished, but too old to matter any more.
But I had a lot of fun learning as I wrote them.
However, the idea of writing a game, or a utility of some kind that you might find useful, etc, is a good one.
I started programming because I wanted to make video games and do pretty stuff with the graphics card. (Back then, it was just HGC, and EGA/[Super]VGA stuff. I could make those things jump! Wrote sprite editors, level editors, variations of DND, Ladder, Pong, Breakout, a semi-3D POV starship shootem-up game, etc.)
I’ve also written utilities to play with the desktop picture, mess with process environment variables (for other processes!), parse and manage the path, text editors, a slick graphical universal turing machine, a sudoku-like video game mockup, etc.
Some of them are ongoing projects. Some of them have been wasting away for years. Some of them are finished, but too old to matter any more.
But I had a lot of fun learning as I wrote them.
Try coding a GPA Calculator using your college standards. That was one of my first difficult programs I wrote. I ended up with about 450 lines of code and it worked, calculations were extremely accurate. I shared the finished .exe with my peers so they could use it to project their semester GPA by averaging their grades after we write exams. It's still a work in progress since I have to implement cummulative GPA functionality and some other cases but the overall program works great. Give it a go if it sounds like a challenge.
EDIT: After exams I always had to manually do calculations to see what my semester GPA would look like before exam results came out. Now I wouldn't have to.
EDIT: After exams I always had to manually do calculations to see what my semester GPA would look like before exam results came out. Now I wouldn't have to.
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@Duthomhas
Wow that's quite a lot of different projects you've made Duthomhas! I'm terrible at art so I'm not sure if I'd be willing to try to create my own game (unless it's in console). But yeah creating something I find useful would be good. Just have to think of what would be useful that I'd actually use.. :P
That idea of creating a text editor is pretty neat! How'd you go about that? And is it too difficult for me still? Maybe I could do a console text editor? For example, user can input whatever they want in console then click ctrl + s to "save" (which will write all info to a file?). Idk.
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@nicholasjb1996 To be honest, that'd probably be my least favorite project. :P They went over how to find the GPA in math and from what I recall it was so confusing haha. However, I appreciate your idea nonetheless! And it certainly would be a challenge. I don't think I'd really use it, but it is a good challenge so I'll think about doing that actually. :)
Wow that's quite a lot of different projects you've made Duthomhas! I'm terrible at art so I'm not sure if I'd be willing to try to create my own game (unless it's in console). But yeah creating something I find useful would be good. Just have to think of what would be useful that I'd actually use.. :P
That idea of creating a text editor is pretty neat! How'd you go about that? And is it too difficult for me still? Maybe I could do a console text editor? For example, user can input whatever they want in console then click ctrl + s to "save" (which will write all info to a file?). Idk.
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@nicholasjb1996 To be honest, that'd probably be my least favorite project. :P They went over how to find the GPA in math and from what I recall it was so confusing haha. However, I appreciate your idea nonetheless! And it certainly would be a challenge. I don't think I'd really use it, but it is a good challenge so I'll think about doing that actually. :)
A text editor is, surprisingly, one of the more technical projects you can do. But it is also one of the most straight-forward. I just can’t stand most text editors people hobble along with. Someday I’ll finish my lovely Autumn Editor.
@Duthomhas
Ah okay. Haha, "someday"...
I actually had a pretty good idea last night so I think I'm going to do that as I'm pretty psyched about it. Making my own game using Unity or something doesn't really interest me, especially with being terrible at art. However, I was thinking I could make an RPG type game in normal console. Or maybe more text based than ASCII art pictures? Still working out the details. But it's certainly something that would challenge me and allow me to test all of my learned abilities so far, such as having a class (or struct? Not really sure the difference..) for player data.
That said, I'll have to finish my enormous amount of homework before I can try it. :P
Ah okay. Haha, "someday"...
I actually had a pretty good idea last night so I think I'm going to do that as I'm pretty psyched about it. Making my own game using Unity or something doesn't really interest me, especially with being terrible at art. However, I was thinking I could make an RPG type game in normal console. Or maybe more text based than ASCII art pictures? Still working out the details. But it's certainly something that would challenge me and allow me to test all of my learned abilities so far, such as having a class (or struct? Not really sure the difference..) for player data.
That said, I'll have to finish my enormous amount of homework before I can try it. :P
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