How long (average) to learn basics of C++?

[hellohellomoon]

Hi.About me: I've never done any programming nor have any prior experience in the past. I've started to study C++ around 4 days ago from a book plus
the C++ tutorials on this website. Currently, I'm on "Classes I" and able to
write very simple programs.

My question is: How long does it take on "average" to learn the basics of C++?
I know there are fast and slow learners that's why i'm asking for the average.

So with the pace I'm going, am I going slow, fast, or average?
Thanks, I'm just curious.

I'm just asking how long it would take to learn all the basics, not mastering C++.

[Athar]

That entirely depends on what exactly you mean by "learning the basics". Having scratched the surface of all language features of C++? Being able to write simple programs confidently? Being able to write not-so-simple programs confidently?
Depending on that, my answer would be something between two weeks and five years.

[hellohellomoon]

Thanks Athar. Yeah that answered me question. I guess it takes around 2 weeks to scratch the surface of the concepts and features.

[Mathhead200]

Being that far in the tutorial after four days is good. Being able to write simple programs after four days is better. However, your question seems to warrant more of an answer. I've been programming in C++ for about two years (with a lot of hours per day) and I don't think I will ever be done learning C++. That is, learning the syntax is only part of any programming language. You should be able to handle the syntax of C++ after about a year (depending on the hours you put in), but even learning the "basics" of programming can take a lifetime; it's not something your ever done with. (...And that's my two-cents.)

[hellohellomoon]

Mathhead that made a lot of sense. So the complexity is not merely learning the syntax and how pointers work but the usage of everything together. I get it now. I'm also spending hours a day as well cramming all the information in my head but, as most people put it, it seems that this "cramming" of new information and new ways of how to implement the knowledge would always exist because you never really stop learning, right? Thanks again.