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Programming IT Technology

On-Line C/C++ Courses? 16

Posted by Cliff from the who-needs-meatspace-classes? dept.
Jon_S asks: "I've been happily hacking on Linux for five years now, and actually started playing with computers back as a 7th grader in 1972 on a PDP-8. Somehow I didn't get into a directly computer-related field, but I soon will be. I'm going back for a masters in GIS and I will need to have some solid programming background. I've coded FORTRAN programs back in college, read lots of programming books, and have written my share of shell scripts. The one thing I haven't tackled is C or C++ programming." Put simply, the submittor is hoping to find some quality C/C++ courses on line. Any hints?

"I know I can handle this stuff, I'm a certifiable geek, but to learn something you have to do it. The only way I see myself progressing this way is to take a course that will present the right types of programming challenges that I will need to develop my skill.

Searching on Google brings up tons of courses, but there is no way to tell whether any of these are any good. There are some great courses at RIT and I know this is a good school (friend of mine got a M.S. online there), but the good classes are filled this quarter and will probably next as well."
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On-Line C/C++ Courses? More

On-Line C/C++ Courses?

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  • Before starting my M.S. at RIT I had to take a two course sequence in a "major" programming language. I took both 0602-208 "Introduction to Programming" then 0602-210 "Programming With Classes" online. These are in the IT department rather than CS so I don't know if that makes a difference.

    I took them in '98 but my understanding is the classes are mostly the same. I had an instruction packet and video tapes created by the department. The real action was in working on the labs and participating in a class online forum using FirstClass (a great system born of BBS roots with Mac & Windows clients and a somewhat inferior web interface). I think the video tapes have been replaced with streaming video or something. It's not a big deal, you don't really need to watch them, they mostly helped me get the feel for the compiler.

    Unless they've switched, a Windows Borland compiler is used for the class but for 208 I actually used CodeWarrior on a Mac. For 210 I had to get a PC and Borland because we had to turn in the object files as well as source.

    You can check Open/Closed Courses yourself by clicking on the link by that name on this page http://www.rit.edu/~webtools/infocenter/
    All sections of distance courses have numbers ending in 9x (90, 91, etc.). Today it appears there's one slot left in 0602-208-90. If there's enough demand additional sections of distance courses are sometimes added.
  • To quote my somewhat famous CS professor, "Learning a language is something you do over the weekend. If that's not the case, you're in the wrong field." After programming, albeit on and off, for almost 30 years you should have mastered the key areas of computer programming - abstraction, specification, modularity, abstraction, procedural programming, and more abstraction. All the rest is just details. OOP might be a bit of a leap but you'll probably find that it's just a cleaner way of doing things you would be doing anyways. Memory management is a really easy task to grasp - or just learn Java! It's far more marketable than C or C++ nowadays. Strong typing, etc - a 15 minutes lesson. Good luck!

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  • Does anybody else remember that old PSA where Abe Lincoln is at the employment office, and when they ask if has a diploma, he replies that's he's done a lot of studying out of books, sort of on his own?
  • Actually, the credit itself is less important than satifying prerequisites. Once I enroll in the masters program, I will be able to take some additional classes in CS such as database design etc. that would really support my study in GIS, but these typically require certain prerequisite courses. I suppose any prereq can be waved if you convince the instructor, but this would be easier if I had completed a course rather than saying "I read the book".

    Thanks for everybody's responses.

  • Unfortunately it has been more off than on, by a long shot. As in I haven't mastered the key areas you mention. Maybe my mind is already in the mode of admission application essays, etc. so I may have overstated how much I've done in the past. My experience is mainly in FORTRAN as an undergrad in the 80's (very limited, although at the time it seemed trivial putting together the programs I needed for the one CS class I took or for the projects I needed it for in my engineering major). Then a few years ago, I needed to write a searchable front end to a database of reasearch papers, and without any background taught myself objectPAL (for Paradox) from scratch. This is very onject oriented and completely different from what I had experienced in the past, but I picked it up pretty quickly from a book. Came up with a pretty cool stand alone application. Then there are a bunch of shell scripts in Bash for my linux boxes, but these are of limited scope. So I really need a good basis in the key areas you talk about above, something that doesn't seem to be in the programming books I've seen; they mainly focus on syntax of the language. The algorythm and data structure books I've looked at get these issues, but they require more of an understanding of the language than I have, so it is a catch-22.

    Otherwise what you say is correct. As many have pointed out here, Java is something I should be considering seriously. I figure that once I get a firm foundation in C, then I would hope to jump to Java in the proverbial weekend.

  • No luck on the local community college.

    meanwhile, I ran across this site: http://www.r1edu.org [r1edu.org] run out of MIT that organizes what I am looking for.

    The best options seem to be this certificate program [washington.edu] from the University of Washington (note, the course descriptions actually suggest Linux rather than DOS or windows for your C programs; how far is this place from Redmond?). Or one of these [berkeley.edu] courses from one of my alma maters, Cal Berkeley.

    Anyone know anything of these programs. Good schools at least.

  • I would assume that a major reason is that it may be usable for college credit. Also people tend to look at self learnging as inferior to "proffesionaly led, instructional training".

  • I'm in the same position that you are in but instead of looking for online courses, I purchased a book. Let me recommend Accelerated C++ [amazon.com] by Andrew Koenig. It's very easy to read and starts by teaching you how to program in C++ using the STL. It takes a rather uncommon approach to teaching C++ in that it doesn't teach C principles before diving into the guts of C++. While taking a full class load at college and working part time, reading a book works better for me than an online class would. With an online course, as in a virtual classroom environment, I'd have trouble fitting that into my crazy schedule. The book I can read wherever I am whether I have a computer around or not. Not only that but I believe you only have access to the online courses for a period of time after which you need to pay again if you'd like to take the courses a second time in the future. With a book, you can go back and read it over and over again.

  • Seconded! The Coronado tutorials are excellent.

  • I wouldn't call it a "course", but Bruce Eckel's book "Thinking in C++" is available for free on his website http://www.bruceeckel.com [bruceeckel.com].
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  • Ok, having evacuated that first post from my system..

    What advantages does an online system give you over a book with exercises at the end of each chapter?

    You get a self-paced learning experience, you learn by doing, and you can take it to the crapper with you.

  • Might check with your local (and even not so local) community colleges. They quite often offer programming courses online. Seems most CompSci departments are moving that direction.
  • University of Washington is in Seattle...twenty minute drive or so from Redmond (depending on traffic)...and thanks for the link...don't have much time tonight...on my way out for an NT Server class (gak) but I'll definitely give it a read tomorrow!
  • The Coronado C++ tutorial. Taught me the first stuff. I remember it as being great!!!
    http://swt-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~strunk/c pp/ [uni-hamburg.de]
  • Plus you can get great docs and learning material from sun.com

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