I've been self-learning C++ for about 4 months now. I'm enjoying it, and I think I'm doing quite well. However, an answer to a question of mine got me thinking that I might be setting myself up for a fall.
So, what do people here think about C++ as a first language to learn? And is it worth me just carrying on now that I've made a good start?
C++ as a first language can be OK if you have a good teacher. But it's a pretty high wall to scale for the first time, but once you scale that wall, other similar languages come very easy.
I think C++ is a good overall first language to learn because it has a little bit of everything. It's not like high level scripting languages where you never really have to deal with types, memory, or pointers and it's not direct-hardware access like assembly. It's somewhere in the middle. If you learn C++ you'll basically have a skill set that will translate easily to other languages.
There are two types of languages. The 'kitchen sink' and the 'minimalist'. The kitchen sink language gives you everything under the sun they can think of that might be useful. The minimalist gives you only what you need to develop anything you might ever conceive of. C++ is minimalist. You can certainly write things and share them with others but by default it comes with nothing.
C++ is also (one of) the hardest language for programmers. Managed/interpreted languages do a lot of things for the programmer. C++ does nothing but it also doesn't get in your way or make you pay the overhead of management.
Are you aiming to be an expert with MAD SKILLZ or just playing around?
C++ was the first language I ever did much with. I played with BASIC a bit in middle school, but never really did anything more substantial than a "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100" game. I didn't have a whole lot of trouble with C++, but I wasn't self-teaching. In High School, an AP Computer Science class was offered, and we used C++ at the time (College Board was doing the exam in C++; they have since switched to Java, I think). I think it's fine as a first language (or nearly first, in my case), as long as you have a good teacher.
If you're self-teaching, I think you would get more out of Python. You can play with stuff right in a REPL, so there is a lot more instant gratification. The language itself is also a lot more strict in its enforcement of language idioms, which will help you learn the "right" way to do things. C++ won't get in your way if you try to do something the wrong way, and, especially if you don't have a teacher to tell you what you're doing wrong and how to fix it, you will tend to develop some bad habits.
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You have a lot of good answers here, but I would add:
Never give up on anything! If you don't have time or something doesn't interest you then you should QUIT, but never GIVE UP!
I don't care how hard it is, carry on. Carry on slowly if you must.
C++ as a first language can be OK if you have a good teacher. But it's a pretty high wall to scale for the first time, but once you scale that wall, other similar languages come very easy.
So yes, carry on.
Ignore the haters. C++ can be a first language. My first language was assembler on the TRS-80 Model 1.
I think C++ is a good overall first language to learn because it has a little bit of everything. It's not like high level scripting languages where you never really have to deal with types, memory, or pointers and it's not direct-hardware access like assembly. It's somewhere in the middle. If you learn C++ you'll basically have a skill set that will translate easily to other languages.
There are two types of languages. The 'kitchen sink' and the 'minimalist'. The kitchen sink language gives you everything under the sun they can think of that might be useful. The minimalist gives you only what you need to develop anything you might ever conceive of. C++ is minimalist. You can certainly write things and share them with others but by default it comes with nothing.
C++ is also (one of) the hardest language for programmers. Managed/interpreted languages do a lot of things for the programmer. C++ does nothing but it also doesn't get in your way or make you pay the overhead of management.
Are you aiming to be an expert with MAD SKILLZ or just playing around?
C++ was the first language I ever did much with. I played with BASIC a bit in middle school, but never really did anything more substantial than a "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100" game. I didn't have a whole lot of trouble with C++, but I wasn't self-teaching. In High School, an AP Computer Science class was offered, and we used C++ at the time (College Board was doing the exam in C++; they have since switched to Java, I think). I think it's fine as a first language (or nearly first, in my case), as long as you have a good teacher.
If you're self-teaching, I think you would get more out of Python. You can play with stuff right in a REPL, so there is a lot more instant gratification. The language itself is also a lot more strict in its enforcement of language idioms, which will help you learn the "right" way to do things. C++ won't get in your way if you try to do something the wrong way, and, especially if you don't have a teacher to tell you what you're doing wrong and how to fix it, you will tend to develop some bad habits.