Taking the leap

I've been programming in C++ for a few years. From the various books I've read I would recommend C++ Primer Plus the most, although if you look search around a bit (which you likely already have if you've tried picking the language up a few times) you'll find that everyone has entirely different suggestions. You could pirate a few commonly suggested ones and then see what you like. Buying it will likely get you more motivated to read it.

Doing the exercises in the book(s) you are reading is a very good idea, and once you've read a few chapters you could try creating a program (for instance a text based game) and implement as much of what you've learned as possible.

When you've got the basics down you'll probably want to branch off into either GUI or game programming (although not necessarily). Find some good libraries/frameworks (wxWidgets is excellent for creating GUI applications), and start working on a semi-big project with an actual purpose of some sort (i.e an application to help you do/learn something or a simple but somewhat decent game). If you do this you'll learn a lot.

After you've done one or several projects with a certain framework/set of libraries you are probably capable of programming something others would be interested in. A little knowledge goes a long way. Coming up with something can be hard, but the idea doesn't have to be perfect. Do a bit of planning and be prepared to spend a long time working on the project.

Patience is key. Don't give up with a project you're working on and just ask for help if you get stuck.

Personally I don't think the whole "coding instructor" is a very good idea, but do post in the Computer Systems section if you have something to ask something and you'll get help from me and probably others too.

Good luck, I hope we'll see some of your creations here on GBAtemp in the future.

i don't really know much about c++ but i have a few friends that do. i was interested in it a few years back. maybe more then a few years, but that really doesn't matter. do you have any experience in any other programing languages? i know a good bit of visual basic and direct x. A friend of mine that works as a programmer told me that starting out with these programing languages are almost a prerequisite to c++. i never really got around to any c++ stuff so i don't know if he was really on point with that but i couldn't hurt to find out for sure. visual basic is pretty basic, if you will, but it's a good start if you don;t have any programing experience. i could make you a mean tic-tac-toe game.