What’s Next 78521
Where to Get Help and Advice ......................................................................
The very first thing you will want to do as a C++ programmer will be to tap into one or
more of the C++ communities on the Internet. These groups supply immediate contact
with hundreds or thousands of C++ programmers who can answer your questions, offer
advice, and provide a sounding board for your ideas.
The C++ Internet newsgroups (comp.lang.c++ and comp.lang.c++.moderated) are recom-
mended as excellent sources of information and support. There are also sites such as
http://www.CodeGuru.com and http://www.CodeProject.com. These two sites have hun-
dreds of thousands of C++ developers come to them every month. They offer resources
such as articles, tutorials, news, and discussions on C++. Numerous other such commu-
nities are available as well.
Also, you might want to look for local user groups. Many cities have C++ interest groups
where you can meet other programmers and exchange ideas.
Finally, compiler vendors such as Borland and Microsoft have newsgroups that can be
invaluable sources of information about their development environments and the C++
language.
Related C++ Topics: Managed C++, C#, and Microsoft’s .NET ..................
Microsoft’s new .NET platform is radically changing the way many of us develop for the
Internet. A key component of .NET is the new language, C#, as well as a number of seri-
ous extensions to C++ called Managed Extensions.
C# is a natural extension of C++, and is an easy bridge to .NET for C++ programmers. A
number of good books on C# are available, including Programming C#(O’Reilly Press),
and of course, there is Sams Teach Yourself the C# Language in 21 Days, which follows
a similar structure to the one used in this book.
As a programming language, C# has some differences from C++. For example, multiple
inheritance is not allowed in C#; though the use of interfaces provides similar capabili-
ties. In addition, C# avoids the use of pointers. This removes issues with dangling point-
ers and other such problems, at the price of making the language less capable of
low-level, real-time programming. The final item worth mentioning on C# is that it uses
a runtime and a garbage collector (GC). The GC takes care of freeing resources when
they are needed so you, the programmer, don’t have to.
Managed C++ is also from Microsoft and a part of .NET. In very simple terms, this is an
extension to C++ that gives C++ the ability to use all the features of .NET, including the
garbage collector and more.