site to explain c++

If you really want to learn programming I think it's great that you start with C/C++ and not Visual Basic. There's nothing really wrong with Visual Basic, but if you want to move up a few levels after you get tired of it, it can be a pain.

You could also try Delphi.

The famous Teach Yourself C++ in 21 days can be obtained here.

In a nutshell: compiler compiles your .cpp sources to binary objects and linker links them together to form a binary executable (.exe usually)

there's also a preprocessor which pre-processes your source files before they are compiled.... usually when people talk about a compiler they mean the whole environment to create executables from source (preprocessor, compiler and linker)... MSVC includes all of that so you can go right away and start your first hello world app :cyclops:

Microsoft Visual C++ is a complete development environment and includes both a compiler and linker. When you build your project, MSVC++ automatically compiles and links your sources to form an executable.

However, using MSVC++ requires two things; first you have to know basic/intermediate C++ as you can learn from the C++ in 21 days book. If you then want to be able to create applications with a graphical user interface (GUI) such as the normal Windows application has, you also have to learn to use the MSVC++ development environment to link your code to buttons, create menus, toolbars etc.

Also, writing applications in MSVC++ is not identical to writing console based applications (where a DOS window pops up with text). You will have to learn a few new tricks like using the Windows API and other things to be able to interact with the Windows operating system in different ways.

So basically;

* If you want to learn to make applications with a GUI, you should either get a book on MSVC++ (or search the net for something) or start learning yourself with the method of trial and error.

* If you just want to write console based applications (that look like the DOS command prompt in Windows) you can use the C++ in 21 days and get a compiler/linker and start programming.

Perhaps, if you could get a hold of .NET, you could try C#
It's a little high level, but it still has low level touches...and it's built on C++, so...

.NET is worthless and will make lazy programmers of us all; making us completely dependant on MS programming software for us to write _good_ software.

Thats about it