i used a sams teach yourself c++ in 24 days about 1.5 yrs ago, although it took a hell of alot longer than 24 days, it was a good book, and w/ the added help of web tutorials and such you shouldn't really have a problem, as long as you have time on your sides. plus, havin a vb background helps out, i would know, cuz i started off w/ vb before c++, alot of the ideas in vb are seen in c++ as well. it's really too bad i've forgotten how to do much of anything in vb. i wanted to make a phone directory a while back, and i couldn't even remember how to use the stupid databasing that is built into the language, so i just did it in c++ as a command prompt program, cuz i don't know windows programming, even though i've said i'm gonna pick it up a thousand times. oh well, maybe over christmas break when i have nothing else to do.