I had been programming in C for several years before I learned C++. I'm not sure whether the C was a help or a hindrance in learning C++. I had also taken a class that I think was called Data Structures and the professor required us to use object oriented programming for all of our assignments. He didn't care what language we used as long as we hadn't programmed in it before and as long as it was OO. Many of the C programmers in both of those classes had a lot of trouble grasping the OO concepts. In my opinion, your first goal should be to learn OO without worrying about a specific language, then apply it to C++ or java. Java is pretty similar to C++ but it enforces more of the OO and doesn't allow you to do unsafe things (like write to invalid memory locations). C is a function based language, and you can actually write a C++ program without using an OO features, but that kind of defeats the purpose. What compiler are you planning to use? There are a lot of good free compilers these days. What other languages did you consider and why did you decide on C++? The reason I'm asking is that I think there may be other languages that would be easier to use and there are some that probably have wizards to help you get up and running quickly.

Goose, thanks for posting that link. You helped me on my on post! I had received these 45 lesson in an e-mail as I had stated in OP and thought so much of them and posted them here. When I went to the link you posted here is what I found!!! Wow! Life's lessons speed up on Internet; 90 years of living in 50: Regina Brett by Regina Brett/Plain Dealer Columnist Saturday June 06, 2009, 7:56 PM "You don't look 90." I can't tell you how many times I've heard that in the last month. Every day a dozen people e\-mail me about being 90 years old: "Regina, would you please explain this 90\-year\-old person? . . . It seems you are aging rapidly. God bless you and your aged bones. "I Googled you and your picture appears to be that of a 40 \- 50\-year\-old woman. Would you please tell me how old you really are?" May 28, 2006: Regina Brett's 45 life lessons and 5 to grow on My favorite? Stephen wrote: "You sure look good for 90 years old! Assuming that the picture in the PD is a recent one. Do you have a painting of you in your attic that is getting really REALLY old looking?" No, there's no Dorian Gray picture decay going on. Beware the Internet. It can age you. I once wrote the 45 Lessons Life Taught Me, then added five more lessons when I turned 50 in 2006. Next thing I know, the lessons ended up e\-mailed everywhere. Only someone changed my age. It now reads: "Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old."

Well, I got it and I am trying to read it. It really isn't for the person that likes to sit down and READ. It's more like studying something. I know that he is supposed to be a brilliant writer, but he likes long, involved sentences. One on an early page was 159 words long. One period, one semicolon and you wouldn't believe how many commas. ONE sentence! 159 words!!! And there's almost 600 pages like that. I'll never make it!!

I have a daughter that teaches 4th grade in a city school. She sees students that need help every school year. Sadly, the parents do not agree. She had a young boy that created havoc in the classroom every day. She tried so hard to help him. He would walk up to her face to face and say to her, “you don’t like me, do you?” She always told him yes she liked him but not some of the things he was doing in her classroom. On numerous occasions he would say to her, “kiss my ass.” Finally,after months of this she took him by the hand and went directly to the office and stood in front of the principal and said, “ he is no longer in my class, he is your problem. I have asked for help so many times and I am now done, I am finished with his disrupting my class on a daily basis.” As long as my daughter put up with it nothing was getting done. She finally ended it. The mom was contacted so many times and would not allow them to do anything with him. That is what teachers are facing. If the parents say no then you are stuck. A lot of parents don’t care these days. If someone else is willing to watch their kids they are ok with it.. parents need to wake the hell up. Teaching children right from wrong starts in infancy, not when they start to school and it becomes someone else’s problem. Guns don’t kill anyone until someone picks it up and pulls the trigger. Stricter guns laws won’t help the problem. If someone wants a gun they will get one. Legal or not. It breaks my heart to hear this happened to these families. I pray for them each and every day. I’m not sure anyone knows the answer. Let’s hope one is found.