So much to learn! Where to start? (C++)

[techyreed]

Hello everybody,

I know a majority of the common C++ commands. I read a book on it when I was like 13, never applied it much, and now (6 years later) I'm picking it back up again.

I'm planning on jumping in over my head and working my way up to a large, database based, windows gui, program w/ networking capabilities.

I'll be taking classes on this sort of thing (e.g., Intro to C++, Intro to Software Engineering, OOP 1, OOP 2, Intermediate Software Engineering....) over the next few years; i'm an Electrical engineering major going for computer emphasis and a computer science minor.

BUT, I want to get a head start! Those classes will move too sloowwwww for my liking. The question is: Where do I start?
Any suggestions for tutorials? (Preferrably video tuts) I learn best watching somebody type while they explain verbally.
Also, where would I find a series of problems--learn by doing type of deal--to solve.

Edit: I'm planning on using VC++

[tgoe]

There's a free video lecture series by Jerry Cain out of Stanford. I haven't worked through all of them yet, but so far they're pretty great.

http://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordUniversity#g/c/9D558D49CA734A02

[techyreed]

There's a free video lecture series by Jerry Cain out of Stanford. I haven't worked through all of them yet, but so far they're pretty great.

http://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordUniversity#g/c/9D558D49CA734A02

Thanks, tgoe, I'll be sure to check those out!

My inspiration/goal for doing this is a certain program that keeps track of data for a tournament--that is the best of it's kind right now, sadly--that has some outdated/shasty 'features' haha.
It is notoriously horrendous to set up. The guy who made it tried to cover all types of tournaments for all sports that are similar in one program. Confusing for the user and has poor documentation. In fact, to set it up, you have to manually mount network drives, set up the program for either stand-alone or network in BDE administrator(really? BDE administrator? c'mon guy!)...oh and it won't run if you set it up wrong (network mode w/o a network...oh god, end of the world FATAL ERROR).
It's also built around a central program that starts completely separate .exe's to run ANY subroutine.
Sounds like an old guy (which he is) that isn't adapting to newer standards to me. I'm surprised he's even gotten it to work on win 7! (he has a note on his website to 'ignore the 2 errors that come up when installing'...that's his solution...oh dear)
So on and so forth...the guy charges $300-$400 a YEAR for this program.

Frankly, I feel I could do better with only a few more years of experience. Thanks for listening to my rant! Just wanted to explain where I'm going with this...adventure.