Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Third Edition

Learning C++

In the previous chapter, you learned about C's increment operator, ++, which increases a variable's value by 1 (one). C++ is an incremental improvement over C, hence its name. Much of a C++ program looks like pure C code, and it is just that. The C++ language does introduce some new language elements, but the keywords and structure are similar to C.

Most of C++'s changes from C are a result of injecting OOP technology. The primary differences between C and C++ aren't commands and keyword differences but rather how the language supports the use of objects.

There is disagreement as to whether it is best to learn C before C++. One side argues that learning C without dealing with the OOP issues makes it easier to learn C's mechanics; ...