Starting out with C++ as your first learning language is quite a leap. It would probably be much faster and easier
to start out with something like Pascal, Delphi, or VB - or one of the Scripting Languages (Perl, Ruby, VBScript, KiXtart, PowerShell, etc)
Then if you still want to learn C++ you will have a much better understanding of what's involved in learning such a language.
Here are some resources to further your interests.
**************************************************************************The Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2005 Editions do not appear to be available for download from Microsoft at this time.
The Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2008 Editions are RELEASED versions and are not beta anymore
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express
http://www.microsoft.com/express/Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition All-in-One DVD - OFFLINE Install (895MB)
http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/Visual Studio 2008
On Monday, Nov. 19, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 were released to manufacturing (RTM)
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspxPerformance Improvements in Visual Studio 2008
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=328382Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 Released
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/ ... eased.aspxMy name is Scott Guthrie, and I am a General Manager within the Microsoft Developer Division. I run the development teams that build the following products/technologies:
* CLR and the core .NET Base Class Libraries
* ASP.NET
* Silverlight
* WPF
* IIS 7.0
* Visual Studio Tools for ASP.NET, WPF and Silverlight
http://www.digitalmars.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_%28progr ... anguage%29Digital Mars C and C++ Compilers for Win32, Win16, DOS32 and DOS. Fastest compile/link times, powerful optimization technology, Design by Contract, complete library source, HTML browsable documentation, disassembler, librarian, resource compiler, make, etc., command line and GUI versions, tutorials, sample code, online updates, Standard Template Library, and much more.
Microsoft Macro Assembler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASMhttp://www.masm32.com/MASM32 Forum
http://www.masm32.com/board/index.phpMASM32 version 9 is a working development for programmers who are interested in either learning or writing 32 bit Microsoft assembler (MASM). Installation is an automated process that will install on the local drive of your choice. MASM32 will not install on a network drive.
Visual C++
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_C%2B%2BWikibooks:Programming languages bookshelf
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks: ... _bookshelfMicrosoft Development Forums
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?SiteID=1Code Guru
http://www.codeguru.com/Programmers Heaven. It's all here!
Over 32245 files, links and articles to explore.
http://www.programmersheaven.com/Dev Central
http://devcentral.iticentral.com/default.phpDev Shed Forums
http://forums.devshed.com/C++ Language Tutorial
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/http://www.cprogramming.com/Cprogramming.com is a web site designed to help you learn the C or C++ programming languages, and provide you with C and C++ programming language resources.
These tutorials were developed as part of a series of courses on C++ I taught at the University of California, Irvine, Washington University, St. Louis, and Vanderbilt University
http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/C++/CFanatic forums
http://www.cfanatic.com/Basement Computing
http://www.physiology.wisc.edu/comp/Visual C++ Concepts: Building a C/C++ Program Troubleshooting C/C++ Isolated Applications and Side-by-side Assemblies
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235342.aspxBorland
http://www.codegear.com/Borland has formed CodeGear - a separate, new operation focused exclusively on maximizing developer productivity.
Turbo Explorer
http://www.turboexplorer.com/Open Watcom
is a project of the open source community to maintain and enhance the Watcom C, C++, and Fortran cross compilers and tools.
http://www.openwatcom.org/index.php/Main_PageCODE::BLOCKS The Open Source, Cross-platform, Free C/C++ IDE
http://www.codeblocks.org/C
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)
List of programming languages by category
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorica ... _languagesComparison of programming languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... _languagesAlphabetical list of notable programming languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabetic ... _languages.