Need advice on learning C++

[Victor Bazarov]

I tried to hire programmers to do some stuff, but cannot find
reliable, intelligent C++ Gurus (at Guru or RentACoder at least). So
I am stuck learning C++ and doing the jobs myself.

Not really. But you might need to learn to find reliable, intelligent
C++ gurus... RentACoder is not necessarily the right place.

I would like to streamline my studying to avoid studying anything
that would only serve to slow my progress while not really adding to
the advancement of my goals.

That's essentially an impossible goal. You want to avoid what hasn't
happened yet -- that's an attempt to predict future. Nobody can do
that with any commercial certainty for a commercially viable amount of
time ahead.

I want to learn to do the following......

(1) Change open source projects like sultan to suit my particular
needs. (2) Develop ActiveX controls
(3) Control access to the file system in a similar fashion to
DeepFreeze.

Any pointers you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Changing open source projects is as easy as typing. And you don't
seem to need typing lessons.

Developing ActiveX controls is beyond the scope of this newsgroup,
post in one of 'microsoft.public.*' newsgroups. See the list of the
newsgroups available to you for a better selection.

Controlling access to the file system is beyond the scope of this
newsgroup, it's very OS-specific. Try asking in the newsgroup
dedicated to your OS.

(I tried posting this once before today - but it never showed in the
newsgroups. Please forgive me if it appears twice.)

[..]

V

 

[squishy]

I tried to hire programmers to do some stuff, but cannot find reliable,
intelligent C++ Gurus (at Guru or RentACoder at least). So I am stuck
learning C++ and doing the jobs myself.

I would like to streamline my studying to avoid studying anything that would
only serve to slow my progress while not really adding to the advancement of
my goals.

I want to learn to do the following......

(1) Change open source projects like sultan to suit my particular needs.
(2) Develop ActiveX controls
(3) Control access to the file system in a similar fashion to DeepFreeze.

Any pointers you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

(I tried posting this once before today - but it never showed in the
newsgroups. Please forgive me if it appears twice.)

{ Apparently you waited only for two hours before posting this second
message. Since one of the groups that you're posting to is a moderated
group, it usually takes much more for the moderators to check and
approve your message: see the newsgroup guide linked in the banner
below, where it says "please wait at least 36 hours". -mod/sk }

--
squishy

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free,
in a state of civilization, it expects what never
was and never will be." - Thomas Jefferson

[ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ]
[ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]

 

[Gianni Mariani]

I tried to hire programmers to do some stuff, but cannot find reliable,
intelligent C++ Gurus (at Guru or RentACoder at least). So I am stuck
learning C++ and doing the jobs myself.

I would like to streamline my studying to avoid studying anything that would
only serve to slow my progress while not really adding to the advancement of
my goals.

I want to learn to do the following......

(1) Change open source projects like sultan to suit my particular needs.

what is "sultan" ?

(2) Develop ActiveX controls
(3) Control access to the file system in a similar fashion to DeepFreeze.

Any pointers you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

What kind or source control system are you going to use?

 

[Le Chaud Lapin]

I would like to streamline my studying to avoid studying anything that would
only serve to slow my progress while not really adding to the advancement of
my goals.

I want to learn to do the following......

(1) Change open source projects like sultan to suit my particular needs.
(2) Develop ActiveX controls
(3) Control access to the file system in a similar fashion to DeepFreeze.

Any pointers you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Well, I've never heard of sultan, and I know #2 is not trivial, and #3
is suicidal if you do already know C (I am assuming you do).

#2 is like trying fire your weapon while skiing with no poles. Yes,
there are people who can do it, but the ones who live through first
attempt are often the ones who learned to ski first. You really
should learn C++ first. Active/X (COM) is hardly a vehicle for
learning C++.

#3 is nightmarish. I looked up DeepFreeze on Google, and to do what
they are doing, you need to develop a file system driver (FSD). Ask
any driver developer, and they will tell you that FSD's are
atrocious. Writing a driver to intercept and encrypt packets off
network card would be comparatively easy.

If a person goes in naked, with no C/C++, and wanted to do #3,
assuming above average intelligence with degree in computer science
from top-10 university in US, you're looking at a minimum of 3 years
to be able to get something that does not constantly blue-screen on
you and takes care of all the strange situations that DeepFreeze does.

I think you're going to have to decide first who/what you want to be,
then look at how much time you have, then commit one way or the
other.

-Le Chaud Lapin-

 

[Old Wolf]

I tried to hire programmers to do some stuff, but cannot find reliable,
intelligent C++ Gurus (at Guru or RentACoder at least). So I am stuck
learning C++ and doing the jobs myself.

Maybe I should check my Rentacoder account more often

I want to learn to do the following......

(1) Change open source projects like sultan to suit my particular needs.

Good idea. Be sure you learn the language before you try this though.
Above all else, don't try it by trial and error. If you aren't
confident that
your code will work before you compile it, you don't know the language
well enough. I suggest getting at least one good book (you can find
reviews at www.accu.org).

(2) Develop ActiveX controls

With the right development tools, you can develop some normal code
and then 'plug it in' to an ActiveX framework.

(3) Control access to the file system in a similar fashion to DeepFreeze.

This is not so much a C issue, as an information issue. If you're
going to
try this on Windows you might as well forget about it as the
information
needed to write such a thing is just not available and the only people
who
can do it are those who have spent years figuring out how it works by
a
very messy trial and error.

 

[Lance Diduck]

I tried to hire programmers to do some stuff, but cannot find reliable,
intelligent C++ Gurus (at Guru or RentACoder at least). So I am stuck
learning C++ and doing the jobs myself.

Programmers with the skills you list below are normally already
working as "senior developers" in some tech company, and are placed
there by headhunters. You can try a headhunter, that is probably a
better bet.

I want to learn to do the following......

(1) Change open source projects like sultan to suit my particular needs.

The best way to do this is to download the open source project and try
it out. Learn all the C++ you need to understand the design. A few of
the more well known Open Source projects actually sell consulting
services as well, but for the most part you are on your own.

(2) Develop ActiveX controls

Pick up Professional ATL COM Programming by Richard Grimes. Learn all
the C++ you need to do make the examples work.
This book is great at how to make the control itself. It does not
cover how to actually manage the dependencies needed to make this
practical. A good idea here is to (like I did) grap a few well
deployed control and plugins (Flash comes to mind) and run them
through a dependency checker (depends.exe). Depend only on stuff IE
depends on an you can piggyback on all the work a user has to do
installing IE.

(3) Control access to the file system in a similar fashion to DeepFreeze.

Download the WDK http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/default.mspx
Learn all the C++ you need to understand what is going on here. You
will also need to learn a lot about how operating systems work to
write Kernel mode drivers, esp of course Windows.
I dont know how DeepFreeze works, but reading through this, making WDK
work is a good start.


After the several years it will take to become proficient in C++,
Device Driver writing, ActiveX Controls and Open Source, it would be
nice to hear how everything came along

 

[squishy]

Maybe I should check my Rentacoder account more often


Good idea. Be sure you learn the language before you try this though.
Above all else, don't try it by trial and error. If you aren't
confident that
your code will work before you compile it, you don't know the language
well enough. I suggest getting at least one good book (you can find
reviews at www.accu.org).

You know, I don't know what the hell "sultan" is...I swear I typed
"ultravnc".

With the right development tools, you can develop some normal code
and then 'plug it in' to an ActiveX framework.

That is encouraging. One of the projects I'd like to do (and can't really
understand why nobody has done it yet) is to create a client activex
control
and a server activeX control from 2 open source projects to allow more
coders to take advantage of technologies & improve their apps. ( I know I
could use them.... )

This is not so much a C issue, as an information issue. If you're
going to
try this on Windows you might as well forget about it as the
information
needed to write such a thing is just not available and the only people
who
can do it are those who have spent years figuring out how it works by
a
very messy trial and error.

Crap!

Maybe I can hire some slick offshore group to reverse engineer this app. I
think DeepFreeze is a great start, but it is lacking in some features and
the interface could use some work.

There are a couple more apps that I would really like to adapt for purposes
that they currently are ignoring.

All in all, it would certainly be better to hire seasoned professionals to
code the apps I need.

So, where's the best place to find those C++ gurus? (Guru.com and
RentaCoder don't seem to the best places.)

squishy