About the Book
Learn C++ by Making Games teaches the fundamentals of C++ from a unique and fun perspective. Using game specific code and examples, the book helps anyone wanting to learn C++ progress from the basics to more advanced topics. As you learn C++, you'll be putting the code and techniques into practice by programming a game project in each part of the book. The book begins with an introduction to the fundamentals of the C++ language, including the basic data types of the language. It then progresses further into creating and defining variables, basic mathematical operators, and the various loop structures at your disposal. Next, you'll learn how to use functions to make code more readable and maintainable, along with techniques for breaking up source code into several files for readability. From there you'll move to data structures and explore concepts such as using collections to store multiple copies of a data type. With these foundations of C++ firmly applied, you'll be ready to learn the basics of pointers that you'll need for all of your C++ programming.
Next comes an introduction to object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts, including classes, objects, inheritance, virtual methods, and polymorphism. From there, reading and writing data files (serialization) are covered. The book concludes with an exploration of how to use the Simple DirectMedia Layer to display graphics and handle basic input, sound, linked lists, templates, along with a variety of more advanced topics, including using SDL to create a simple demo. This book is ideal for an introductory C++ course, or for anyone wanting to teach themselves C++ through the creation of game projects!
Table of Contents:
PART I: Fundamentals of C++ Programming Ch 1. Introduction to Programming Ch 2. The Mandatory Hello World Program and Its Structure: Blocks, Comments, The Standard Namespace, etc. Ch 3. Variables, Constants and Volatile Variables Ch 4. Basic Data Types, Enums, Typedefs Ch 5. Console input/output Ch 6. Strings Ch 7. Game #1: Funny Headlines PART II C++ Statements and Constructs Ch 8. Assignment and Typecasting, Operators: Arithmetic, Bitwise, Shortcut Assignments, Blocks Ch 9. Conditional Statements: If, Switch, the "?" Operator, Loops: While, Do, For; Break and Continue Statements Ch 10. Game #2: The Last Straw PART III Functions: Including Libraries and Using Predefined Functions: Ch 11. Random Numbers Ch 12. Defining Your Own Functions Ch 13. Function Parameters: Call by Value, Call by Reference, Default Parameters, Returning Values from Functions Ch 14. Variable Scope Rules Ch 15. Inline Functions vs Macros Ch 16. Game #3: Blackjack PART IV Elementary Data Structures Ch 17. One-Dimensional Arrays, Searches and Sorts, Multi-Dimensional Arrays, Array Parameters Ch 18. Recursion Ch 19. Structures Ch 20. Unions Ch 21. Game #4: Mastermind PART V Pointers Ch 22. Introduction to Pointers: What They Are, How to Initialize Them, etc. Ch 23. Pointer Arithmetic, Pointer Parameters Ch 24. Comparisons Between Pointers and Arrays, Function Pointers, Pointers vs References, Ch 25. Game #5: Variable-sized Minesweeper PART VI Object-Oriented Programming: Concepts of OOP Ch 26. Classes, Objects, Composition, Inheritance, Abstraction, Polymorphism, Encapsulation, Data and Function Members Ch 27. Accessing Data and Function Members from Inside and from Outside the Objects, Access Qualifiers: Private, Public, Protected, Friend, Class Declarations and Definitions, Ch 28. Object Construction and Destruction, Overloading Functions, Overloading Operators Ch 29. Classes vs Structs, Object Equality, Dynamic Objects (new and delete) Ch 30. OO Analysis, Inheritance and Class Hierarchies Ch 31. Virtual Functions and Virtual Base Classes Ch 32. Game #6: Othello PART VII Files and Streams Ch 33. Text Files and fstreams Ch 34. Object Serialization Ch 35. Game #7: Adding a Savegame to Othello PART VIII Graphical Games with SDL Ch 37. Where to find SDL and free compilers on the Web Ch 38. Crash Course in SDL Graphics, Keyboard input, and other basic Concepts Ch 39. Defining GraphicalEntity class that can show itself in SDL Ch 40. Covering input and sound in SDL Ch 41. Game #8: Graphical Othello Part IX: Advanced C++ Topics Ch 42. Introduction to Linked Lists Ch. 43. Discussion of Templates Ch. 44. Introduction to Exception Handling Ch 45. Introduction to Containers and Iterators Ch 46. Game #9: A Simple Tetrus Clone with STL and SDL Appendix A: About the CD-ROM Index
