Teaching C++ in High School

[adrienneaadams]

I'm teaching C++ next year to students who have all had one year of either Visual Basic.net or AP Java. It's been 4 years since I got my degree, had lots of C++. I have 2 basic questions:
(1) When I tried entering a program in Visual Studio.net using <iostream.h> I got a message about deprecation. I searched & learned that it is <iostream>. Is this because I was using .net? Is it just new? (2) What IDE would be best for the students. We already have Visual Studio .net in one lab. This year, teaching Java, I had endless free text editors and of course a free compiler. With limited money, what is the best way to go in C++.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[ewomack]

If money is an issue, then Microsoft is usually not the way to go (in my experience - that company has sucked up a lot of my income). Also, and someone else can probably embellish on this more than I can - VS.NET uses "managed" C++, which means that the C++ libraries and such provide a direct coupling with the .NET libraries. It's possible to program in "non-managed" C++ in VS.NET (and I've even programmed in plain C, but it requires some fooling and indirect ways), but the learning curve may prove inefficient. I have to say that overall I didn't enjoy programming C++ in VS.NET. It may (or may not) be worth a look at the free GNU C++ compiler (http://gcc.gnu.org/), but keep in mind that it is a command line compiler, without cool graphics and drag and drop functionality (though that may have changed). There are also some good cheap and free C++ compilers for LINUX (which may or may not be an option for you).

Again, someone else could embellish more on the C++/VS.NET thing than I can, but at least one author I've read stated "I'd personally rather have my teeth pulled than use managed C++" - from what I saw I agree with this.

Hope this helps.

 

[ROSEBLOOD]

I personally use Dev C++ its not command line, its like visual studio but open source so its free. Your students can download it at home if they want. The website is http://www.bloodshed.net/.

EDIT: It compiles both C and C++

~ROSEBLOOD

 

[Griz803]

If you are interested in another compiler, you might try Watcom C/C++. It has gone open source and can be downloaded free. The only hitch is it will be incapable of programming Windows until you download and re-compile the Win SDKs. Also available free from (yuck) Microsoft.
To find the Open Source version, try www.thefreecountry.com . They also have references and links to quite a few freeware compilers.

Hope this helps

 

[Tulsileaf]

c++ no longer uses the .h extension on its standard headers due to the standardization of namespaces. all standard c++ libraries use the namespace std (for standard not that other thing )

so code will have to look something like this:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

int main () {

cout << "Greetings World."<<endl;
return 0;

}

the line "using namespace std;" lets you use "cout" instead of "std::cout"

this at least answers your first question and some

 

[0x54]

id use g++ and vim/mcedit/nano, then save some time and just dump a *nix on a computer on the network and let everyone ssh in.

our class used VC++.
christ that was shit, people came up with all sorts of weird unexplainable problems etc...
not to mention no one had VC++ at home.

(how do they get their files off there? scp or give them webspace on the same server)

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

I'm teaching C++ next year to students who have all had one year of either Visual Basic.net or AP Java. It's been 4 years since I got my degree, had lots of C++. I have 2 basic questions:
(1) When I tried entering a program in Visual Studio.net using <iostream.h> I got a message about deprecation. I searched & learned that it is <iostream>. Is this because I was using .net? Is it just new? (2) What IDE would be best for the students. We already have Visual Studio .net in one lab. This year, teaching Java, I had endless free text editors and of course a free compiler. With limited money, what is the best way to go in C++.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

I can't Private Message you, so basically I'm going to say it here: I can sell you as many copies of Visual Studio 2003.NET EE as you want if you want to stick with Visual Studio with a budget?