Nor use "C++ in 21 days", go for something with a tone that says it cares about actually working and not about getting sold.
Books can't teach you how to program in a language - Often in teaching programming, In order to explain how one thing works, a second thing has to be understood. In order to undertsand the second thing, the first thing is required.
The linear structure of a book makes this hard ..dynamically reading and learning little things yourself and joining them all together in your own mind might be slower for learning the basics, but for learning how it all works and fits together its good to get used to doing this.
Its also good to learn from as vast a variety of sources as possible, and practice yourself every little bit of code you come accross with each article you read either on the net or in a book (more sources, more styles, more approaches, more ideas, until understanding more compleely formulates in your head - its an implicit thing)
Youll have a rocky start and write alot of code that you'll later be embarressed about; Code that might even work well and do something excellent, but you took the hard route to get there.
Of course a book can be usefull; But don't look as a book as a from start to finish learning guide. Mess about with examples alot and mix them up by adding in your own things, observing.
Don't be discouraged by compiler errors, eventually you'll *almost* stop getting them at all. I got
one yesterday i was horrified!
..When i first used C++ i can remmember getting hundreds and having no clue... Esp with other examples: Compiler and project settings can be the problem, its not always the code itself - be aware of that.
and join here:
http://www.cpplc.net/forum/Listen to everything myork says.
if someone disagrees with him, their wrong, its quite simple lol.
Ask questions when you need to; Dont be afraid. However aklways make sure you have messd about and tried *everything* that you can think of to get things working; THAT is the crucial thing in learning to program, and youll go far fast if you do exhaust situations logically.
g'luck.
