# Saturday, June 17, 2023

From time to time I think it's wise to summarize the courses I have on Pluralsight. There is a link on the side you can use to get a free trial if you want to take any of these. Because I redo most of the courses each time a new version of C++ becomes widespread, there are quite a few courses with similar names. Here's a quick summary.

If you are using the latest version of a major compiler, you are on C++20. These courses have been updated for C++20:

  • C++ 20: The Big Picture This is an overview covering "what is C++?" and "what is it used for?". If someone has suggested you learn it, start here to understand why you might want to. The title means that it's up to date to C++20, not that it only covers C++20. The actual content is equally applicable to older versions of the language.
  • C++20 Fundamentals is more properly "the fundamentals of C++ including things that were introduced in C++20". This is an introduction to the ideas, syntax, and standard library. At seven and a half hours it can't cover absolutely every corner of the language, but it does cover what you need to call yourself a C++ programmer, and get started writing real code. This course assumes you already know how to program. If you don't, try Learn to Program with C++ 17 which will cover the building blocks of programming languages like loops, functions, and objects while teaching the C++ syntax and library. Afterwards, you can take Fundamentals to fill in any gaps.
  • C++20 Algorithms Playbook again covers up to and including C++20, so plenty of things that have been around for decades, but it does have a lot of content that is C++20 only, because ranges made such a big difference here. If you're not on C++20 yet, take the C++17 version, listed below. Both versions are designed to convince you to stop writing raw loops and start using the many useful functions provided in the standard library. I demystify iterators and show you the benefits of using library code instead of rolling your own.
If you're not on C++20 and are wondering if you should be, try What's New in C++20. It will show you what you have to gain by updating to the latest version of your compiler (and how to try things out if your compiler doesn't support something yet.)

If you're on an older version and can't move, you should still use the latest iteration of Fundamentals. There's very little C++20 only material in there, and it's all signposted, so you can just move past that part if you need to. For the algorithms course, Beautiful C++ 14: STL Algorithms is the older version that doesn't have all the ranges additions.

Some of my courses are really not version specific, but apply to particular kinds of work you might need to do.
I plan to update everything for C++23 when the compilers have support for the new features. There are a few things coming I'm really looking forward to!

Kate

Saturday, June 17, 2023 2:51:47 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #