[mythtv] OT: Learning C++ and QT

Justin Hornsby justin at mythtvthemes.co.uk
Thu Jan 17 09:16:21 UTC 2008


Matt wrote:
> Hello Devs!
>
> I've been using myth for almost 4 years now... so a veteran I suppose.
>  I'm upgrading to SVN Head about once a month, and read the commit
> mailing list every day to see everything that's going on.  However,
> I've got lots of ideas that I'd like to see find their way into myth
> but, being around for a while I've learned the familiar motto: if you
> want it, build it yourself.  I don't really have a problem with that,
> except for that I haven't been able to "build it myself".
>
> Well, I've finally decided to do something about it and learn C++ and
> QT development.  I have a very small background in terms of
> programming.  A little bit of experience with Java, and got pretty
> good with VB6 several years ago when I was in school.  However, I
> never really pursued becoming a developer for a career or hobby.  Now,
> I consider myth to be a hobby that I'd like to start giving back to
> the community (eventually).
>
> What I'm looking for is any advice you folks might have for a newbie
> in this arena.
>     - Resources
>     - Books
>     - Websites
>     - IDEs
>     - Examples
>
> Etc...
>
> Basically - I've got to start somewhere.  Obviously I'm expecting an
> initial learning curve, but I've already got a logical understanding
> of programming under my belt (in the windows and web space).
>
> I appreciate any advice you folks can help me out with... maybe
> someday down the (hopefully-not-too-distant-road) I can start joining
> the ranks of some of you.
>
> Thanks!
> Matt
>   
I wouldn't call myself a programmer by many devs' standards but I just 
got stuck in there without knowing very much about even 1st c++ 
principles.  Wasn't too hard IMHO but had its moments.  I guess it 
depends what you're setting out to achieve & whether or not similar code 
already exists.

Now though I'm finding I want to do even more all the time so I'm 
starting to become motivated to learn 'proper' ways.  I think I might be 
turning over to the dark side ;)  I haven't yet felt the need to use a 
full-on IDE though.  All the stuff I've done so far is pretty trivial & 
only really needed a text editor.  Syntax highlighting & auto-indenting 
helps a lot - makes for far less compile time problems because of 
missing/misplaced braces etc.  Next to absent-mindedly trying to mix 
types those were my biggest compile time problems at first.

FWIW I'm a big advocate of "if you want it, build it yourself" - but not 
in a bad way I hope.  It's fun, challenging and very (VERY) rewarding.  
I think one of the tricks to not becoming disheartened early on is by 
starting on very small things & working your way up... i.e. don't bite 
off more than you can chew ;)

The single most useful thing to me when hacking around so far has been 
the doxygen stuff over at http://www.cuymedia.com/mythtv-trunk/ and of 
course the occasional nudge in the right direction from people who 
already know the code but I'm always wary of being a drain on them - 
being too needy would have a negative effect IMHO - never expect anybody 
to give you anything on a plate or do it for you ;)  The existing source 
code is a great resource too.  How does a popup menu work?  How do you 
use a textarea from an xml file in a theme?  It's all in the source :)

Actually at this point I'd like to give a really heartfelt thanks to 
everyone who's ever given me hints & pointers - I couldn't have got as 
far as I got without them and it's fully appreciated.

Now I feel I've just got started and there's still a lot to do.  Bring 
it on.

Justin


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