Tag: Pluralsight

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Happy Pi Day!

My new Pluralsight course on C++ Standard Library Associative Containers is live!

In this course, you’ll learn with a combination of slides and demo code, how to use associative containers like std::set, std::map, and std::unordered_map.

This is a follow up course of my previous course, which I encourage you to watch before this one.

Starting from this course page, you can freely play the course overview, and read a more detailed course description and the table of content.

These are some feedback notes from my reviewers:

Nice use of the PowerPoint slides and Camtasia callouts to keep the learners focused and engaged. [Peer Review]

Enjoyable clip of std::map string to string dictionary translation. [Peer Review]

Overall, a strong module that’s well-explained, approachable and professionally polished. Looking forward to more! [Peer Review]

The content is logically sequenced, building on concepts as we go. The clips are nice and short, which makes it easy to move through and absorb the content. You also do a great job transitioning across the clips; there’s a cohesive flow to the module. [Peer Review]

I’m glad you showed this error, explained why it’s happening, and how to fix it. It’s a good opportunity to reiterate learnings from earlier in the module, and also seems like a common gotcha. [Peer Review]

Happy learning!

 

My new Pluralsight course on C++ Standard Library Containers is live!

In this course, you’ll learn how to use some important containers implemented in the C++ Standard Library, with a combination of theoretical introduction using slides, and practical C++ implementation code, including analyzing and fixing some common bugs.

C++ Standard Library implementations offer high-quality well-tested and highly-optimized standard containers, that are very powerful tools when developing software written in C++.

In particular, I’ll discuss std::vector (which is a Standard Library workhorse), std::array, and std::list, including how to use them, discussing their pros and cons, and giving some guidance on picking one or the other, based on the problem at hand. Other containers (e.g. std::map) will be the topic of follow-up courses.

No prior knowledge of C++ Standard Library containers is required. You only need a basic knowledge of C++ language features.

Containers and algorithms are kind of like “bread and butter”, so in this course you’ll also learn about the C++ Standard Library design based on the teamwork between containers, iterators and algorithms, and you’ll see how to perform important operations on containers leveraging some useful algorithms already implemented in the C++ Standard Library.

Note that this course is both theory and practice! In fact, I’ll show practical demo code, and I’ll also discuss some bugs that are especially common for those who are just starting to learn the C++ Standard Library’s containers.

These are some feedback notes from my reviewers:

The narration is clear, animated, and engaging. The visuals are particularly helpful. [Peer Review]

You do a particularly good job clearly stating the problem here (and elsewhere) so that the solution, when it comes, makes sense and fits nicely. [Peer Review]

Great simple example of undefined behavior to reinforce the concepts you’ve introduced as well as a bonus of uncovering a security issue. [Peer Review]

Very nice module with good examples. Also excellent visuals when describing list, vectors and the various operations. [Peer Review]

Very nice discussion of the trade-offs between a linked list and a vector [Peer Review]

Nice use of a bug to teach a key concept [Peer Review]

 

Starting from this course page, you can freely play the course overview, and read a more detailed course description and the table of content.

Let me also express my gratitude to all the Pluralsight persons involved in the production of this course: It’s always a pleasure to work with you all!

I hope you’ll enjoy watching this course!

 

A new course of mine was published in the Pluralsight library: Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms in C++.

In this course, you’ll learn how to implement some fundamental data structures and algorithms in C++ from scratch, with a combination of theoretical introduction using slides, and practical C++ implementation code.

No prior data structure or algorithm theory knowledge is required. You only need a basic knowledge of C++ language features (please watch the “Prerequisites” clip in the first module for more details about that).

During this course journey, you’ll also learn some practical C++ coding techniques (ranging from move semantic optimization, to proper safe array copying techniques, insertion operator overloading, etc.) that you’ll be able to use in your own C++ projects, as well.

So, this course is both theory and practice!

Here’s just a couple of feedback notes from my reviewers:

The callouts are helpful and keep the demo engaging as you explain the code. [Peer Review]

To say that this is an excellent explanation of Big-O notation would be an understatement. The way you illustrate and explain it is far better than the way it was taught to me in college! [Peer Review]

Starting from this course page, you can freely play the course overview, and read a more detailed course description and table of content.

I hope you’ll enjoy watching this course!

 

I’m very proud of my “C++11 from Scratch” course published by Pluralsight.

We are in 2018, and there have been C++14 and C++17 in the meantime. So, a legit question is: “Does it make sense for me to watch your C++11 course today for a beginner-oriented introduction to C++?” And the answer is a BIG STRONG YES! 😊

In fact, in that course you will learn modern C++ topics that are valid in both C++11, and also in next versions of the language. For example, what you will learn about the parameter passing rules, like passing by reference vs. passing by value, is perfectly valid in C++11, C++14, and C++17 as well.

Moreover, the practical introductions I gave to standard library’s classes like std::string, or std::vector, and to the std::sort algorithm, just to name a few, are totally valid also in C++14 and C++17.

Similarly, my discussions on defining custom types, constructors, destructor, the RAII pattern and the scope-based lifetime of objects are still valid in C++14 and C++17, as well.

Maybe a better title for that course would be “Modern C++ from Scratch”. Anyway, the content is already there, available for an enjoyable learning experience, with a mix of slides containing interesting visuals, and demo code.

And, if you are already familiar with C++11, you may enjoy my follow-up course on “Practical C++14 and C++17 Features”.

Happy learning!

 

A new course of mine was published in the Pluralsight library: Practical C++14 and C++17 Features.

From the course short description:

C++14 and C++17 added many new features to the C++ language. This course will teach you practical features introduced in C++14 and C++17, that you will be able to use to write clearer, simpler, and higher-quality modern C++ code.

You can take this course to learn about practical features added in C++14 and C++17, ranging from syntactic sugar like digit separators, to more substantial features like polymorphic lambdas (this course will offer an introduction to basic lambdas as well), relaxed constexpr functions, the Chrono library with its standard-defined duration suffixes, and C++17 juice ranging from nested namespaces, variable declarations in if statements, to “constexpr if” and structured bindings, just to name a few.

I discussed these topics with both slides and demo code, including showing some bugs and how to fix them.

You can watch the course trailer and read a more detailed course description and the table of content starting from this course page.

I put the discussed features in proper context for learners who are already familiar with basic elements of C++11. For example, when I introduced C++14 std::make_unique, I also talked about smart pointers and introduced std::unique_ptr as well. If you need an introduction to basic elements of modern C++, you can take my “C++11 from Scratch” course.

Here’s some feedback from my reviewers:

You’ve done an excellent job with the animated shapes/callouts throughout the module. They really help me to follow along with the narrative explanations. [Peer Review]

The content is logically organized and chunked into bite-size clips. I also like your mix of slides and demos. [Peer Review]

This is an excellent challenge to the viewer to spot the bug in the code. [Peer Review]

Overall, a strong module that will be well-received by an intermediate audience. The explanations are clear and the concepts build on each other, making it easy to follow along. Keep up the great work! [Peer Review]

Thank You

Writing and producing this course has been an interesting journey and a rewarding experience for me. There are several people who worked with me during this journey and with their contributions helped me producing this quality course. I’d like to thank my ASM (former Editor) Beth Gerard-Hess, my Production Editor Austin Crawford, my Curriculum Director Tod Gentille, my reviewers (both QA and peer), and all the Pluralsight persons who worked on this course project. Thanks also to Stephan T. Lavavej for interesting e-mail conversations that provided good food for thought.

I hope you will enjoy this new course on Practical C++14 and C++17 Features: Happy learning! 😊

 

C++ is a language having a reputation of being hard to learn.

In this C++ course of mine published by Pluralsight, I did my best to prove the opposite: C++ can be learned in a simple, interesting, and fun way!

I used a variety of engaging visuals, metaphors and example demo code to try to teach modern, clear, good C++ from scratch, from the beginning, without any previous programming knowledge.

And, even if you already know C++, you may have fun watching this course as well.

Note: The table of contents and a brief course overview are freely available in the course page.

Here’s some of what my reviewers wrote about this course:

You sound really passionate about this technology.  It comes across in the narration and it’s quite infectious.

You’re a very talented teacher, offering lots of examples, analogies and stories that make the concepts easy to grasp.  The visuals are also really helpful for understanding the concepts.

Overall, I really enjoyed this module.  The content is logically structured, you do a great job explaining the concepts, supported by engaging visuals.  There’s also a nice mix of theory and demos.  You clearly understand your beginner audience, the knowledge they currently have, and how to lead them to a deeper understanding of this technology.  Bravo!

The demo showing the bug with implementing the swap function was excellent. It immediately reinforced your earlier lesson on the scope of local variables.

Fantastic use of Camtasia callouts in the demos.

I’d like to sincerely thank Mike Woodring of Pluralsight for approving this course idea, my fantastic editor Beth Gerard-Hess for her continuous encouragement and support during this course production (working with Beth is an absolute pleasure), Stephan T. Lavavej for interesting email conversations that provided good food for thought, all my reviewers (both peer and QA) for their quality course feedback, and all the Pluralsight persons who worked on this course.

This C++ course has been a work of love for me, I put my heart into it: I hope you will enjoy the result!