Resources

Contents

Welcome to my Resources section, a curated list of the books/courses/blogs/tools and websites I strongly recommend for improving your programming skills.

Please read that important disclosure:

Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that I will earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that I have experience with most of these products/sites, and I recommend them because they are helpful and valuable, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.

My Books  

See all of my books:

C++17  

I wrote a book about C++17 features! I believe this book might be a useful addition when learning about modern C++!

C++17 In Detail ebook @Leanpub
C++17 In Detail in print @Amazon

Lambda Expressions  

I also published another book: C++ Lambda Story - it teaches lambda expressions how this feature evolved among different C++ versions.

C++ Lambda Story ebook @Leanpub
C++ Lambda Story in print @Amazon

Initialization Rules  

In mid 2022 I released a book on Initialization in Modern C++:

C++ Initialization Story

C++ Initialization Story @Leanpub

My Interactive Courses @Educative  

Initializing Data Members  

Initializing Data Members: From C++11 till C++20

Initializing Data Members: From C++11 till C++20

Throughout this course, you will learn all the options to initialize data members in C++ using a simpler syntax and safer code. More specifically, in this mini course you will learn non-static data member initialization, inline variables, designated initializers, and more. Additionally, you’ll see the changes and new techniques from C++11 to C++20 to really round out your understanding.

It’s a “mini-course,” consisting of 17 lessons, targeted towards beginners, approximately 3 hours to complete.

C++17  

C++17 In Detail Educative

Thanks to the collaboration with the team @Educative, we published C++17 in Detail as an interactive course!
You can see it… and even preview it for free here:

C++17 in Detail: A Deep Dive

It consists of 228 lessons, many quizzes, code snippets… and what’s best is that it has more than 153 playgrounds! That means you can compile and edit code sample directly in the browser… so there’s no need for you to switch back and forth to some compiler/IDE.
I think that such an approach increases your learning experience.

Books  

C++  

Book Title Author(s) Notes/Reviews
Effective Modern C++: 42 Specific Ways to Improve Your Use of C++11 and C++14 Scott Meyers -
Embracing Modern C++ Safely J. Lakos, V. Romeo, R. Khlebnikov, A. Meredith My Review
C++ Best Practices by Jason Turner @Leanpub Jason Turner -
Modern C++ Programming Cookbook Marius Bancila My Review
C++17 STL Cookbook Jacek Galowicz My Review
The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition Bjarne Stroustrup -
The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference (2nd) Nicolai M. Josuttis, Douglas Gregor My Review
Discovering Modern C++ 1st Edition Peter Gottschling -
C++ Templates: The Complete Guide (2nd Edition) David Vandevoorde, Nicolai M. Josuttis, Douglas Gregor My Review
Introduction to Programming with C++ by Prof. Boguslaw Cyganek Prof. Boguslaw Cyganek My Review

A lot of good books in the C++ Category on Leanpub: C++ @Leanpub.

And here’s also a handy list of book managed by community: A comprehensive catalog of modern and classic books on C++ programming language @Github.

Other  

Courses  

Educative  

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Above I listed my courses at Educative, but I’m also using that platform to learn new technologies!

Educative is great platform for learning new coding skills. It has various interactive elements to courses - like playgrounds, animations, quizzes, challenges… or even whole projects and mock interviews.

I highly recommend using this platform.

See some courses and pages like:

CodeCrafters 40% off for C++Stories!  

CodeCrafters

CodeCrafters revolutionizes the way you learn new technologies! Rather than going through tutorials, reading slides, or watching presentations, you jump right into a real-life software project! Learn by doing!

You can try building your own Git, HTTP Server, Redis, BitTorrent, Docker… or even more crazy technologies. You can pick from several programming languages (C++ is, of course, included!).

One of the most impressive features of CodeCrafters is its interactive process. You start by setting up your git repository, then gain access to a user-friendly CLI and automated tests. All you need to do is write code, test it, and commit once the tests are successfully passed. It’s a seamless and efficient way to learn!

You can try it entirely for free or get some Premium plans.

See more information at their website.

Some cool challanges:

Blogs  

C++ Podcasts  

Active:

Bookmarks

Some good blog posts that I’m often ask and I suggest them all the time:

“Aggregators”

Sites  

Job Boards

Blogging & Tools  

If you run a blog (which I highly recommend for every developer!), you might be interested in the following course How to Create a Blog That Boosts Your Software Development Career it’s short and free course from SimpleProgrammer, by J. Sonmez

Content and Hosting

I write most of my text in Markdown. For editing, I really like and use Typora. The website (cppstories) is run on Hugo. With Hugo I can simply commit my markdown content, and it will be nicely rendered as a static website. The site is hosted on Netlify.

To synchronise my content and important documents across my machines I use Dropbox (join here via the referral link).

Writing

If, like me, you’re not a native English speaker, it might be easy to make mistakes. That’s why I try to fix and improve my articles whenever possible. In 2016 I started using Grammarly, a great tool to check everything you write automatically. I am using it on my blog, at work, for emails… it works in the browser and as separate plugins for Office (and others).

Email System

I am using MailChimp as my tool for the mailing list.

Graphics

For graphics, I depend on Xara Cloud - The smart way to create marketing documents that work | Xara Cloud - it’s excellent for creating headers, diagrams, logos and much more!

Productivity

For productivity, I use Cold Turkey to block everything and focus on the essential tasks.

Friends