Good books
Well… IMO, a JS book isn't necessary. You can just learn the basics from w3schools, then learn about the DOM. However, it is necessary to get a book to understand AJAX (which I realize is Javascript, but requires distinction). The book I have is "AJAX In Action", which is a really good book. Working my way through that one. Also, I was reading "AJAX Security" in the bookstore the past few times… very nice read as well.
For C++, the only book I used was "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 days", or whatever the amount of time was. Very well-structured book (for being one of those "teach yourself x in y days" formats), so definitely check out the internals on it before judging it. Unfortunately, it seems to have ultimately failed… as yours31f obviously hasn't learned C++ after more than 21 days.
I beg to differ, I am coding a calculator that has every function needed for a high school student, from algebra 1 - calculus and biology to physics 2. Yes math and science both. And I am making it work in win32 API
as for this thread… I read a book called C++ through game programming. this was a great book to learn the basics. then once I learned everything in the book i moved to the interwebs and learned as I went from there.
I think books can be massively helpful, even now, i still find it annoying to read a screen full of black and white text… can give me a headache when i tackle pdf's like that >.< wierd…
So i do have a fair amount of books….
And for starters, i love the for dummie books ^^ they are great.
For more advanced stuff, i learnt a fair bit from some games programming books when i did a year at uni, There are a lot of interesting new technique's involved that can be used in other ways :) A few games programming books i have:
Creating games in c++. A step by step guide 0-7357-1434-7 A fairly basic book, nothing to special.
Beginning c++ Game Programming 1-59200-205-6 A much better book, taught me a lot ^^
AI Game Engine Programming 1-58450-344-0 A much more indepth book, i have far from mastered many of the techniques in this book, and can only imagine at the possibility's.
All my more general C books are not c++
I defiantly recommend that AI book for a read though ;)
For C++, I read The C++ Programming Language 3rd Edition, C++ For Dummies, 5th Edition and this tutorial. Also watched some of 3DBuzz' (Intro to C++ Videos, that was long time ago).
And actually reading some books now, like C++ In A Nutshell, Practical C++ Programming Nutshell Handbook - they're worth reading.