Crash Course in C++

Get Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional or Standard Edition from here. You can also use the free version Visual C++ Express if you extend it with the libraries needed to create standard Win32 programs.

The definitive book on C++ is Thinking in C++; the electronic versions of both volumes are available for free.

Topics to cover:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]); global items
bool, signed/unsigned char, short, int, long
Null-terminated strings; basic input/output with stdio.h and streams
Pointers and references: pointers to variables; this; ->; NULL pointer, references, pass by value, pass by pointer/reference, pointers to functions
Arrays: one-dimensional, multi-dimensional, pointer types, pointer arithmetics
STL vector; Namespaces, using (not in header files!)
Header files; #include for system and project files; declaration and definition; simple macros
Initializing and cleaning up: destructors (virtual? Public?); static, automatic (stack-based), and heap-based objects; new, delete, delete[], and memory leaks; copy constructor X(const X&); assignment operator X& operator=(const X&)
Inheritance: classes and structs; syntax; initializer list of the constructor; virtual and pure virtual functions, polymorphism, late binding, upcasting, downcasting; inline functions
Using libraries, ex.: Open Scene Graph; you need Cmake to create the project file for Visual Studio