Completed the C++ course, what should I do next?

Question

Hi Sololearn users (Sololearners?) what should I do after completing the course? I have tried to do the one on cplusplus.com website, but it gets a bit difficult to comprehend due to some sort of lack of cohesion. I am thinking of making a video game, but I do not have a good engine on my personal computer.
What would you recommend for me to install? I am using Windows 10, which has no built in compiler and I was wondering which compiler should I use if I have an AMD processor? There is also the fact that I want to implement my code in a way that can be compiled to an .exe file.

Answer 1

cplusplus is a great resource, but not meant for training. The are a number of online "tutorial" or "challenge" websites made just for this purpose.
Recently I've been using SoloLearn and searching the "unanswered" questions for programming challenges. For instance one person asked how to prevent heap fragmentation, which lead me to memory pools, and now I have a memory pool in my toolbox library.
Visual Studio is a great IDE (it took me awhile to appreciate it, I'll be honest). The free (VS Express) version will work fine for your needs. But you have to pay if you want additional features like profiling, UMD, versioning, etc.
I liked and used NetBeans back in the day. It had, at the time, a lot of features that VS lacked until even recently (like performance profiling). It's free but Java-centric. I haven't used it, or Java, since Oracle purchased it.
CodeBlocks and Eclipse are really popular, too. And you should always have a stick with Notepad++ on it for emergency programming situations.
Different strokes for different folks. Give them all a try.

Answer 2

I would also do some reading. That will help you understand what is going on in the programs and how computers deal with them 'C++ essentials' is really good and i would also highly recommend Scott's "But how do it know?" it is a bad title but a fantastic book!

Answer 3

Visual Studio uses a lot of ram and I need some rendering API

Answer 4

Okay then