[LC++]Getting started

[Pavao, John C.]

Since no mailing list is really complete without the occasional idiot newbie
question...  :-)

I've been lurking this list for several months because I'm trying to teach
myself C++, but I certainly admit the list is out of my league.  

As for trying to learn C++, I'm only able to get so far when it comes to
applying what I'm learning to real world situations because I seem to be
missing something important.  I haven't figured out how to know learn what
to use in a given situation.  I do a lot of UNIX shell scripting, and I'll
often find myself saying, "ok, if this were a shell script, I'd use the
suchandsuch command", but I don't know what to do in C++.  I haven't found a
good way to learn what's in specific libraries and how to use what's there.
I've come up with a pile of simple working programs based on examples I've
seen, but when I get to wanting to do something I don't see in an example,
I'm stuck.  A lot of what I do in my work is working with text files and
manipulating text.  A lot of awk, grep, sed, arrays and such.  Could anyone
point me to where to look to learn what I need to know to do these kinds of
things?

I know questions like this sometimes raise the ire of the more advanced list
members on any list.  (One of my all-time favorite posts on this or any list
was when someone asked why this list was so quiet and someone else responded
"because we already know everything".)  It's not my intention to start a
fire-fight or anything, and I'm not asking for anyone to teach me anything.
All I'm really hoping for is for someone to explain to me the best way for
me to teach myself how to do this...

Thanks in advance!
John Pavao
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