Tony Gaddis’s accessible, step-by-step presentation helps beginning students understand the important details necessary to become skilled programmers at an introductory level. Gaddis motivates the study of both programming skills and the C++ programming language by presenting all the details needed to understand the “how” and the “why”—but never losing sight of the fact that most beginners struggle with this material. His approach is both gradual and highly accessible, ensuring that readers understand the logic behind developing high-quality programs.

In Starting Out with Games and Graphics in C++, Gaddis covers the essentials of programming for a novice using the C++ language. Like all Gaddis books, it covers each and every step. Throughout the book, programming topics are illustrated with graphical examples, including full chapter long case studies that implement simple, but complete, video games. This approach insures that students remain motivated by the material, while still getting a solid CS1 foundation. Only enough game- and graphics-theory is covered for students to understand the examples.