Guh!? I never used i, j, or k! The best way I found to read code is to actually read it. "Conditional sentencing" refers to things like

if(i == j)
   k = 1;
else
   k = 2;

In that, k is either 1, or 2. No other way for it to flow. Something like

if( i == j)
   k = 1;
else if ( i == 2)
  k = 2;

k is either 1, or 2. But if i is neither j or 2, then k goes uninitialized. You have to read code and ignore (to some extent) conditional sentencing. Make sure that when the function returns, the values have a value in some form or another.

sorry, I looked at that wrong, it was David that used the i, j, and k. My mistake.

Ig, you might try 'Learn C in 24 hours' by Sams. It's a good book to have, and you can look up things pretty easy when you run across them. Also 'A book on C', _very_ good reference. The nice thing I found initially on the Learn C one was that it did lessons from knowing nothing, and built upon those as you learned more and more. Good stuff.

Yeah, I'll look into buying some books when the economy stops sucking as much and I can actually afford to waste money on my hobby. Till then I've got to settle for sounding like a complete idiot occasionally on these forums. I appreciate you giving me the titles to two books that will no doubt be helpful. Do you know of any books that would be more geared toward coding for muds? I know it's not likely but I gotta ask. If there isn't one yet then maybe one of you english majors on here could write one and make a good bit of money.

http://www.amazon.com/MUD-Game-Programmi...

I can't vouch for it, and plus I think it focuses on C++.
However I think it probably goes over some programming
fundamentals that sound like they are needed here.

-Crat
http://lpmuds.net

I'm something of an old fogey and think that learning general programming is more important than MUD-specific programming ideas. I haven't read the book either (although it's on my list of things to get eventually, just to check it out) but it's possible that he doesn't actually teach you fundamental programming concepts. Still, it's better than nothing, and sitting down and learning things "the Right Way" can be a little dry for some people.

Well, lately gcc has been pushing everyone closer to doing things "the Right Way" with their compiler changes. :P

I have it and I would not recommend it to Igabod. Not yet.
The book assumes the reader knows C++ and the STL.
It doesn't teach either.

Not only that, it was developed on G++ 2.95 and Python2.2 if i remember right, so nothing will work with modern compilers and library's. You could of course use those ancient beasts to work through the book. The book would hold much more value if the code was updated to current systems.