Updated in May 2025.

This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. This course is your hands-on gateway to mastering the foundational elements of C++. Whether you're just starting or need a structured refresher, you'll learn how to write, organize, and execute C++ programs with clarity and confidence. By the end, you'll be equipped with the essential coding skills to build real-world programs, setting a strong base for further exploration in software development or systems programming. You’ll start by setting up your development environment and writing your first C++ program. The journey begins with core concepts such as variables, data types, constants, arrays, and user input. Step-by-step, you'll move from basic syntax to logic-building with conditionals and loops, ensuring each concept is grounded in practical exercises and examples. As you progress, you'll dive deeper into functions, scope, and namespaces, followed by file organization and compiling your own projects from the terminal. An extra module introduces you to object-oriented programming, helping you understand classes, constructors, methods, and inheritance — critical concepts for scalable and modular code. This course is ideal for beginners and aspiring programmers who want to learn C++ in a structured, practice-driven way. No prior programming knowledge is required, but you should have basic computer skills such as installing software and using a terminal or command prompt. A computer with internet access is necessary to complete the setup and exercises.