should i learn it first ?

[Peter Hansen]

"Qiang.JL" wrote:
> 
> Do you guys not agree to master C/C++, a large amount of time will be
> required (somewhere on the net i saw it's appro 3-4 years.  whew!!)
[...]
> and one more question,  what's you view of "you have mastered a language" ?
> knowing syntax and grammer is the begining to master, then know how to use
> them(wisely) and  coding coding ... after certain long time , that you call
> you master the language? 

Don't treat C and C++ together like that.  It would *not* take
three to four years to master C, although I suppose it might
take that long (or longer :-) to "master" C++.

As far as the definition of "master", I find that with any language
that is similar to another language I know in basic style (e.g. having
learned things like Pascal and C++, Delphi seemed quite similar) I
can "master" it in a week or two if I'm actually using it.  With C, 
you need to know that there is no I/O built in to the language, 
pointers are key, structs are the most complicated data type you 
can get, and assignment statements are expressions.  Probably a half dozen 
other little tidbits.  Nothing that hard.  C++ is another story of course.

-Peter