Using Graphics in the First Year of Programming with C++

Today, a graphical user interface to computers is assumed, but doing graphical programming with C++ in the first year of a programming class is relatively uncommon. While C++ is the a commonly used programming language, many students feel they are learning in a “toy” environment when their first year of programming is all text based. At the College of St. Scholastica, we have looked at a number of different methods for introducing a graphical interface into our C++ programming courses. The solution we currently use is two-part. First, we have chosen a textbook by Cohoon and Davis that includes a simple library for graphics programming called EZWindows. Second, we introduce basic Windows programming with Microsoft’s Foundation Classes (MFC) programming in the second semester. This paper describes the two different programming environments and how they are used together.