Starting again

It's over twenty years since I was last functional as an amateur programmer.*
I have downloaded the free MS C++ and borrowed a few library books.
So far it doesn't seem that far from the structured BASIC of the 1980s and a damn sight easier than the 6502 assembly language I used to mess with.
The interface that gets it all going is another matter- wading through all the different bits of that before I can even find the place start to try and write bits of code is really complicated.
The books are good but a tad tedious.
Is there a good website that would help a beginner get to grips with the basics of Visual Studio C++?



*getting married, having kids, working for a living etc. all tend to get in the way of spending the whole night typing and retyping code

Hello,

I found a tutuorial here on About.com. Perhaps that will be a good starting point?

A friend of mine (professional programmer) suggested you start with C first, if you're not familiar with it: "[...]as C++ is deeply based on it, and it's not always clear why C++ does certain things without understanding the underlying C."

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky