Programming Woes

So the past couple of days I've basically done -not much. I ran a bit yesterday, and I found this really cool website that has a bunch of different lessons on different subjects. I decided to go through it all to try and keep my mind from rotting away completely. Right now I'm studying aerodynamics. Its actually quite fascinating. I learned a lot of it in physics, but to learn the rest of it is really cool. I also found where they have practice ASVAB tests online. I started taking those too. I have a LOT to refresh myself on before I actually take it. All of those "optional" classes in High School are actually just important as the rest of them. So for those still in school- everything that's in a book is important, no matter if its on a state test or not.

Ryan's supposed to come down here tomorrow. I wish he would've told me exactly when he was coming down before today. I could've let De know, and he could've cleared his plans for Saturday (if he has any). I'll call De tomorrow and see what he's doing. Speaking of tomorrow, I called JC Penny's about the part time photography job (which is what they said to do on hotjobs) and they want me to stop by... to fill out an application. It was already kinda late to do that today, so after I run in the morning that's where I'm going. And I have someone that I can go see The Dark Knight with. woohoo! I was kinda planning on going tomorrow anyways, because I'm going to be at Regency already for the application. Matinee movies there are only $5!

Oh yeah, I bought this C++ book a while ago and started using it. Then when I start writing the programs that it tells me, it said they need to run in a WIN32 environment. I thought XP was WIN32, or at least WIN32 compatible. I'm so confused and rather ticked by this whole thing. Its supposed to be for people who have no programing experience whatsoever. I think the problem is the compiler program that came with the book, but I'm not sure. So I put the CD in and I install everything just like the book tells me right. Then after I get done with that the book says "follow the onscreen instructions." Well, after installation there are no "onscreen instructions." They could've at least showed a picture of it in the book. I tried to open the program, but it needed a serial number and activation key. So I looked in the book and on the CD forever. NO ACTIVATION KEY! After I put the CD back in, an autorun menu started. There was a place to click on there to get the activation key and serial number. I clicked on there and it sent me to a webpage that had nothing to do with the activation key. And I also found that there are 10,000 versions of my program- home, professional, personal, v1.011, X, v6.01, and so on and so forth. So I had to browse around this extensive website and finally found the activation key and everything. One question- why require an activation key and then put it on a publicly accessable website? Makes no sense.
After activating, I finally continue the book which tells me a bunch of stuff without examples as an intro I guess. We finally get to the example program and there is a sample of the code, but not an illustration of what the program should look like, or even how to compile it in the compiler that they gave us. URGH! But I did the code exactly and tried to run the program, but it said I needed a WIN32 environment to run it in then gives me binary. I found the example of the program on my CD and I get the same results. Maybe I'm just trying to run it wrong, or maybe XP isn't WIN32. I think that its just WINXP or something like that. Not 100% sure. I guess I'll do some research. And to think, before I started all of this I had Visual Basic C++ in my room. Then after I got rid of it I know what it is. URGH!