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Which newsgroup should I post my questions?

Comp.lang.c++ is the best place to discuss the C++ language itself (e.g., C++ code design, syntax, style). Other newsgroups exist for discussion of topics which are specific to a particular system (e.g., MS Windows or UNIX) or topics which are not directly related to the C++ language (e.g., how to use your compiler). Here's a list of some very active newsgroups and excerpts from their Frequently Asked Questions lists. These excerpts should give you an idea of the type of topics frequently discussed there.

comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools

This group is intended for discussions about the selection and use of tools for Windows software development.

comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc

This group is for all other discussions about Windows software development.

[There's one FAQ list for all the comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.* groups]

FAQ 5.7.1. Accessing C++ classes in a DLL

FAQ 6.1.1. A dialog as an MDI child window [with OWL]

FAQ 6.2.1. Disabled menu choices become enabled [with MFC]

FAQ 8.1.5. Using STRICT with windows.h

FAQ 10. A programmer's bibliography

comp.os.msdos.programmer

Much of the traffic is about language products (chiefly from Borland and Microsoft).

FAQ 301. How can I read a character without [waiting for] the Enter key?

FAQ 412. How can I read, create, change, or delete the volume label?

FAQ 504. How do I configure a COM port and use it to transmit data?

FAQ 602. How can a C program send control codes to my printer?

FAQ 606. How can I find the Microsoft mouse position and button status?

FAQ 707. How can I write a TSR (terminate-stay-resident) utility?

FAQ B0. How can I contact [Borland, Microsoft]?

Note: this FAQ is not available at rtfm.mit.edu; it is at Simtel (e.g., ftp.coast.net) in /SimTel/msdos/info/faqp*.zip and Garbo (garbo.uwasa.fi) in /pc/doc-net/faqp*.zip.

comp.os.msdos.programmer.turbovision [Borland's character-mode framework]

comp.unix.programmer

FAQ 4.5) How do I use popen() to open a process for reading AND writing?

FAQ 4.6) How do I sleep() in a C program for less than one second?

comp.unix.solaris (covers SunOS 4.x and Solaris)

FAQ 4) Signal Primer

FAQ 5) Waiting for Children to Exit

gnu.g++.help

FAQ: Where can I find a demangler?

FAQ: Getting gcc/g++ binaries for Solaris 2.x

FAQ: What documentation exists for g++ 2.x?

gnu.g++.bug [bug reports for g++ -- see the g++ docs]

comp.lang.c

FAQ 1.10: I'm confused. NULL is guaranteed to be 0, but the null pointer is not?

FAQ 2.3: So what is meant by the "equivalence of pointers and arrays" in C?

FAQ 4.2: [Why doesn't "printf("%d\ n," i++ * i++);" work?]

FAQ 7.1: How can I write a function that takes a variable number of arguments? [stdarg.h or varargs.h]

FAQ 10.4: How do I declare an array of pointers to functions returning pointers to functions returning pointers to characters?

Also check out the newsgroups comp.graphics, comp.sources.wanted, comp.programming, and comp.object (its FAQ is an excellent introduction and overview of OOP terms and concepts). Remember that comp.std.c++ is for discussion directly related to the evolving ANSI/ISO C++ Standard (see more below).

There's rarely a need to crosspost a question to one of the above newsgroups and comp.lang.c++ (readers in the system-specific newsgroups aren't programming in machine language, ya know). It's bad netiquette to crosspost widely because your problem is "really important." If you don't get an answer in the "right" newsgroup and feel you must post here, at least consider redirecting followups back to the appropriate newsgroup.

Before posting a question to any newsgroup you should read it's FAQ list. An answer to your question is likely to be there, saving you the time of posting and saving thousands of other people around the world the time of reading your question. People answering a FAQ are likely to be annoyed for having to answer it for the umpteenth time, or they're likely to be giving you a wrong or incomplete answer since they haven't read the FAQ either.

Frequently Asked Questions lists are available 24-hours a day via anonymous ftp (rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/comp.what.ever) or e-mail server (send a message with the line "help" to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu). See the article "Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups" in the newsgroup news.answers or news.announce.newusers (which contains many other must-read articles) for more information.