Learning C++ and JUCE w/ Matkat Music | Ep 4

Matkat Music shares his unique journey from professional musician to audio programmer in this podcast episode. Starting with piano at age 2-3 and getting his first taste of programming through Quake 1's modding tools in the early 1990s, he went on to earn degrees from Manhattan School of Music and work as a professional musician in New York City for 13 years. After receiving Grammy nominations for his gospel arrangement work, he transitioned into C++ programming when he realized he needed better tools than Finale or Sibelius to create music theory content for his YouTube channel. This led him to develop his app "Cordy" and eventually work on contract projects for companies like Eventide.

Throughout his programming journey, Matkat learned C++ primarily through the JUCE forum and IRC servers, where experienced developers taught him the valuable skill of creating minimal test cases to solve problems. He emphasizes the importance of clean, readable code with descriptive variable names and following established conventions like those used in the JUCE framework. His learning process took approximately six years from his first experiments with Doom 3's open-source code to reaching a professional skill level, a timeline he wishes had been shorter.

Motivated by his own lengthy learning curve and seeing talented musician friends struggle financially, Matkat created a comprehensive C++ course designed for busy people who can dedicate just 20-30 minutes per day. The course takes students from complete beginners to competent developers over 5-6 weeks, covering everything from basic syntax to advanced topics like move semantics and r-value references. His goal is to elevate the entire audio programming community's knowledge base so beginners can help other beginners while experts focus on more complex challenges.

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Originally recorded on June 18th, 2019.