My advice:
Learn C++ but ignore/avoid these parts of the language:
- friend functions
- multiple inheritance
- operator overloading
- function pointers
- nested classes
Learn the fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming.
Understand pointers (critical for 1st time programmers).
Once you have a good feel for C++, I’d recommend moving to Java, C#,
or Ruby.
Most everything I do is in C++, but that’s because I’m a component
developer.
If I were building apps heavy in database and GUI, I would not choose
C++.
-Matt