The author recommends the use of the text book "The Apprentice C++ Programmer" by P.A. Lee and C. Phillips as an introduction to the concepts of object-oriented programming. The first three chapters are useful :

Chapter 1 - Introduction to programming and software engineering.
Chapter 2 - Problem solving using objects and types.
Chapter 3 - Overview of programming language features.

The author recommends the use of the text book "Object-Oriented Programming in C++" by Robert Lafore as an introduction to programming using C++.

The following chapters from the book give a good base of knowledge prior to starting Visual C++ programming :

Chapter 3 - C++ Programming Basics
Chapter 4 - Loops and Decisions
Chapter 5 - Structures
Chapter 6 - Functions
Chapter 7 - Objects and Classes
Chapter 8 - Arrays
Chapter 9 - Operator Overloading
Chapter 10 - Inheritance
Chapter 12 - Pointers