Using graphics: motivating students in a C++ programming introductory course

When we study a subject like “introduction to computer programing” with languages like C or C++, some aspects may be considered boring by students. On the one hand, the programs we present often have an ugly aspect due to the fact that we use the command line interface (console) to communicate with user, and on the other hand, these programs tend to solve very simple problems that are usually established with learning proposals in mind. In this paper we propose the use of a C++ library (BiMIP) which allows us to easily create simple graphical user interfaces, avoiding complexity from current broadly used libraries. It has been successfully used in our courses by proposing the development of graphical applications, and more specifically video games, to make the student's motivation increase with respect to the applications developed for the console.