C++ How to Program (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT CHOICE TO LEARNING C++
Review: I've read a few c++ books in past year but usually came to be dissapointed with the book by the end of first few chapters. Most books spend much time telling you how well others learn using their book, how they've been doing this a long time, and all kinds of stuff that has to do with nothing. However, Deitel & Deitel books seem to be made of something different. For a beginner that is willing to spend time in order to learn the material this book is "PERFECT". It includes many examples and each example is then reviewed line by line explaining nearly every single piece of code. Granted that for those already experienced in other programming languages learning from this book might require some skimming, but this book will probobly even have something for those already in knowledge of the language. This book is based on the Visual Studio C++ Version 6.0. A trial version of the software is included with the book on CD and will be very helpful to those that don't have or can't afford Visual Studio 6.0 Currently the newest version is Visual Studio .NET which i assume is covered in the newer editions of this book. As a final recommendation: "BUY THIS BOOK" it WILL help you learn if you are WILLING to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Programming for those with ADD
Review: This book is one of the most frustrating programming books I have ever read. Every page has at least 3 different colors and at least as many font changes. It is hard to look at for any length of time. It it entirely taken of it's own cuteness and yells this conviction from every paragraph. But it is extremely hard to use as a reference work. The index is nearly useless as an aid to finding real world answers and the examples are mostly pointless. I can't imagine $79 so poorly spent.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent textbook
Review: Yes, it is a very thick book. But my main questions are: can you learn from it, and can you teach from it?

You can.

I like so much about this text. I like the asides for "common programming errors," "good programming practices," "performance tips," "software engineering observations," "portability tips," and "testing and debugging tips." I like the examples. And I really like the exercises. I think they really help teach one to program intelligently. Plus, they teach plenty of subject matter that I happen to think programmers ought to know! For example, if I were teaching a class from this book, I'd take advantage of the special section on "building your own computer" in which one learns some machine-language programming and then creates a software simulation of a computer called "the Simpletron." I'd include the exercises where one builds a corresponding two-pass compiler (for a language called "Simple") and optimizes it, as well as the exercise to build an interpreter for it too.

There's an enormous amount of material here. It's an excellent way to learn both programming and C++. As well as a fair amount about algorithms and software engineering.

Rating:
Summary: Thick and superficial
Review: I was disappointed with this book. It's popular, and thicker than other C++ books. But it's very superficial. The text is very repetitive, making the book too large and (to some extent) boring.

As an example, let's see the chapter on the STL: it is too short, and all examples use containers of primitive types (int and double). One very nice thing about the STL is that you can have containers of objects of any classes. Also, while it is not possible to explain in details all STL containers and algorithms, it would certainly be nice to have a quick reference with the most important ones. The authors show very few of them. When presenting the STL algorithms and containers, the word "fast" is used, without making clear what it means. Stroustrup does a better job, for example, saying exactly how long it will take to run an algorithm on a container.

The chapter on templates has a similar problem, and only presents very simple examples of containers of "int".

The exercises are too easy. it would really be nice if they were more challenging. There are exercises that show you sentences and ask you to fill in the blanks. This kind of exercise shouldn't be used anymore -- not even for 10 year old kids at school.

The book is reasonably complete, but the text, examples and exercises made me feel like I was being treated like a child.
Anyway, I do know quite a few people who like it.

Rating:
Summary: This IS a real C++ book!
Review: C++ How to Program is in my opinion the defacto standard for learning and referencing the C++ language. The thoroughness of the text and the myriads of examples places this reference at the forefront. The excellent transition explanations from structured to object oriented programming is so important to both the amature and professional developer. One very useful bonus to this text is the introduction to UML modeling and how it fits into object oriented programming through the use of a case study.

If you are going to be a serious C++ programmer, this text will be on your shelf.

Rating:
Summary: The clearest reference I know
Review: This book is well organized, and gives clear, readable descriptions of the whole C++ language - and that covers a lot of area.

There's a lot of thud factor here, well over 1K pages. A lot of that is taken up with sample code and with programming advice that seems to help beginners. If you just want a language handbook, that's way more than you need or want. I tolerate it, though, because of the clarity of the rest of the presentation.

(If my emphasis on clarity seems excessive, that's because you haven't experienced Stroustrup's "stream of conciousness" style.)

This book gives only minimal and incidental descriptions of the standard C/C++ libraries, the STL, and all the other necessaries of the C++ world. Well, you can't have everything. Not if you want to be able to lift the book, too. This picks a topics and covers it - you'll need additional references for the rest.

This does what I want: it gives me the language, all of it, without requiring a linear search through the whole text. Until I find something better, I'll use this for my C++ reference.

//wiredweird

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I have 5 books on C++, but this was by far the best. It was easy to understand, clearly written, and very thorough. Each time a question started forming in my mind, I'd find the answer in the next sentence or paragraph. No book will ever be a "one stop shop", but this one comes pretty close. If you need to teach your self C++, I'd highly recommend this book.