Rating: 
Summary: Terrible writing style
Review: Yes, all college kids praise this book as if this is the only book with detailed c++ info. First of all, this book contains plenty of information on C++. The contents of the book is very good. However, it is poorly organized and hard to understand because Bjarne's writing style is very very "passive" like the previous reviewer pointed out. Unfortunately, if you are serious about C++ programming, you have no choice but to read this and try to absorb as much as you can. No matter what level you are at, this is definitely not an easy read simply because its terribly written. So, don't feel stupid if you get stuck reading this book =)The 3rd edition has added more new features of C++ compared to the 2nd edition but the writing style is still the same. Hopefully, Dr. Stroustrup will realize this and change his writing style abit. All in all, a pretty bad book, but you should read it anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: A reference book but not a course book
Review: This book is not for the beginner. If you do not know anything about C/C++ and want to learn C++ through this book, you are wasting your time. Go find other books. The author tries to mention every trival detail about C++ in the book. He should go back to elementary school to learn how to write understandable sentences.
Rating: 
Summary: Overly complex and useless to the beginer
Review: Having a fair knowlege of the C++ language and of OOP did not make this much easier to digest. It is a handy reference once you can decipher the author's poor writing style. He insists on using passive complex sentences when the active voice would be far more effective, and far less boring. Overall it is probably a required read for anyone who desires to delve into advanced C++ and generic programming, just be prepared to re-read the same passages several times.
Rating: 
Summary: Best of the best books
Review: I have never taken a programming course, not to say a computerscience course. For nearly two years, I read this book again andagain, but still could not understood more than half of it when I started looking for a programmer's position. My phone interviews usually ended so quickly that I felt that the interviewers were puzzled by me. It turned out that some of them were indeed not sure of what I was talking about. The wonderful thing is that they thought whatever I was talking about, it was somthing cool. I was offered a senior software engineer's position by a couple of companies.... The moral of the story is: 1. This book is not about C++ language per se. It is about OOP with C++ language, and quite a bit of OOD with C++ language. 2. This book is not easy to read. You need the ability to think abstractively at both the high level (OOP/OOD) and the low level (Compiler/Assembly). 3. If you have the ability of abstraction, this book is very enjoyable. A few months into my job, I found that most of the C++ programmers out there are pathetic. Reading this book once will distance yourself from them. If you can read it three times, the programming community will have one more C++ guru.
Rating:
Summary: Beginner beware
Review: If you are a beginner this book will be almost useless to you. I rated this book five stars because I am not an expert and therefore did not want to be unfair to the book since I believe it is written for experts. One must remember when reading reviews on programming languages that all reviews are relative in that they depend on the experience of the programmer. I learnt this when I looked at the reviews of K. N. King's brilliant book on C programmming which I thought everybody would find wonderful and incredibly easy to follow. I found that some people actually gave it a one star because they found it too difficult. Anyways for the beginner in C++ this book is absolutely horrible even if you are an expert in C programming. If you want a good C++ programming book I reccommend Stanley and Lajoie's book C++ PRIMER.
Rating:
Summary: Tough read but a must
Review: True, as all the others say, not a book for beginners or even C experts (I thought I was one ;-P ) But if you earnestly want to learn C++ programming, this book can be used as a reference of how far still you have to go. The 3rd edition seems to be better, well-organised and more up-to-date than the other two. His style has also become a bit more lucid, but not by much. One thing you can say for this book, you'll never tire of it. Every time you read it, you'll discover some new aspect or usage of a C++ feature. Another must-have book for C++ is the ARM (if you don't know what I'm referring to, you don't need it yet!).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference and great for advanced self-teaching
Review: This is one of the three best books on programming I've ever read (the other two being "Code Complete", and "Rapid Development" both by Steve McConnell). While it is not a book I'd recommend to the beginner in C++ (If your familiar with the C language try Ira Pohl's "C++ for C programmers"), it does a superb job of fully explaining the C++ language and provides many worthwhile exercises to explore your understanding of the material. I also found his brief advice at the end of each chapter very useful.
Rating:
Summary: Useful even for beginners with some prior knowledge of C++.
Review: The book is comprehensive. The presentation is somewhat layered and some language features are introduced within a discussion or an example. So some searching may be required on the readers' part. However the index is detailed and there are fairly extensive cross references. The chapter on templates is terse but if read carefully provides a complete presentation. (For a more explicit presentation consider "C++ Primer" by Lippman and Lajoie.) Unlike many others, I think that even beginners who have some prior knowledge of programming (eg: from a basic college course) and some basic knowledge of the C++ syntax can benefit from (and should strongly consider using) this book. I did. Personally, I cannot do without this book and I'm sure it will be on my desk for a long time to come. It is all in all a great medium and (possibly) long term investment for learning both C++ language and techniques.
Rating:
Summary: Acquire mastery of C++ : An investment in your future.
Review: In India people say there is no building like Tajmahal. In computer science, I say there is no book like "C++ Programming Language." In this book, the author comes across as a sage, a Rishi of ancient India preaching what he knows is the best, guiding us, and setting a stage of research for the years to come. This is a monumental piece of work in the history of science and engineering.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible ! ...But - INEVITABLE !
Review: And thus excellent ! Despite its requirement of your thorough knowledge of C++, abstract thinking and programming ! It is not for a begginer !!!
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