Rating: 
Summary: Clear, concise, and easy to read while staying informative.
Review: As a newcomer to C++ (and C), I had a previous background in Pascal and Quick Basic. I had looked through numerous books on the subject before checking the reviews here, and decided to pick up this book as my basic tutorial. One of the things that decided the issue for me was the apparantly extensive discussion of Classes and OOP. Having had the book for 2 weeks now, and working through it while nailing down three jobs, I have to say that the money was well worth it. Complete examples are given, along with notes for the programs, for each new command and concept. The notable exception has been on the early section covering data formats similar to structures (Unions and Enumerations). I found this section to be confusing and thus skimmed it with hopes that they will be explained later. The exercises in the back of each chapter are actually fun, mainly because they're manageable. As a side note, I do wonder how much material in this book overlaps that of the Waite's Guide to OOP using C++, since I am also thinking about getting that book. Any comments on this would be greatly appreciated (my e-mail is listed in this review).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, excellent
Review: For someone without any programming experience at all, this book opened my eyes to programming. Clearly presented and concise. Should be a must read for anyone interested in learning about computers and programming.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, excellent
Review: For someone without any programming experience at all, this book opened my eyes to programming. Clearly presented and concise. Should be a must read for anyone interested in learning about computers and programming.
Rating:
Summary: For newbies
Review: Great, this book is absolutely great.
I'm a python coder with no experience in c++ but this book make light in a lot of dark corners of OOP with c++
If you are a newbie this must be your book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great reference book for C++
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a beginner or intermediate in c++. the concepts are presented in an understandable and helpful manner. the examples are also very helpful. this book covers all the topics a beginner or intermediate student would need. definitely a great buy. i got mine from nerdbooks.com for 30 bucks brand new!!
Rating: 
Summary: I returned this one
Review: I just finished my C++ course using this book and remember, this is just a primer...nothing more. It's biggest strength is helping to understand C++ and applying it's code at it's simpliest level. The book helped me to develop a C++ foundation. The book needs to be read. It wasn't a good reference guide until after I read the material. Prata's examples are solid. He reuses his code to illustrate the differences changing a few lines of code will do and explains his examples very well. BUT!!! on occasion his examples are erratic, showing only one or two lines of code. I had to read his full examples and re-read his explanations. Also, the book falls short when showing examples of coding traps and pitfalls... Overall, its a very good book to develope a foundation on. It covers just about every topic there is in C++, giving a broad understanding of the language. If you are new to the language, this is a must have in your library.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable Learning Tool
Review: I learned C++ from the Second Edition of this book, back when I was in high school. I would go so far as to say it was the single most useful reference I had...the examples were clear and concise; while the book is not as detailed and will not take you to an expert level of C++ programming, it gives you a very solid grounding in Object Oriented concepts, and is an invaluable base to begin from. I've seen friends try to learn C++ from other books, and then look through my Second Edition of this and simply gush about how much easier to understand it is. Concepts I learned in this book, I've used as a video game programmer (working with DirectX and C++ under Windows), and even as a Java programmer; the grounding in object-oriented design you get from this book is solid enough to carry to things other than C++ quite well. I cannot recommend this book highly enough; it is NOT the only book you will want for learning C++, but it is definitely one of the first and most valuable!
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful book
Review: If you are looking for a book to start learning C++ then you have found it!This is a very good book that helped me in my first C++ steps.
Rating:
Summary: Please read the full review.
Review: Intro
"There is no one book that is best for every person. There couldn't be one. People are too different in the way they learn, in what they already know, in what they need, in what they want, and in what kind of effort they are willing to make." Bjarne Stroustrup (The creator of the C++ programming language.)
I always try to remember this whenever I have to judge a writing effort. Whom is this book for? This Book is for a non C++ programmer, a beginner to intermediate C++ programmer interested in learning the fundamentals of C++, some backward compatible features related to c, and some advanced C++ features. What does this book offer? C/C++ Basics. (Very nice converge)
Pointers, arrays (I finally fully understood how they work "or at least that's what I think")
General Programming basics (Some what but the writer doesn't claim to do)
Introduction to OOP (Just an intro)
C++ OOP Features (Very Good coverage)
Advanced Features "Namespaces, Generic programming, Exceptions " Brief but thorough.
STL (Brief but very good)
What I liked? This has been one of the easiest books to follow from a collection I have read it builds up information in a very nice way (and yes as somebody said while reading some parts you would feel that you are in a classroom with the instructor answering some of the questions you have in mind before asking "Some parts"). What I didn't like? Ok, I am never satisfied.
I feel that the book should have offered more (computer science basics like the Dietels do). Or that is what I wish.
As some body said the writer seems to have more experience with C than C++ I may have to agree but this doesn't mean that he came out short. Anyway you are not going to get the same OOP Intro as the one you'd get reading the "Thinking in Java Book" but never the less.
Damn the Typos are annoying. Conclusion.
A very good written book not a classic though (I have a very high standing regarding classics).
Rating:
Summary: Clearly written,
Review: Stephen Prata's style of writing makes this book a perfect self-study guide to learn C++ for beginners. There are a lot of examples to show the subtle aspects of C++. Clearly written and a lot of good examples, I recommend it for beginner and professional programmers as review books.
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