Rating: 
Summary: A Horrible Reference
Review: It was suggested that I buy this book for a first-year computer science course at my university. I had already had some practice programming and was hoping that I could use this book as a reference. In that respect, it is almost entirely worthless. The book is much too verbose, the author jumps around topics and seems to cover them in a haphazard way. Hopefully, I will be able to offload this book onto someone else and invest my money in something that has a better shelf value.
Rating:
Summary: A pain to read...
Review: This book was required for a college course I am taking. I find this book highly annoying and far too repetitive. It might be ok for absolute beginners but for someone who's moderately experienced in any programming language this book may be an extreme source of frustration. Many times a term is used in, what appears to be an important argument, which has not even been introduced and won't be for hundreds of pages. I found myself thinking "I must have missed the part where this term is defined" only to check the index and find that it isn't even properly introduced until 4 chapters later in the book. Also, some groups of sentences are repeated up to three times in succession with different 'bullet' icons next to them. I've had to learn to ignore these bullets as they are almost always annoying repetition. I have never written a book review before but this book has driven me to do so.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Introduction to C++
Review: I am a second-year computer engineering student and was fairly proficient in Java before beginning to learn C++ this year in order to prepare for a summer internship. I borrowed many books from the school library and even bought Stroustrup's bible but made little progess. Then I stumbled over Deitel & Deitel and decided to give it a try. I was astonished at how well the book was written and found myself actually learning stuff and getting a feel for C++. The examples are understandable and "written very well. The "good programming practices" and "common errors" captions were very useful. But the most impressive part of the book is it's exercises and wide variety of challenging and interesting programming projects. The authors really attempted to show the "big picture" in the world of computing throught the projects. I recommend this book to anyone who is new to C++ or programming in general since this book will give you a great start to becoming a good programmer. After reading most of the book, I now appreciate Stroustrup's bible much better and have a feel for C++'s power. This book is well worth the price so enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: An alright book for a person who's never programmed before
Review: I used this book for an introductory level class on C++ and I found it mostly useless. I have programmed C for a few years now, and every book I have read on C has been better than this one. The problem that I had with the book is the lack of relevant examples and explanations. I found that anytime I needed to lookup how to do something, I COULDN'T FIND IT! Having programmed in C, the main thing I wanted to read in the book was the sections on classes. The book did not help me at all on these subjects and I ended up just having to learn them from lecture. All in all, I think the book explains the basics of C++ ok, but if you want any subject with more than surface level detail, you'll have to look elsewhere to find it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Series on Programming
Review: This is by far the best introduction to C++. I've also read the Java books and they too are excellent. Most of the computer science students I speak with use the Deitel books, and for good reason, they're comprehensive text books. I've read a lot of books on programming and these are by far the most well thought out and extremely well documented, with lots of examples, quizes and code. Don't let their deceptively simple mascots, 'the bugs' fool you, this is an extremely sophisticated book. Buy this book, you won't be dissapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Got attention deficit disorder?
Review: You will by the time you finish this book. I don't think there's a page of text, indeed perhaps not half a page, that isn't interrupted by tips, warnings, hints, more tips, often put in separate sections like so: WARNING: If you program like A, B will happen. TIP: If you program like C, you won't have B happen. HINT: You should always program like B. All this ad nauseam. I'll grant that the book seems very complete, which is why it gets two stars, not one. But too much is crammed into one chapter, new concepts are introduced glancingly (many with little explanation besides "we'll learn more about this later"), and with all the tips interrupting the page flow, it's difficult to read a whole chapter through without feeling like you're swatting at flies in the form of "helpful hints". I will say that there are plenty of exercises, so you can get as much practice as you want. But I sure wish this book were more readable. I don't mind reading the tips in summary format at the end of the chapter. Why not leave them at the end, and excise them from the body of the chapter, or at least consolidate each set of three or four into one paragraph?
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive book for beginners
Review: I have the first edition of this book published in 1994 and I still keep it as a reference. It does a great job of explaining every conceivable details of the C++ language. I believe if a beginner starts to learn C++ this book is an excellent choice. I don't think such a book as Lippman's C++ Primer is for beginners, but after this book C++ Primer should be much easier to go through. For some people who may already have some idea about C++ and perhaps some other languages, this book may not be necessary; they may go right to C++ Primer or other books at that level.
Rating:
Summary: The Deitel's will give you more than anyone else.
Review: Hello. Im an Advanced Placement Computer Science teacher in a rather large suburb of Boston, MA. I would like to say that I have been using the Deitel "C++: How to Program" book now for 3 years and think that it is just the best thing going for any teacher, as well as their students. First off, It has tons of examples with the output written out so it's easily traceable. On top of that, they color coded the output and numbered the computer coded lines which makes tracing super easy to teach and learn. Secondly, they have their little tips throughout the book for Good Programming Practices, Common Errors, Performance, Portability, Software Engineering Observations, and Testing and Debugging. I mean some of my students say that there is too much information, but I say back that I rather be at a buffet with too much food than one with slim pickings! They agree. Thus, everyone can take in as much as they want, or skim as they see fit. Finally, there are plenty of summaries, questions (as well as 1/3 answered for you), and projects to do for all levels. Everyone really gets what they came for with this book. Kudos to the bug-men Deitels and plz keep on writting!
And NO, I am not paid nor a relative of the Deitels. thx
Paul Marques
Malden HS
Malden, MA
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic primer for the C++ language
Review: I bought the 2nd edition of this book with the CD-ROM as a textbook for introductory C++ courses in college. I had no experience in C++ or C, and was really intimidated. I found that this book was clear, concise, and laid out intuitively. If a particular section left me with any questions, which was rare, the next section invariably answered it. Many books on C++ I have gotten since were wrapped up in circular statements that had to be read over and over again to make any sense of them. Examples: The "For Dummies" book on the topic leaves you knowing how to do something, but not why it works or how to modify it. "The ANSI/ISO C++ Professional Programmer's Handbook" from Que is steeped in jargon that is hard to understand unless you already know what it is trying to say. The Deitels have managed to find just the right blend of "Here's how" and "Here's why". While actual mastery of the language takes more than can fit in any one book, when I finished that book I knew what I needed to get there.
Rating:
Summary: from the basics to more advanced
Review: Excellent book. Good examples, well outlined, clear explanations of the basics to the more advanced topics in C++. It truly creates a fundamental basis for C++ programming. Three of the textbooks from Deitel which I have read have been excellent! Thumbs up!
| 
