Rating: 
Summary: Caveat Emptor
Review: I too am one of the unfortunate souls forced to purchase this book for a college course. I have a pretty extensive background in VB and VBA, but find that this book does an absolutely terrible job explaining things in a manner that beginners can understand. As some of the previous reviewers have so eloquently stated, this book continues to refer to items that have no justification being discussed or addressed in such early chapters. The tutorials for each of the chapters are nearly impossible to accomplish without some type of assistance. There is no reference to go to for assistance within the book. For instance; in chapter 1 there are some questions asking what are acceptable variable names. No where in the previous chapter is this implicitly explained. How is a user who knows nothing about C++ supposed to understand. There are code examples that aren't explained, just continually used. There is no accumulation of knowledge to accomplish anything. None of the examples build on code from previous chapters. This makes it nearly impossible for any beginner to try and grasp the development process, or proper planning practices. I would never recommend this book to anyone trying to learn C++, and will adamately discuss with the faculty at my college to try and dismiss the use of the book. These sentiments are that of my whole class and ironically the instructor himself. I don't know how one with such a strong professional career can serve up such drole for one to read. One last thing, What is the deal with the bugs? Are they ants? Are they flys? Is this a comic book? Is this an effor to try and incorporate some humor into the book? If so, they have failed miserably, and I will most certainly not be purchasing any books by them under any circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: Another winner from Deitel and Deitel
Review: I also have Java: How to Program. These books are required for my programming classes, but as textbooks they are excellent. The writing is clear and concise, the examples are plentiful and very well explained. It's also great if you're a programmer looking to add C++ to your bag of tricks (though, if Ansi-C is what you want to learn, get the K&R text). Bonus: Amazon was cheaper than my college bookstore on this book. A great book, and a great buy.
Rating: 
Summary: C++ How to Program
Review: Anyone who needs to make the switch from C to C++ or
a good primer on OO concepts and programming realities
would definitely benefit from this work. Plenty of examples,
standards references and external references to get
you well on your way.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference!
Review: This book is by far the most comprehensive and useful reference I've ever seen. As an experienced programmer, I bought this book simply for a reference. I've been so pleased with this book. Many C++ books do not cover topics such as multiple inheritance or even private/protected inheritance, but they're covered in this book! I recommend this to any C++ programmer as this will be the only reference you'll need for 95% of your questions.
Rating: 
Summary: A poor book for the average student...
Review: I hate to say it, but the Deitels can sometimes prove themselves to be some seriously inept authors. Granted, papa Deitel's old Operating Systems book was good stuff, but once you add son Deitel into the mix, things takes a seriously downhill turn (as also seen with their Visual Basic book, which is quite similar, in explanating and exercises, etc.) They don't explain things very clearly, nor do they explain things in an order that really helps the beginning programmer gradually build an understanding of the concepts. Rather, the student will be bombarded with an unending stream of syntax and 'how the programmer would use a construct,' rather than what the construct is and how all it can be used (meaning a more abstract approach that explains how things fit into the language itself, rather than just how the authors like to program).
I used to work as a teacher's assistant and a tutor at a school where these books were used, and I found them to be the source of many student's frustrations. If you want a good, clear, thorough C++ book, where after you've studied it for a while you'll really understand how the language works (to the point that you'd probably be comfortable starting to learn some assembly), get something from Herb Schildt. Stray away from this book, if you have a choice.
Rating:
Summary: This book is awful
Review: I had to purchase this book for my second semester for a C++ course. This book is not designed as a teaching tool. It skips a lot of the things you need to know about programming. You have to buy at least 3 supplemental books just to follow. If you're trying to teach yourself, this is not the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Yikes!
Review: This is not a book for the beginning programmer. I am amazed that others have rated this book so highly and even more amazed that some colleges actually use it as an instructional textbook. The text, while indeed covering the basics, is somewhat scattered in its explanations and very vague on some of the most crucial points of the programming language such as pointers, overloading, and virtual functions. The examples are poor and introduce new concepts before covering them in the text. The layout of the book is very cluttered, having multiple tips, observations, and warnings intermingled with the instructional text and numbered in a manner that makes it all but impossible to easily read, let alone use as a reference. Overall, the book did little more than confuse and frustrate me and reaffirm my belief that I should stick with other programming languages.
Rating:
Summary: I remember when...
Review: It's VERY simplistic and is intended as an introduction to programming in c++. The exercises are simple, explained in detail and I've not found many errors in the book. I didn't find the methodology covered well, but when those things become interesting to you there are far more advanced texts to buy and you'll forget you have this one on the shelf (it does not serve as a reference book in any way). This is c++, the language, but not the application of the language to real world problems. It's not OS specific (which is great) so if you're a windoze hopefull, get a windoze programming book as well.
Rating:
Summary: Very Thorough
Review: I am learning c++ in a college setting. This book is a very good reference book and I have used it as such. I don't think that any one book does justice to the c++ language but this book is very thorough and goes to great lengths to point out where you might encounter programming errors. I really appreciate the thorough example code too. Overall, this is not a good tutorial for a beginning programmer but it is a good point of reference for people that have some programming knowledge. It's more expensive than some of my other books but you get what you pay for.
Rating:
Summary: I am really disappointed
Review: I am really disappointed. For somebody how doesn't have an experience in programming there are not enough examples and exercises are ahead of the chapters. I will not recommend this book to the beginner.
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