Rating: 
Summary: An unimpressive textbook
Review: This is a programming textbook for C++ that assumes that you have little or no programming experience. Over half of the text is dedicated to basics of programming, constructions like arrays and so on - even the idea of classes isn't broached until p. 191. But the serious problem with this text is that it encourages really bad things without warnings. For instance, every C++ programmer knows that class destructors really, truly ought to be virtual; but the text doesn't mention this at all until chapter 21, when discussing virtuality. Up until then, even the examples in the text include non-virtual destructors. Someone reading this text without reading it cover-to-cover, with extraordinary care, will miss this rather crucial point completely - and if, gods forbid, they end up using some of the sample code for their own purposes, they'll find themselves with bugs that are very difficult to track down. This is unfortunately symptomatic of the style of the text as a whole. So many of the examples contain major flaws which aren't even discussed until the end of the book that they're virtually useless, except perhaps as good exercises in "What's wrong with this code snippet?" Not recommended - there are better books out there.
Rating: 
Summary: Practical C++ programming
Review: This is one of the better books on learning how to program C++ that I have seen. The book is intended for someone who has little or no experience programming so a large part of the book is dedicated to basic syntax with C and C++ examples. The book is also good for experienced programmers who want to learn C++. Most of the book is devoted to the basics of C++ coding starting the traditional "hello world" program and ending with some more advance topics like linked lists and binary trees. There is a good section on the standard template library, something that is very hard to find in any book on C++ I've seen. The book also spends a lot of time promoting design, coding style, and testing which is sometimes left out of books that teach you how to program. He also covers a lot of useful ideas on what not to do as a programmer helping you to avoid common traps that programmers can get into with C or C++. On a critical note I think I would like to see a few more coding examples. He does seem to cover the information quite quickly and maybe this could be a problem for someone who has no experience with compilers and coding. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn C++ and basics of Object Oriented programming. The book uses standard C++ code so it is not tied to any specific compiler or programming environment. Carl Fritch,
Sr. Software Engineer Ingenix Corporation.
Rating: 
Summary: the best C++ book I have read
Review: This is the first time I am actually writing a review for a book, coz I find this book the best I have ever read for C++ programming. It serves great for sophomore level C++ programming class at my univ. and otherwise as a great book to have on your reference shelf too. It starts with an intro to setting up your programming enivroment in .NET and Borland enviroment. After that it delves into programming styles and techniques in general and then goes C++ fulltime. The chapters about pointers,advanced pointers and the debugging/optimisation are some of the best readings I have ever done on the respective topics. Throughout the book the material stays relevant to the title of the book and thus is a great reading for anyone who is making transition from java to c++ or from a beginner C++ programmer to advanced level. The book is great reading for strengthening C++ concepts. If you look through the contents of the book you might notice the only thing that the book lacks is a chapter on data structures. However dont let that fool you. You will be in a better position to perform pointer manipulation on your linked lists and trees after reading advanced pointers chapter in this book, than any other book that just has the code for the entire implementation printed. Besides the book is about letting you loose to do it yourself (rather than hand feeding you) which I believe is what programming books are about.The book has something about almost everything in C++ and lot more like using the gnu debugger .Highly recommended for anyone who wants to have a strong conceptual knowledge of C++.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Technical Reference
Review: While alot of people say that this book isn't very good, it was one of the few C++ books that helped me alot. I had already had a formal introduction to C++ and I was able to write a few fairly unimpressive programs, but this book finally helped me understand many of the concepts I had been searching for in a book, mainly bitwise operators and templates. That's why I have to give it 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Technical Reference
Review: While alot of people say that this book isn't very good, it was one of the few C++ books that helped me alot. I had already had a formal introduction to C++ and I was able to write a few fairly unimpressive programs, but this book finally helped me understand many of the concepts I had been searching for in a book, mainly bitwise operators and templates. That's why I have to give it 5 stars.
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