Thinking in C++

Rating:
Summary: Excellant book, but be warned! Read my review.
Review: When I read Lippman's "C++ Primer, 2nd Ed." I was very disappointed, but I had a list of technical questions left unanswered by Lippman (maybe he fixed his book in the latest edition). I used this list of questions to select Eckel's book and have been largely satisfied. Several warnings are in order. (1) This book assumes you already know C programming. That worked for me. (2) You will be competent in your knowledge, but will not be an expert in C++ after reading this. But the book by Robert Murray (C++ Strategies and Tactics) that Mr. Eckel mentions will help you towards mastery. (3) This is not a good reference book, nor is it a book you can use to learn C++ while you are trying to code C++ on the job. Part of the reason for this is that the writing style he has selected has long, rambling examples that are intended to be "mind expanding", but bury the pertinent C++ features and cloud the real issues being addressed. It's almost impossible to open the book, read a couple of paragraphs and find the answer to a question. You'll want to get another book for reference. I got "The C++ Programmer's Handbook" by Paul Lucas, but it is an old book (not ANSI C++). "Schaum's Outline: Programming with C++" by John Hubbard is an accessible reference, but is too simplified. "C++: The Complete Reference" by Herbert Schildt is bigger than Hubbard's book, costs twice as much, but is still a bit simplistic. Final warning (4), the 2nd edition has been written and will be published in 1999. This book (1st edition) does present many important features of C++. I especially recommend it for the way he presents info on how to overload operators. He gives an example of how to overload every single operator in C++, both as a member function and as a non-member function. That alone is worth the price of the book. Buy and read it!