Optimizing C ++

Rating:
Summary: An Important Book
Review: An important book if you want to make the leap from 'programmer' to 'craftsman'. Steve Heller has written an advanced course in computer science using C++. By including some 'C' code, he shows that sometimes the best way to optimize C++ is to use a little 'C' (a bitter pill for many C++ purists).

In an effort to eliminate 'code bloat' and 'CPU bottlenecks', the author has put the responsibility of program efficiency squarely on the shoulders of the programmer (where it belongs). With chapters on sorting, hashing, caching, compression and variable length records, he teaches the 'why's, not just the 'how's, of many important topics and algorithms.

More then just an 'update' to his "Efficient C/C++ Programming", "Optimizing C++" is an 'Upgrade'. Full of useful code, diagrams and figures, you'll find many insights that can be translated into any language or project.

Anyone can call a third-party library routine, this book shows you what you'll need to know to write the routines yourself. A must for serious programmers.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading C++
Review: Cons: As the guys have already mentioned this book has virtually (: nothing to do with C++ - specific optimization. Using the "class" keyword in the book a couple of times hardly justifies the title. What especially pisses me off is the "Based on the new ANSI Standard C++" quote on the cover. The poorly-formatted code which takes up 1/2 the book is really annoying, too. Pros: But aside that the book presents a bunch of useful specific techniques which are rarely covered in other books. If you find a place for these techniques in your code the book may be a life-saver. Source is included on disk. Overall: I would not reccomend buying the book before finding out whether the included material is relevant. For a good C++ - specific performance-issue book see Efficient C++ by Dov Bulka. It covers inheritance, inlining, templates, temporaries - REAL C++ issues, and I found it quite readable. max khesin.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading C++
Review: Cons: As the guys have already mentioned this book has virtually (: nothing to do with C++ - specific optimization. Using the "class" keyword in the book a couple of times hardly justifies the title. What especially pisses me off is the "Based on the new ANSI Standard C++" quote on the cover. The poorly-formatted code which takes up 1/2 the book is really annoying, too. Pros: But aside that the book presents a bunch of useful specific techniques which are rarely covered in other books. If you find a place for these techniques in your code the book may be a life-saver. Source is included on disk. Overall: I would not reccomend buying the book before finding out whether the included material is relevant. For a good C++ - specific performance-issue book see Efficient C++ by Dov Bulka. It covers inheritance, inlining, templates, temporaries - REAL C++ issues, and I found it quite readable. max khesin.

Rating:
Summary: Should be Optimizing C, not C++
Review: I think the book illustrated some useful implementations of speedy algorithms, but it is in no way is related to C++. When you see fopen, malloc, and free being used in every program, that should tell you something about how much useful C++ is contained within. I was disappointed with what I read within for the most part. The timings in the first chapter were performed on a 33 MHz i386, come on. That machine is ancient and does not represent any of some of the greatest computational architectural advances of all time. If you want to learn in limited scope, specific case speedups to C code, this book is for you. It is not for me.

Rating:
Summary: Beginner's book on practical optimization
Review: Steve Heller tries to teach about optimizing by giving specific examples and leaving it to the reader to find the generalizations. This is contrary to the normal method which would give general rules for optimizing, possibly with examples of specific techniques and let the reader find the uses. This book really consists of about six specific techniques which are good if they are applicable to your project but otherwise too narrow. Most of the space is one long technique (in excruciating detail) that Mr. Heller is particularly proud of.

Steve Heller is noted for a clear and simple style (but be aware that one of ways he attains that is by belaboring simple points). His section pointing out the importance of measurement to optimizing (necessary to validate that an optimization that should speed up a program actually does result in improvement, rather than unexpectedly causing the reverse) is excellent and crucial.

This is not an advanced book on optimization and is firmly grounded in a few specific techniques. This book can be of use to practical beginners but is of less value to experienced programmers.

Rating:
Summary: Beginner's book on practical optimization
Review: Steve Heller tries to teach about optimizing by giving specific examples and leaving it to the reader to find the generalizations. This is contrary to the normal method which would give general rules for optimizing, possibly with examples of specific techniques and let the reader find the uses. This book really consists of about six specific techniques which are good if they are applicable to your project but otherwise too narrow. Most of the space is one long technique (in excruciating detail) that Mr. Heller is particularly proud of.

Steve Heller is noted for a clear and simple style (but be aware that one of ways he attains that is by belaboring simple points). His section pointing out the importance of measurement to optimizing (necessary to validate that an optimization that should speed up a program actually does result in improvement, rather than unexpectedly causing the reverse) is excellent and crucial.

This is not an advanced book on optimization and is firmly grounded in a few specific techniques. This book can be of use to practical beginners but is of less value to experienced programmers.

Rating:
Summary: Not C++ and not optimizing C++
Review: This book is a collection of specific techniques, such as algorithms for sorting and data compression. Unless you have a very specialist need, these techniques are unlikely to be useful - these things are carried out by 3rd party products or using simpler, but perfectly adequate methods in most applications.

The author also seems to demonstrate either an alarming lack of knowledge of C++ or the code within is the subject of a very basic C to C++ conversion. Basic errors abound, lack of variable initialisation is everywhere, C features are used where better C++ features exist.

Additionally, the code typesetting is poor, indentation varies wildly from place to place.

Not recommended, because i) the title is misleading and ii) the code within is very poor C++.

Try Scott Meyers Effective C++ and More Effective C++ or Large Scale C++ Software Design by John Lakos instead.

Rating:
Summary: A reading pleasure
Review: This book is a good mixture of fat-free data structure algorithms with effective C++ techniques more detailedly explained than Scott Meyers' book.

A straightheartedly good reading pleasure.