C++ Unleashed

Rating:
Summary: All I can say is get this book NOW!
Review: All I can say is get this book NOW! If you are here reading this review now, then this is the book you are looking for. I was at the stage where I knew c++ but I knew that there was somthing missing. This book covers it all. If you know c++ and you want to "Master" it this is the place to start, no dout about it. I love Jesse Liberty he's the greatest teacher I've ever been thought by. All I would like to say is GET THIS BOOK ALREADY!

Rating:
Summary: Specific Examples of this Book?s Failings
Review: As a text on C++ this is inadequate, but then its title doesn't claim to be about C++ per se. It does introduce recursion, hashing and parsing, encryption, memory management, relational databases, search algorithms, COM and other interesting topics. The problem with just introducing so many topics is that each deserves far more discussion so the reader has more than surface knowledge. Scant introductions are rarely professionally useful and these often make scant use of the C++ language. Most (such as the quicksort example) could be written in C with little change.

C++ topics such as STL (Standard Template Library), namespaces, exceptions, inheritance and polymorphism, abstract classes and others are covered in the first part of the book, but again not in depth. To make matters worse, there are bad code examples and outright errors.

Example of a bad code example: Chapter 3 shows how classes can be used to implement a linked list capability. This could have been a good example, but it is badly done by defining four (!) classes to created a linked list. The four classes are an abstract Node class with derived classes InternalNode, TailNode and LinkedList. What should be a simple example makes C++ seem confusing save to someone already familiar with C++ who doesn't need this example.

Example of an outright error: Chapter 2 discusses how to map 1:1 associations between two kinds of data into C++ classes. The example assumes every person is reading one book and no two people read the same book, hence a 1:1 mapping between people and books. Ok so far. The book presents two C++ classes, Book and Person, EACH CONTAINING AN INSTANCE OF THE OTHER. Not a pointer but an actual instance. This is illegal. Just to make sure I wasn't missing something I copied the samples from the accompanying CD-ROM and tried compiling using MS Visual Studio 6. Here is my program:

#include "Book.h"

#include "Person.h"

int main() { return 0; }

The compiler of course rejected this.

Experts want in-depth coverage while beginners need good exposition. This book provides neither. I suspect those writing good reviews think they are getting substance when they are not.

Rating:
Summary: Specific Examples of this Book¿s Failings
Review: As a text on C++ this is inadequate, but then its title doesn't claim to be about C++ per se. It does introduce recursion, hashing and parsing, encryption, memory management, relational databases, search algorithms, COM and other interesting topics. The problem with just introducing so many topics is that each deserves far more discussion so the reader has more than surface knowledge. Scant introductions are rarely professionally useful and these often make scant use of the C++ language. Most (such as the quicksort example) could be written in C with little change.

C++ topics such as STL (Standard Template Library), namespaces, exceptions, inheritance and polymorphism, abstract classes and others are covered in the first part of the book, but again not in depth. To make matters worse, there are bad code examples and outright errors.

Example of a bad code example: Chapter 3 shows how classes can be used to implement a linked list capability. This could have been a good example, but it is badly done by defining four (!) classes to created a linked list. The four classes are an abstract Node class with derived classes InternalNode, TailNode and LinkedList. What should be a simple example makes C++ seem confusing save to someone already familiar with C++ who doesn't need this example.

Example of an outright error: Chapter 2 discusses how to map 1:1 associations between two kinds of data into C++ classes. The example assumes every person is reading one book and no two people read the same book, hence a 1:1 mapping between people and books. Ok so far. The book presents two C++ classes, Book and Person, EACH CONTAINING AN INSTANCE OF THE OTHER. Not a pointer but an actual instance. This is illegal. Just to make sure I wasn't missing something I copied the samples from the accompanying CD-ROM and tried compiling using MS Visual Studio 6. Here is my program:

#include "Book.h"

#include "Person.h"

int main() { return 0; }

The compiler of course rejected this.

Experts want in-depth coverage while beginners need good exposition. This book provides neither. I suspect those writing good reviews think they are getting substance when they are not.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book.
Review: Great book. Worths the money. serious one. it is for people who has very good experience in C++, if you are a beginner please consider another book like C++ from scratch or learn C++ in 21 days. It covers lots of important C++ aspects like: UML, COM, CORBA, Java, SQL, OODBMS, STL, algoritms, OOP, MFC, namespace, encryption and more... it explains things very well. Good book and good price ..

Rating:
Summary: Who is afraid of C++
Review: I bougth this book because I read the great reviews and I have to say I am not dissappointed.If you have read a C++ primer and you are looking to become a superstar,this is the book for you.From this book you can move on to great things(this book is not for beginners)

I only started serious C++ last year and now I wonder what I was afraid of.Teach yourself C++ in 24hrs( by the same author) is great for beginners.

Muyiwa [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Does not meet the bar
Review: I like Jesse Liberty but this book is not too good. It tries to cover too much so it doesn't cover any of the topics well.

In fairness to the authors they stated this in the book but what good does that do when you buy the book online? For an "Unleashed" book, this book just does not meet the bar. Having said that, I should mention that the book covers some nice topics and has some really useful information.

If you want a collection of white papers, this book is for you.If you want a comprehensive coverage of the c++ langauge, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Author
Review: Liberty is a very knowledgeable author. It is a great book, contains many great examples. I am a student and it was a very easy reading.

Rating:
Summary: best described as an Encyclopedia of interm/advanced C++
Review: There is no other book like this on the market (bookstore which is its strength) For the amount of topics it covers it does cover them in good detail without having tunnel vision. the book could have a big chapter in it just on uml and everything there is on Stl's and some homemade templates, and genetic algorithms, but then the book would be 1300+ pages. with all of jesse's books tries to have the reader develop clean simple C++ code. this book is well organized and is best for intermediate and advanced C++ programmers with 6mths to 12 mths experience . if u do not have that experience then get learn C++ in 21 days. it is a good book but learning java or C++ in 21 days can be done if one does not work or go to school and does all the exercises. both books should be learn java or C++ in 12 weeks. that is realistic.

topics in this book: Recursion and data structures search algorithms, generic algorithms. (not genetic :( ) hashing and parsing, object encryption, stl containers , corba and java vs C++ . there is alot more.:) the book visual C++ 5 powertoolkit is similar to this book but is about multimedia aps etc.. by ventana press. version 6 should be out soon.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive Indeed
Review: This book covers almost everything related to C++. Including UML, COM, CORBA, Java, SQL, OODBMS, STL, algoritms, OOP, MFC, namespace, encryption and more. A good reference, especially for a large C++ team.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of money.
Review: This book has a few good reviews - I don't really see why.

The coverage of the book is wide, so understandably, none of the topics attempt to go into any depth. Unfortunately, this means that nothing is really explained thoroughly enough. As a matter of fact, of all the many topics this book deals with, it does not really go much further than introducing them - which meant that after I had finished reading this book, I had not really learnt anything useful at all.

The author is EXTREMELY biased in this text. He repeatedly promotes Microsoft products throughout the book. I didn't buy this book to read about how cool Windows is or how much better Internet Explorer is than any other program on the planet. In fact, the author insists that if you don't have a compiler, go and buy one from microsoft. And if you intend on running the free cd which comes with the book on anything other than Windows (such as a UNIX based operating system) then forget it. There is no installation support anyway.

Not that there is anything worth troubling yourself over on the cd anyway. I tried to install it but all it did was install some links to some web sites! I don't see what the point of the cd is.

I hope that the author sees this review and makes some significant changes if he ever comes out with a second edition. I was very disappointed.

At the moment I'm desperately trying to sell it, but no one wishes to buy it from me.

For those of you who want to get your hands on a good C++ book, try looking online for a free one, like "Thinking in C++". Don't waste your money on "C++ Unleashed" whatever you do.