Programming and Problem Solving With C++

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Summary: Fire professors who use this book!
Review: Briefly, this book offers beginning students help where they don't need it--thus confusing them and undermining their confidence--and withholds help where they do need it--thus impeding their progress and--again--undermining their confidence. The author, not the student, is always the book's center of attention.

I heartily recommend this text to those sadistic teachers who get off by flaunting their own facility in the subject they teach, in contrast to their beginning students.

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Summary: The BEST book on C++ for beginner I have ever seen
Review: I am a university student in computer science major and I have read a number of books about C++. In addition to that, I am an immigrant (3 years in the country), so my English isn't very good. "Programming and Problem Solving With C++" was my first book in programming, more then this, I learned C++ by myself with this book. It is written in very clear and simple language and, at the same time, it covers EVERYTHING you need to start programming in C++. After a few years of studying I can say that this is THE BEST BOOK I have ever seen about C++ and about programming in general. If you are a beginner in programming and if you know nothing about C++ or even if this isn't your first programming language this book is a must to have. I want to thank the authors for such a great work.

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Summary: take it for what it is
Review: I am in my fourth term of learning C++, and this book was theone required for my first two terms. I came into the program at myUniversity with no programming experience at all, and I was able to quickly understand basic concepts by having a great instructor and reading (and re-reading) this book. While not a great reference, I still consult it for basic concepts I might forget after a long break. If you view it for what it is -- an introductory book -- then I highly recommend it. I found the sections on looping and other conditionals very helpful that first term; functions were handled well, too. This is a book to read and re-read. If the class construct freaks you out, then read that chapter two or three times and you will get the basic idea. A lot of my classmates hated this book -- I never really got a good reason why. Unfortunately, the section on pointers is a little weird, although the info is accurate. I never liked the programming case studies at the end of the chapters either -- they didn't seem to flow well from the chapter material presented. Looking back at the book, especially as an intro book, I can't say enough how well the sections on classes were presented. For some reason, the writing style clicked with me, and the info provided a strong enough basis to further dive into the class construct -- which is an important topic and is the backbone of Abstract Data Types and Object Oriented Programming. Get another book, or a good instructor, for basic pointer concepts. Decent for linked lists. Minimal recursion. From what I've heard, C++ Primer Plus by Prata is a better book in some ways. That's next for me to get.

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Summary: A Good Introduction to C++
Review: This book is a good introduction to C++.

I read quite a few reviews that this book doesn't cover everything on C++. One can no more expect a complex language like C++ to be covered in one installment then say a subject such as physics. Programming and Problem Solving with C++ is meant to be an introduction into C++. It isn't intended as the definitive guide for the language. The authors do an adaquate job introducing the syntax and basic commands.

I would recomend this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: good book for novice
Review: This book is a good text for novice programmers. Although it sometimes goes into too much details (a bit wordy), it explains everything clearly. The examples given in the book are easy to understand and the layout and printing format are good. Since it is for beginners, it contains almost all basics however doesn't include much advanced stuffs.

Rating:
Summary: OK, I guess
Review: This book is OK, but it leaves a lot to be desired. For some reason the author has 2 different chapters on looping; it would make more sense to put them into one chapter ("while" loops in chapter 6 and "do while" and "for" loops in chapter 9...). Most of the examples used are convoluted or even as the author puts it "nonsensical." The author also has a tendency to ramble on. There is lots of additional text printed here. Chapters often span 50 pages, but maybe only 80% is really worth spending a lot of time on. Oh, this book also falls in the "expensive" catagory... $80+ for a paperback???

Rating:
Summary: Great effort for beginner!
Review: To IT students, C++ is a real tough subject. This book provide sufficient detail about the methodolgy of solving the problem. Compared to other text books(involoving too much library template), this book is real big hit for fresh guys.

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Summary: C++ Made Fast and Easy!
Review: You can't float everyone's boat with a C++ book. As far as intro books goes there are around 40 or so of them, they cover the same material but differently. Some are better then others obviously, and the market is there to keep making more intro c++ books.

That said, even though this book is 1100 some pages, it's an easy read. Yes you can actually read this book, amazing. I read pretty fast... IF an author will offer a complete train of thought. Most textbooks don't, they leave you scratching your head, staring at a page. Rereading a sentence over and over saying it out loud and you still don't have a clue. And crap, there is no more text to help explain that sentence, it just sits there, like maybe if you think about what it says and reflect in a meadow over the words of the author you may one day understand that sentence. Ok so I got carried away.

Basically the most wonderful thing about this book is you can read it. You can sit down with zero knowledge, and the author will explain to you all you need. Each chapter takes about an hour to read, and more importantly you'll walk away understanding it. AMAZING!!

Content wise, it offers a great introduction to c++ without giving overly complex examples. It covers all of the intro level areas of C++ in great depth. If you actually read this book you won't be left in the dark. Thing is most people with textbooks or technical books like this read different parts and just jump into doing stuff. With a readable textbook like this there is no excuse not to go cover to cover. (I did)

The great thing about it is it touches on some of the more complex areas of c++ and if you read it, you have enough knowledge of the basics that when you get into advanced stuff you see how it all fits together. Getting basics down in something like C++ is important. People who say it says too much and covers too little don't understand the point of this book. That is, to teach a beginner all of the basics of C++. The details that some complain of, well those details are important, like it or not C++ is a detailed intricate language the least a book can offer is a firm understanding for other books.

Which is exactly what this book is just the beginning. If you've used other C++ textbooks but feel you may not have gotten the whole picture reading through this book cover to cover can help. If you're completely new to C++ and programming. Then get this book. It assumes a you know nothing attitude, and brings you up to speed in many areas of computers as well as programming. Scattered throughout the book are various tips to increase your view of programming and software design in general. Once again opening up doors to more advanced areas of study, giving you the big picture.

So if you want to start learning c++ get this book... and now some good book advice if you don't know what to buy, or where to start.

I'd recommend Beginning Visual C++ 6 by Ivor Horton
Even though the first 1/3 of it will be review it covers pointers more in depth as well as offering more complex examples. Even if you know c++ syntax it's still a challenging book. It then delves into windows programming and all the stuff a programmer would need to know about windows so as not to be ignorant.
Once again here the idea is to bring you up to speed.
Horton's book is not a fast read like this book, but very useful if you want a next step.

Then get a book on Data Abstraction the one by Adam Drozdek is an amazingly readable yet complete book on the subject.
From there you may be ready to browse through Bjarne Stroustrup's "The c++ programming language" if you were a beginner, in about 50 pages this book would be way over your head. It's an important book. Not only for c++ but to understand how the language was designed.

Moving onto Effective C++ and Exceptional C++ is a good move as well.
From there move onto books such "Design Patterns" is essential.

After that it's a matter of specialization. If you've made it that far you definitely a true programmer by now, and any language you pick up will be much easier with this kind of knowledge. Programming is a skill and even though most programming books overlap, this is good, each one will show you something new, provided you move beyond intro books.