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The C++ Programming Language: Special Edition (3rd Edition)

Customer Rating:

Total Reviews: 278

Best Offer: $53.99
By Supplier: a_cautious_guy

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

An overrated, disorganized book completely unsuited as a learning text and only mildly useful as a reference

Over the last two years, I have come to love the C++ language despite all its quirks and horrendous syntax. I view its primary creator and the C++ expert community with much awe . I love the STL, Boost and Blitz libraries for their elegance in design and ease of use. Considering my prior programming experience was on the uncomplicated Java platform, this is something. :-)

IMHO this book does not live up to the language. Being the recommended text, this book has had the very unfortunate effect of scaring away a lot of intelligent programmers from the C++ world. I am an intermediate programmer who had a fair command over C and Java and who had done his share in building enterprise software. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to learn C++ from this book. I struggled a couple of times and then threw this book away. Learning tensor calculus is easier than learning C++ from this book! When I did get around to having a command over C++, I found this book boring, longwinded, with very little value-add for all the reading time invested.

I am highly amused by the top-rated review given for this book which states that one must first go through the 'C++ primer', 'C++ algorithms' by Sedgewick and 'the C++ standard library' by Josuttis before attempting to study 'The C++ programming language'. The fact of the matter is that if you have gone through all of those, there is very little to learn from Stroustrup's text apart from nodding at most of the passages - you are simply better off skipping it.

Whether you are a newbie or an experienced programmer in another language/platform, there isn't much value gained in reading this book. There are better C++ texts out there. My view is that this book should have been organized better. As a learning text, there is way too much correlation between topics that the reader is yet to study and topics that the reader is struggling to learn. As a reference, there is no direct path or organization to achieve a given objective or follow a principle. Key principles and guidelines are scattered across chapters.

Here is my gameplan on how to learn C++:

- First you need to have some experience in programming. C++ as a first language is a strict no-no. Your results in C++ come after a fair degree of involvement and learning, and if you have just begun to program then you need immediate results to keep you motivated. (Unless you are an uber-geek - I am not one of those)

- You *need* to have some level of command over C. Yes, indeed you do! All that hoop-la given by various C++ faqs (including Stroustrup) about how a knowledge of C is not necessary to learn C++ is simply wrong. You may not use C features in proper, object-oriented C++, but in order to understand C++ you need to know how C works. Structures and pointers are an absolute must. In the real world, no library or application is pure C++. Everything dives into C at some point or other and you don't want to scratch your head at the time.

- Reading diverges now, depending on whether you are an experienced programmer comfortable with OO or a newbie with a modicum of programming under his/her belt. 'The C++ primer ' is a good comprehensive step-by-step book for newbies. But any experienced programmer will yawn through most of it. 'Essential C++' by Lippman is the best book out there to get up to speed with C++. You wont understand 100% of everything, but you will be able to do achieve something with the language in the correct, idiomatic way.

- Next would come 'Effective C++ and more Effective C++' by Scott Meyers. This is arguably the best C++ book written. You learn nearly 95% of all there is to idiomatic C++ and you also learn a lot on engineering and design patterns. You learn what to avoid and what to use from the language. I kissed this book. It made many things clear as daylight for me!

- At this point in time, you would be comfortable with nearly all aspects of the language apart from templates. Thats fine. No other language has anything close to C++ templates. Java Generics is a laugh compared to it. You dont need to be a template expert right now. Templates are a world of their own and are extensively covered in 'C++ templates - a complete guide'. Just read the first two parts of that book to sort out any pending comprehension issues.

- Now would come the time to get familiar with the standard library. There isn't much choice here. Nicolai Josuttis has the only modern book out (AFAIK) on the C++ standard library and its fairly readable in a linear manner.

- Coming from a Java background with its rich heritage of libraries, I found the STL unsuitable for actual development. Boost is a god-send! Boost makes your mouth water. Grab boost and go through the docs for its core libraries. shared_ptr is an absolute must! Say good-bye to painful memory management.

Nobody seems to tell you about supplementary issues like an IDE and build system. If you have Visual C++ and are on the windows platform, well and good. If not, I suggest using an IDE like KDevelop. If you are a VIMmer (like me), take the time out to learn a good build system like CMake or Scons. It takes the drudgery away and allows you to concentrate on your programming.

2006-08-27

extremely dense

but this is really worth reading if you really want to master c++. not terribly easy reading though...

2006-08-06

Excellent content, poor physical quality

The content of this book is excellent, there are plenty of reviews stating why, my heavy critique is the absolute poor physical quality of the book. I feel that I have taken good care of the book but I have had to replace this book twice after it fell apart after only a few months of owning it. The pages fall out easily. At 60 USD, I would expect it to be of higher quality. Buyer beware.

2006-07-25

The book that taught me C++

Although, I would not recommend this book to complete beginners, it can be used successfully to learn the language. This was the required text in my first C++ class, but I had already a good grasp of Java, C and nasm before taking this class.

This book is clear and concise. There is no superfluous code in here like inferior books like Deital has: a 3 page program to explain one or two concepts. The code in this book is to the point and shows exactly what it means to in a very clear way. This conciseness allows more information then would be believable in another text of this size. This book covers more then Deitals does in a fraction of the pages, and is more accurate.

If you are beginner, chose a compiler and learn the basics of compiling on it, which is easy. Then pick up Accelerated C++ by Keonig and Moo and avoid the crappy for dummies type books put out by authors like Deital and Schildt. After you go through Accelerated C++, pick up this book and The C++ Standard Library by Josuttis. These three books will serve you well, and take you far, and the last two will forever be by your side as long as you write C++ code.

2006-07-15

The perfect answer

Stroustup created C++, the first of the commercial OO languages, and shepherded it through many incarnations. You can certainly count on him to deliver what so many people want: the brain dump of the creator. In this, the book succeeds admirably.

I find many problems in using this book, however. Every fact about the language, at the level of the most advanced user, is spelled out here. It's just the organization of them that causes me problems - more a stream-of-consciousness style than either a reference or a tutorial. When organization doesn't work for me, I throw myself on the mercies of the index, hoping that associative lookup will succeed where linear narration failed. I found myself boggled there, too, caught between too many irrelevancies and too few high-grade hits, and trying to figure out what page the current indent level started on. An index is an associative structure, a little like a psychologist's word association test. If this is the outcome of some test, my diagnosis is "extra-terrestrial."

So, standing here, I'm caught between two poles. It's not a tutorial or handbook, like Deitel, but not a fully rigorous and impenetrable standard, like the ISO spec. Maybe it's the perfect answer. My only regret is that I never heard the question.

//wiredweird

2006-07-11

2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

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	The C++ Programming Language: Special Edition (3rd Edition) Customer Rating: Total Reviews: 278 Best Offer: $53.99 By Supplier: a_cautious_guy Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Feedback \| Description/Reviews \| Offers 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 An overrated, disorganized book completely unsuited as a learning text and only mildly useful as a reference Over the last two years, I have come to love the C++ language despite all its quirks and horrendous syntax. I view its primary creator and the C++ expert community with much awe . I love the STL, Boost and Blitz libraries for their elegance in design and ease of use. Considering my prior programming experience was on the uncomplicated Java platform, this is something. :-) IMHO this book does not live up to the language. Being the recommended text, this book has had the very unfortunate effect of scaring away a lot of intelligent programmers from the C++ world. I am an intermediate programmer who had a fair command over C and Java and who had done his share in building enterprise software. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to learn C++ from this book. I struggled a couple of times and then threw this book away. Learning tensor calculus is easier than learning C++ from this book! When I did get around to having a command over C++, I found this book boring, longwinded, with very little value-add for all the reading time invested. I am highly amused by the top-rated review given for this book which states that one must first go through the 'C++ primer', 'C++ algorithms' by Sedgewick and 'the C++ standard library' by Josuttis before attempting to study 'The C++ programming language'. The fact of the matter is that if you have gone through all of those, there is very little to learn from Stroustrup's text apart from nodding at most of the passages - you are simply better off skipping it. Whether you are a newbie or an experienced programmer in another language/platform, there isn't much value gained in reading this book. There are better C++ texts out there. My view is that this book should have been organized better. As a learning text, there is way too much correlation between topics that the reader is yet to study and topics that the reader is struggling to learn. As a reference, there is no direct path or organization to achieve a given objective or follow a principle. Key principles and guidelines are scattered across chapters. Here is my gameplan on how to learn C++: - First you need to have some experience in programming. C++ as a first language is a strict no-no. Your results in C++ come after a fair degree of involvement and learning, and if you have just begun to program then you need immediate results to keep you motivated. (Unless you are an uber-geek - I am not one of those) - You need to have some level of command over C. Yes, indeed you do! All that hoop-la given by various C++ faqs (including Stroustrup) about how a knowledge of C is not necessary to learn C++ is simply wrong. You may not use C features in proper, object-oriented C++, but in order to understand C++ you need to know how C works. Structures and pointers are an absolute must. In the real world, no library or application is pure C++. Everything dives into C at some point or other and you don't want to scratch your head at the time. - Reading diverges now, depending on whether you are an experienced programmer comfortable with OO or a newbie with a modicum of programming under his/her belt. 'The C++ primer ' is a good comprehensive step-by-step book for newbies. But any experienced programmer will yawn through most of it. 'Essential C++' by Lippman is the best book out there to get up to speed with C++. You wont understand 100% of everything, but you will be able to do achieve something with the language in the correct, idiomatic way. - Next would come 'Effective C++ and more Effective C++' by Scott Meyers. This is arguably the best C++ book written. You learn nearly 95% of all there is to idiomatic C++ and you also learn a lot on engineering and design patterns. You learn what to avoid and what to use from the language. I kissed this book. It made many things clear as daylight for me! - At this point in time, you would be comfortable with nearly all aspects of the language apart from templates. Thats fine. No other language has anything close to C++ templates. Java Generics is a laugh compared to it. You dont need to be a template expert right now. Templates are a world of their own and are extensively covered in 'C++ templates - a complete guide'. Just read the first two parts of that book to sort out any pending comprehension issues. - Now would come the time to get familiar with the standard library. There isn't much choice here. Nicolai Josuttis has the only modern book out (AFAIK) on the C++ standard library and its fairly readable in a linear manner. - Coming from a Java background with its rich heritage of libraries, I found the STL unsuitable for actual development. Boost is a god-send! Boost makes your mouth water. Grab boost and go through the docs for its core libraries. shared_ptr is an absolute must! Say good-bye to painful memory management. Nobody seems to tell you about supplementary issues like an IDE and build system. If you have Visual C++ and are on the windows platform, well and good. If not, I suggest using an IDE like KDevelop. If you are a VIMmer (like me), take the time out to learn a good build system like CMake or Scons. It takes the drudgery away and allows you to concentrate on your programming. 2006-08-27 extremely dense but this is really worth reading if you really want to master c++. not terribly easy reading though... 2006-08-06 Excellent content, poor physical quality The content of this book is excellent, there are plenty of reviews stating why, my heavy critique is the absolute poor physical quality of the book. I feel that I have taken good care of the book but I have had to replace this book twice after it fell apart after only a few months of owning it. The pages fall out easily. At 60 USD, I would expect it to be of higher quality. Buyer beware. 2006-07-25 The book that taught me C++ Although, I would not recommend this book to complete beginners, it can be used successfully to learn the language. This was the required text in my first C++ class, but I had already a good grasp of Java, C and nasm before taking this class. This book is clear and concise. There is no superfluous code in here like inferior books like Deital has: a 3 page program to explain one or two concepts. The code in this book is to the point and shows exactly what it means to in a very clear way. This conciseness allows more information then would be believable in another text of this size. This book covers more then Deitals does in a fraction of the pages, and is more accurate. If you are beginner, chose a compiler and learn the basics of compiling on it, which is easy. Then pick up Accelerated C++ by Keonig and Moo and avoid the crappy for dummies type books put out by authors like Deital and Schildt. After you go through Accelerated C++, pick up this book and The C++ Standard Library by Josuttis. These three books will serve you well, and take you far, and the last two will forever be by your side as long as you write C++ code. 2006-07-15 The perfect answer Stroustup created C++, the first of the commercial OO languages, and shepherded it through many incarnations. You can certainly count on him to deliver what so many people want: the brain dump of the creator. In this, the book succeeds admirably. I find many problems in using this book, however. Every fact about the language, at the level of the most advanced user, is spelled out here. It's just the organization of them that causes me problems - more a stream-of-consciousness style than either a reference or a tutorial. When organization doesn't work for me, I throw myself on the mercies of the index, hoping that associative lookup will succeed where linear narration failed. I found myself boggled there, too, caught between too many irrelevancies and too few high-grade hits, and trying to figure out what page the current indent level started on. An index is an associative structure, a little like a psychologist's word association test. If this is the outcome of some test, my diagnosis is "extra-terrestrial." So, standing here, I'm caught between two poles. It's not a tutorial or handbook, like Deitel, but not a fully rigorous and impenetrable standard, like the ISO spec. Maybe it's the perfect answer. My only regret is that I never heard the question. //wiredweird 2006-07-11 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8
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