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Title: Essential C++ by Stanley B. Lippman ISBN: 0-201-48518-4 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 26 October, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $33.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (23 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: good for overview tutorial and for refreshing
Comment: With the 2 authoritative textbooks of C++ are ~1200 pages and ~1100 pages (the one by Lippman and Stroustrup, respectively), it's scary and discouraging for anyone who thinks of starting to learn C++. Moreover, as a professional developer who want some quick start to refresh my somewhat rusted memory of the language, I found it hard to flip over the 2 thick textbooks mentioned above.
I went through "Essential C++" and in a short time, refreshed and considated key concepts of the language. For example, the chapter about exception handling gave me a quick and sufficient overview about concepts and syntax. Then when I read the book by Stroustrup, I caught up quicker and easier.
However, this book will not serve as the one and only book in a professional or student's bookshelf. One will need one or both of the textbooks mentioned above to have more involving discussion.
As long as we don't intend to use the book as a quick and dirty "Teach yourself C++ in 7 days", the book serves it purpose as a concise priming and refreshing text.
Rating: 5
Summary: highly recommended guided tour of the C++ language
Comment: "Essential C++" conveys the essence of C++ in a very readable 200 pages. I was already familiar with much of the basic material but the review/reinforcement was helpful and I learned many new things about some relatively recent C++ features such as the standard template library, generic programming, function objects, templates and exceptions.
This book takes a hands on approach, developing code fragments to illustrate the topics by example. It's very well organized with each chapter building on material from previous chapters. Lippman's writing is simple and straightforward with a touch of good humor.
All in all a rarity - a technical book about computer programming that is well organized, full of useful information and fun to read.
Rating: 3
Summary: Compact
Comment: This isn't greatest book to *learn* C++. I bought it largely on the strength of the other reviews and my experiences coding successfully in other languages but (e.g., perl, python, java, php, shell scripts, etc.). My experience with this book (even in comparison to other books I'e browsed on C/C++), it that it is written to be useful more for someone who already knows C++ or is a dedicated C programmer and wants to pick up C++.
A great author usually writes in such a way as to not be misunderstood, but I found myself hae to reread passages frequently to answer questions which went unaddressed. Some typos were also evident, even in critical places--e.g., when he introduces references and relates them to pointers (page 46). At other times he'll introduce concepts without much expalanation at all. For example, the keyword extern shows up in the sample answer to problem 2.1 without being inroduced yet. The eventual discussion of extern on 64 is only useful if you already know what it means. He also likes to inject new concepts or syntax in the main text and footnote them with comments like "I'm certainly not going to explain this guy!" on page 33, referring you instead to some other book if you happen to have it nearby. Maybe this won't appear in subsequent editions. If you already have significant C/C++ experience, then you can esily oerlook these matters; but, if you are just trying to learn C++ (especially without a dedicated C background), then the compact nature of this exposition will be a two-edged sword.
That said, I did like the sample problems and answers. I wasn't a big fan of the subject matter for the running example (a game based on sequences), but it serves as a framework for exposition. If you already know C/C++ but want to brush up on you techniques, then this may be a good purchase. Otherwise, keep looking.
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Title: Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example by Andrew Koenig, Barbara E. Moo ISBN: 020170353X Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: The C++ Standard Library : A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis ISBN: 0201379260 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 12 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $59.99 |
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Title: The C++ Programming Language (Special 3rd Edition) by Bjarne Stroustrup ISBN: 0201700735 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $64.99 |
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Title: Exceptional C++: 47 Engineering Puzzles, Programming Problems, and Solutions by Herb Sutter ISBN: 0201615622 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 18 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $37.99 |
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Title: Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied by Andrei Alexandrescu ISBN: 0201704315 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 13 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $44.99 |
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