What are your favourite C++ books?

[jacek]

What are your favorite C++ books you read - and keep readind from time to time?

My personal favorite is "C++ Primer" by Stanley B. Lippman and Josée Lajoie. I've learned C++ from it.

If anyone knows of any similar or even better C++/Qt books for newbies just let us know.

Try "C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3" by Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield. It's a very nice book to learn Qt3 from. You can download it for free from this site.

[Bojan]

The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup.
Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs, 3rd Edition by Scott Meyers

As for Qt related programming, the book jacek mentioned is pretty much the Qt book and its all you need, plus the docs .

Bojan

[graeme]

A good reference is C++ in a Nutshell although it lacks the examples in the Lippman or Stroustrup texts the answers are right there.

[katrina]

The Qt3 book already mentioned is a MUST HAVE (I even PAID for it!) (They even had it at Barnes and Noble!)
of course when I got it Qt4.1 rc 1 was already out (and I wasn't going to start using an old version!) so I pretty much used it to just get an idea about HOW to use Qt since some of the syntax is a little different.

C++ In Plain English is a great reference book, especially for people moving from 'plain old' C to C++. (Which I did kicking and screaming, BTW and now would never go back) It touches on many topics but puts a lot of focus on object orientation and skims over things like int,long,float,printf,arrays,etc (eg. things you should already know unless you are completely new to this)

Not a C++ book, but the O'Reilly Pocket Reference on Regular Expressions is quite helpful even though it is REALLY meant for Java, C#, and PHP

Katrina

[sunil.thaha]

The Complete Reference - Herbert Schildt
And of Course the
C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 - Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield

Thanks to trolltech for providing the ebook for free download.

[kroenecker]

Deitel produces thorough books about programming.

Once you have the basics down Effective C++ by Scott Meyers is essential

[eXire]

Hi

Begginers C++:

Bjarne Stroustrup
The C++ Programming Language

Advanced C++:

Herb Sutter
Exceptional C++, More Execptional C++

Andrei Alexandrescu
Modern C++ Design

Andrei Alexandrescu, Herb Sutter
C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices

Best Regards

[tomek]

Can someone recommend any position on Programming Patterns (preferrably with C++ examples)?
I've just found an e-book "Thinking in Patterns with Java", http://www.pythoncriticalmass.com/do...tterns-0.9.zip .
But it would be nice to get something with C++ code!
regards!

[jacek]

Can someone recommend any position on Programming Patterns (preferrably with C++ examples)?

There can be only one answer

Design Patterns. Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides

PS. Recently a Polish translation was published by WNT.

[quique]

I am a complete C++ newbie, and I' m reading You Can Do It! : A Beginners Introduction to Computer Programming by Francis Glassborow. I find it quite easy to follow for people without any programming experience (some knowledge of Python might help, though).

After getting the basics, I'll go on with Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example by Andrew Koenig and Barbara E. Moo.

Afterwards I plan to read C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 by Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield, and finally, as time permits, other advanced C++ books (Alexandrescu, Sutter, Meyers, etc).

[trochej]

Hi

Begginers C++:

Bjarne Stroustrup
The C++ Programming Language

Best Regards

I couldn't get through that book. Maybe it's because of poor Polish translation (it shows, that there was no linguistic editor), but I find it's language too convoluted to be easly understood.

Damian

[fullmetalcoder]

I took a rather strange way to learn programming:
- I started by C, when I 10 years old, I didn't understand anything and produced uggly spaghetti code
- then I learn z80 assembly and produced some pretty efficient code but I was fed up with hardware and..
- I came back to C++
code snippets and O'Reilly books helped me a lot

Java is fast??? What kind of mental derangement do you suffer from?

[dublet]

Bruce Eckel's Thinking in C++. It is divided into two volumes, the first dealing with basic concepts, the second dealing with the more iffy stuff. Very clear examples and explenations. As a bonus, this book is downloadable for free.

http://www.bruceeckel.com/

[brcain]

Once beyond simple C++ syntax/semantics, I highly recommend

Nicolai M. Josuttis, "The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference", Addison-Wesley, 1999.

[Michiel]

I'm not looking through the entire thread to see if they've been mentioned already, but:

• Absolute C++, Savich
• Design Patterns, Gang of Four
• Refactoring, Fowler
• C++ For Game Programmers, Llopis

They're not all about C++ specifically, but they're all relevant. I especially recommend Design Patterns.

[AP.Sakkthivel]

I prefer Bruce Eckel's Thinking in C++,
Volume 1, 2nd Edition
and Volume 2

It is available in pdf format online

regards

[Chicken Blood Machine]

Once beyond simple C++ syntax/semantics, I highly recommend

Nicolai M. Josuttis, "The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference", Addison-Wesley, 1999.

I totally second that brcain. That's a real power users volume, but lucid enough for anyone who has learnt C++ but wants to master it.

[ePharaoh]

Well, I too think that learning Java is a nicer introduction to C++. The path I would recommend is C -> Java -> C++

So, Java isn't in my future.

I am glad you made it clear that it is a personal opinion. Language choice is really a matter of personal tastes and the nature of task at hand.

I find java incredibly more robust and formal, than C++. That makes it easier to develop compiler tool chains and IDEs for Java. The sheer number of refactoring and quick-fix features provided by Eclipse is a testimony to that.

About speed, Java is gaining ground with the help of native compilation. (See ClasspathShowcase and Fedora Eclipse.) Though it really is unfair to compare two languages based on speed, because there are a number of tradeoffs involved (portability, robustness, etc).

As of now, for desktops, I would use C++ to develop real world applications and Java for trying out new algorithms/concepts etc. (I am working on neural net simulation in Java, for example). But I do hope that Java gains more ground and becomes usable for real-world applications on the desktop.

[edb]

* For newbies I recommand:

Sams Teach Yourself C++ For Linux In 21 Days With Cdrom
Liberty, Jesse
ISBN : 0672318954
This book is easy to read, and has all essentials in it. For those who do not which to program under Linux, just skip the Linux part. The C++ part is very nice on itself.

* Reference for advanced users with specific C++ problems, ofcourse:
The C++ Programming Language
Stroustrup, Bjarne
ISBN : 0201700735
Don't start with this book as a newbie. It is far to advanced, but to become a good c++ programmer someday you will have to read it

* For Object Oriented programming:
An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
Timothy Budd

* Design patterns :
Design Patterns (Elements Of Reusable Object-Oriented Software)
Gamma, Erich
ISBN : 0201633612

[brcain]

* Reference for advanced users with specific C++ problems, ofcourse:
The C++ Programming Language
Stroustrup, Bjarne

I'd only get this book as a reference ... or as edb stated ... addressing very specific issues.
I rarely, rarely ever need to use this book. And with Internet resources so accessible it's becoming even less needed.