What are your favourite C++ books?

[Jimmy2775]

Personally I found Stroustrup's book to be over my head when I first tried to read it. At that point C++ was the first language I was learning, and the way he describes concepts in the book was too abstract for me to make any sense of them.

IMHO the best book for beginning or reviewing C++ is Bruce Eckel's Thinking in C++. The best thing that this book has going for it is that it's absolutely free!!! "Free" is always a good feature in a book, I think. The book describes C++ concepts from the point of view of a developer moving from C to C++, however, I have no experience in C and was still able to follow along easily. The book is a nice blend of theoretical explanation combined with practical code examples. Instead of trying to cover every C++ concept from beginning to end, Eckel's book is a sort of linear narritive that introduces concepts individually but then gradually elaborates on them as parts of a whole. He is also able to explain some of the logic behind the design of the language which I find makes it easier to remember how to use, and begins the book with a very good, high-level introduction to OOP.

[Bojan]

I would recomend to a new programmer to learn Java first, then C++. The high level of object oriented-ness is a good practice in C++ and it lets you learn HOW to program and how to think like a programmer without worrying about memory management (although Qt takes a ton of load off this!) and some of C++'s other "advanced" features. (plus the syntax a VERY similar)

While this sounds good in theory, I have seen it fail many times in practice. The problem is that C++, although an OO language, still necessitates learning and knowing lower level stuff. As well, OO concepts in C++ work differently than in Java. I think Java can help understanding OO and C++ concepts and maybe provide some sort of fast track into learning C++, but people who try to make a straight Java to C++ transition often have a lot of dificulty w/ pointers, and C'tor, CC'tor and D'tor concepts, and inheritence. I think it is lot wiser, if one knows Java, to learn C first and pointers, structs, etc.. just the basics. Then move on to C++. I think lots of people take the suggested approach Java -> C++, and I have seen lots of people in my school struggle when attemping this because they write C++ code Java style, and then end up not having any idea of what's actually going on when things begin to segfault. This is just my opinion, and isn't based on any strong empirical evidence or anything, just on my observations. I dont know. Anyway this may be OT, if so I am sorry.

Bojan

[ucntcme]

yeah reviving an old thread but adding quality information to it.

Core C++: A Software Engineering Approach ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130857297/104-8958036-0173500?v=glance&n=283155"]link )
is flat out awesome in my book (hehe).

Java? Nah, start with Python.

[trochej]

Hi everyone!

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

Eugen

H. Deitel, P. Deitel, C++ how to program, 2nd edition. I own Eckel's Thinking in CPP and Stroustrup C++ Language, which I got as gifts, but Deitel is my favorite. It most surely is understandable to economist which want's to convert from c99 to c++.

Damian

[GreyGeek]

Tom Swan's
GNU C++ For Linux
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...lance&n=283155

[patrik08]

Hi everyone!
Now I try to fresh up my C++ knowledge and look across by book shelf.
I 'm not completely satisfied with the C++ books I have here.
What are your favorite C++ books you read - and keep readind from time to time?
Eugen

My first @ c++ book is http://www.koders.com/ 2006 the 2° ISBN-10: 3-89842-816-8
http://www.galileocomputing.de/katal...gp/titelID-899 is ok ....
I don have much C++ expirience, i have only 10 years expirience on php2,3,4,5 Class Object and 3 years http://gtk.php.net/ is nice to learn Class Object to balance theory and practice, without yawn, and 11 month QT..

[rajesh]

Read
Effective C++, Third Edition by Scott Meyer
&
More Effective C++, by Scott Meyer


Does any body having e-book of "Introduction to Design Patterns in C++ with Qt 4" ?

[ct]

well
1. The C++ Programming Language - Bjarne Stroustrup
( a very good book, has loads of thing but pretty difficult one )

2. The Complete Reference - C++ - Herb Schildt
(Explains things pretty simply)

3. Design Patterns - Eric Gamma et. al
( wanna read and re-read this one)

These are the one that I have and like most....however I intend to read the following ones
Effective C++ (Scott Meyer)
More Effective C++ (Scot Meyer)

[ct]

I heard somewhere that Any Book written by Herb Schildt is not so good, including The Complete Reference, C++; I am an intermediate C++ user but have been following this book for a while.
What do you think ?? May be we should start a bad book topic..

[mickey]

Hello,
Do anyone know something about this ?
http://www.aw-bc.com/catalog/academi...412699,00.html

[Brandybuck]

Hey! I had a PDP-8 class with Walter Savitch way back in the days of the dinosaurs! Glad to see he's moved on to C++.

[mickey]

I had a PDP-8 class with Walter Savitch way back in the days of the dinosaurs!.

I apologize, but I don't understand what this above mean.
I wondered if it's a good book (take a comparison with "Thinking in c++")....

[Brandybuck]

I apologize, but I don't understand what this above mean.
I wondered if it's a good book (take a comparison with "Thinking in c++")....

I means that I took a class with the author twenty five years ago, when the only C++ was the AT&T cfront compiler. Professor Savitch was teaching assembly for the PDP-8 system.

[LeoVingi]

I used 2 books to get into the C++ programming language.
The first book on C++ was Ivor hortons – C++ tutorial which I found installed with visual studio 6.0, and it was good as entry level book.
Then I read C++ from the ground up by Herbert schildt and that was a good book.
After I finished the two books I felt like there is many things still not clear to me like pointers, copy constructors and templates you just can’t cover all C++ in one book!!
So I kept searching the internet about the things I didn’t understand correctly because it slowed me down when I tried to learn MFC at that time.
That was very helpful, and I also bought C++ the complete reference because I liked the author style in C++ from the ground up and I learnt the C language from that book.
Many Things are now clearer to me, I have to admit that learning C helped me a lot to understand C++ better and to put many things into use now.
So learning the C language is crucial for a C++ programmer IMHO.
I really recommend those books to:
Addison Wesley - C++ Common Knowledge Essential Intermediate Programming
Addison Wesley - C++ Primer, Fourth Edition
Addison Wesley - Effective C++ 55 Specific Ways To Improve Your Programs Third Edition
Cambridge University Press - Memory as a Programming Concept in C and C++
Regards
Hatem.

[Methedrine]

Wthout any order:

"Code Complete" - Steve McConnell
Gives very interesting insights into software development in general. Something that I can only recommend everyone to read.

"Modern C++ Design" - A. Alexandrescu
Unleashes the C++ Template beast. If you ever wanted to know about policy-based design / generic programming this one is for you.

"Design Patterns" - GoF
Enough said about that book already.

"The Art Of Computer Programming" - Donald E. Knuth
This is indeed a piece of art. Highly abstract discussions about software. But be aware - no real code (except for Knuth's fictional MIX computer) and it contains quite some math (if you don't want to do maths programming certainly is wrong for you anyway).

[DoctorWatson]

Stroustrup's C++ Book is one of my favorites. I think it is a must-read for anyone serious about C++.

Addison Wesley - C++ Common Knowledge Essential Intermediate Programming

I like that book too. It is like Meyer's "Effective C++", but it has a subtle, dry sense of humor that makes it enjoyable to read.

I also like Lippman's "Inside the C++ Object Model". Though it is dated now, it is still a good read and it explores C++ from a very deep level. It is probably required reading for a C++ compiler author. After reading that book I really had a better appreciation for everything that is going on under the hood (or bonnet!) to make our jobs easier as C++ application developers. And I'm thankful I'm not a compiler engineer!

One day I'll get around to read about the template meta-programming, but honestly I have little use for building template libraries myself. Boost and STL do nearly everything I need, and Qt takes care of the GUI aspects...it is a nice time to be a C++ developer. 10 years ago everything was a pain!

[vieraci]

Going from assembler and basic, C++ was a real headspinner. My first book was Stroustrup's C++ Book. For me, a complete waste. I couldn't get into it at all.

Then I bought C++ in plain english by Brian Overland. This book is basic and uncomplicated, goes directly to the subject matter. I got the picture immediately.

The next good buy was:

C++ Master Reference, The Definitive C++ Reference by Clayton Walnum.

This book is an encyclopedia of classes, all I had to do was look up what I need and implement !