Thread: Witch book: Learning c++ in 21 days or Standard C++ Bible?

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    2

    Witch book: Learning c++ in 21 days or Standard C++ Bible?

    Hello,

    I've just started to try learning c++. I've been doing some delphi programming before but because c++ is so widly used I want to learn it instead. I buyed two books at a very low cost for some month ago and i wounder witch one i should start reading to learn in the best way. The two c++ books i've got is:

    Sams - Learn C++ in 21 days.
    Standard C++ Bible

    =)

  2. #2
    Registered User Codeplug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    4,981
    If you own em, read em both at the same time. If one is making more sense than the other, read that one primarily - when ever you cover a new concept, go see what the other book has to say about it.

    gg

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    30
    I have sam C in 21 days and i thought it was an excellent in depth but not to difficult refferance...dunno about Bible but if they call it the bible it would probably be a much deeper book.
    "...son, what is this COUT << on my birthday card mean?"
    expected ";" line 12, 54, 63, 73....

  4. #4
    Skunkmeister Stoned_Coder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    2,572
    read bruce eckels "thinking in c++". It available free on the web from his site and is better than either of the two books you already have. Other than that accellerated c++ by koenig+moo and the c++ programming language by stroustup should be your mainstay texts.
    Free the weed!! Class B to class C is not good enough!!
    And the FAQ is here :- http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/smartfaq.cgi

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Posts
    230
    I havent read either one. I have the Bjorne Stroutstrup one but either way why pay for the sams book.

    http://www.quanmongmo.net/computer/c++/html/mucluc.php

    LOOK HERE HERES YOUR FREE BOOK.

    If your not satisfied look here. Specifecally under Languages

    http://www.maththinking.com/boat/computerbooks.html


    NOTE: NOthing beats actually owning a book in the long run.

    excuse my spelling hehe.
    Last edited by gamer4life687; 04-08-2003 at 07:03 PM.
    C++ Rules!!!!
    ------------
    Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Enterprise

  6. #6
    Hardware Engineer
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,398
    You can't go wrong with Codeplug's suggestion. It's not going to take much more time to read both books. When you read a technical book, you usually can't read it like a novel... You have to read a section... think about it... re-read it... think about it some more, etc.

    I have "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days" by Jesse Liberty. Also a Sams book... maybe similar to yours. I found the "lecture" followed by questions and exercises very helpful. It really helped structure my studying. It's difficult to know if you're learning what you're supposed to learn if there is no "homework" at the end of each chapter.

    I have a Sroutstup book, and I find it difficult to understand. (It is more complete than the "21 Days" book.) But, if I need to look something up, I look in "21 Days" first. If the answer is in there, it's easy to find and easy to understand.

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    2,663
    It seems to me that anyone who recommends c++ programming language by stroustup to a beginner is pretty out of touch with what a beginner can understand. The C++ Bible and the Sam's book are terrible books and no one should waste their time with them.

    Any good book on C++ for beginners has to have problems with solutions at the end of every chapter. If you're not reading and then applying what you've read, and then comparing your code to a model answer, you aren't really learning anything. The book must also be able to stand on it's own and any concepts introduced in the book must be explained in the book. There's nothing more frustrating than a code example that contains things that were never explained in the book. Read the Sam's book and you'll understand that frustration. I only know of one book that meets those criteria: Ivor Horton's Beginning C++(skip the complicated section on bitwise operators at the beginning of the book). It reqires a lot of studying and work to do the practice programs, but at the end of the book, you'll actually be able to say you know something about C++.

    I bought several C++ books to start and finally hit on Ivor Horton's Beginning C++. Try it, you might like it too.

    Good luck.
    Last edited by 7stud; 04-08-2003 at 08:38 PM.

  8. #8
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    2
    Thank you for all the answers =)

    The book i have is Sams Teach your self C++ in 21 days by Jesse Liverty. And in the end of all the chapters in this book there is first a conclusion, then questions and answers, a test and som exercises.

    If i've read what you guys have said in the right way then thats a really good thing?

  9. #9
    Registered User nag's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Posts
    22
    It seems to me that anyone who recommends c++ programming language by stroustup to a beginner is pretty out of touch with what a beginner can understand.
    Very well said,although Dr.Stroutup 's book is very detailed and informative + fully describes all the secrets of C++ but avoid reading it unless you get well experience in C++ because it is mostly better for people who have good experience of programming in C language.
    Two men looked out from Prison Bars,One saw the mud,the other saw stars.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Book or site for learning Boost?
    By cpjust in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 11-08-2007, 09:56 AM
  2. Memory leak - need help finding
    By ChadJohnson in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 04-06-2005, 07:26 PM
  3. Replies: 3
    Last Post: 03-26-2003, 12:02 PM
  4. Books on C and C++
    By kermi3 in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 10-28-2002, 04:18 PM
  5. Learning C++ via a C book?
    By R@m0n in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-08-2002, 11:16 AM