Thread: C++ How to Program 3th Ed by Deitel and Deitel

My advice: never buy an old edition.

Get a new one. You'll need at least two anyway.

I don't own a copy, but the Deitel and Deitel book has a very good reputation. And, it seems to be used in some university courses.

It's an expensive book and since you already own it, you would probably get more for your money if you bought one or two additional different books. I wouldn't suggest buying an updated revision unless you really like the book.

C++ is fairly stable. You won't generally learn anything "wrong" by using an outdated book. However, there are a couple of things to look out for -

Some older books (and the cprogramming.com tutorial) don't cover namespaces. At the beginning of the examble programs, you should see:
using namespace std;

Or, the cout statement should include std like this:
std::cout << "Hello" << std::endl;

And, some older books (and again the tutorial on this site) use the old C .h headers.

The include statements should look like this:
#include <iostream>

NOT like this:
#include <iostream.h>

As long as you're aware of those two things, an "outdated" book shouldn't give you any trouble.

Thinking In C++ is a great set of books (I liked them so much I bought the hard-copies), but they're not for beginners unless you already know C.

That's fine. It is standard and works just as well.

Another thing that is open to debate that you might want to watch out for is whether the book uses C style and techniques or C++ style and techniques. While that book doesn't have a bad reputation, many C++ beginner books teach "C with classes" instead of C++.

For example, you should be using the C++ string class and the C++ vector class instead of null-terminated character arrays and regular arrays. If the book doesn't spend much time on those, or uses other C style code, consider learning those things from another source as you continue in C++.