is c++ for dummies any good?
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is c++ for dummies any good?
lilhawk2892, the c++ book recommendations sticky thread is intended for you to make recommendations, not request them.
Generally speaking, books with 'for dummies' or 'learn xxxxx in yyyyy days/hours/minutes' in the title are not very good.
Hey,
I use a book for dummys book when i was ( i still am) trying to learn the basic's of c and c++ and found it very good the dummys book i useful was c++ for dummys programing, But i didnt find no where as nere as useful as Teach yourself c in 24 hours ( note i know the threat is about c++ but C is in c++ so :) )
Hope This post helps
Damn no wonder i'am going nowhere fast :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fitlike
depends
highly recommend Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example by Andrew Koenig, Barbara E. Moo
Kuphryn
I don't know. I found a 'C For Dummies' before in a library, and while it was a tat patronising, and used gets() and lots of other bad things like that a LOT (I think), it thought me a lot about some things I didn't know much about before. But I agree with the statement about 'X for Dummies', or 'learn Y in Z days' - rent them out of the library or whatever, but don't buy them.
The book really requires you to be an expert on what you learned before, so it can teach you what you're about to read, and it really doesn't introduce everything you need.
C++ for dummies is absolutely worthless!
Ive got it and it stinks, i learned hardly nothing.
Never use a dummies or 21 days/hours book for anything like programming.
Those books are designed for bragging rights so people can claim to know how to program, when they only actually know how to make single words appear in an ms-dos screen. Trust me, that's the book I've got at the moment, and it's rubbish.
Well said charlybob!
I got a version of "Learn C++ in 21 days" from the library before. If I remember correctly, it was pretty thick and went pretty far. Seemed good to me. It just takes way way longer than 21 days.
Well I had Teach Yourself C++ in 24hours and it was really good at first then it jumped to being a bit too complicated with long code that wasn't broken down.
After being away from C++ for my Standard Grades I had forgotten a lot of stuff and so I bought C++ In Easy Steps which is very good as it shows everything clearly with the code broken down and it uses comprehesnsible language as the author doesn't expect you to know anything.
Dummies should watch Football and Nascar, and make MySpace profiles. =P
C++ isn't meant for dummies. You'll do yourself (and everyone you might ask for help later on) a favor by getting Accelerated C++ by Koenig and Moo. Bad books will teach you bad habits, which you will have a hard time getting rid of later on.
Im using the C++ for dummies book now to learn (first edition). Its seriously old but was the best choice at my uni library as they think they should only ever buy new books for new languages (JAVA C#)
I like it, although in no way complete, the author makes it pleasant to read. It assumes you know the basics of programming and dosnt teach you the basics like loops, functions arrays etc. Which is good for me. Although the latest edition does (5th I believe).
For those that say 'For dummies books' and 'teach your self in 24 hrs' are no good.
You are judging a book by the cover. The publisher has nothing to do with the author.
Basically what I look for in a learn a language programming book is one that has questions at the end of each chapter and excercises.
Another thing I like about C++ for dummies is it has a thing of explaining what something is, why its used and how to use it. Then at the end of the chapter it shows it being used in a FULL program. Not just code snipits.
One last note. I wish it had a bit more about linking and using make but then again it cant have every thing.
Learn C++ in 24 hours (dont have the book on hand) is the book I started with and it helped. The thing is, people try to learn all from one source, a book, a tutorial, or what ever. I learned by going through the tutorials here, and at a couple other sites, combines with more indepth reading about each of the topics in my book. The combination left me doing pretty decent with the language I think.
Well, a publisher's quality matters a lot too. For example, I have yet to see a substandard programming book from O'Reilly.Quote:
You are judging a book by the cover. The publisher has nothing to do with the author.
I'm not a big book fan, so I can't really recommend any. The only C++ book (and indeed, the only programming-related book I ever bought) was pre-98, before cout was prefixed by std. I can tell you, you will rely less and less on books and tutorials and increasingly on manpages as you progress through the language. I learned most of what I know now by reading through online references and compiling programs, not by reading books or doing exercises.
>> I learned most of what I know now by reading through online references and compiling programs ...
Me too (more the latter though). It's a language, and like any one the only way to get it good is through practise. Imagine trying to learn French or something solely through books, you wouldn't have any idea of the intonation, pernounciation etc, even though you may have a very good level of understanding of it, it wouldn't be as polished as it should. Why should a programming language be any different. Books don't teach you what you need to know, it's practice that does that.
EDIT: Even looking at jafet's sig gives you an idea that we actually mean it!
Another thing I like about C++ for dummies is it has a thing of explaining what something is, why its used and how to use it. Then at the end of the chapter it shows it being used in a FULL program. Not just code snipits.
They changed it a lot in the 5th edition then. It only gives huge lumps of code and tells you what the program does. For the first program in it, something to change fahrenheit to celsius, all it told apart from what the whole program did, was cout and cin. Apart from that it just said ignore everything else. Even iostreams.
I beg to differ. While practice most CERTAINLY is an important part of learning a language, without proper tutoring to show hidden, subversive pitfalls, you'll only go half the way through. It might work for French, as it is a human language, interpreted by human minds, who will work around your mistakes. C++, however, is about complete correctness. A single erroneously constructed loop termination, memory allocation or dereferencing operation can make your program crash and burn in the far future, long after you've started thinking of it as being correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by twomers
In my opinion, to get a truly good grasp of C++, not only do you need a solid starting book, you also need to go through the likes of Effective C++, More Effective C++ (Meyers), The Standard Library (Josuttis), and quite a few more. Practice only makes perfect when someone's along to tell you when you do something wrong.
I agree, we have all spent more time programming than reading about it.
But how much programming would we have done with out reading?
I've never heard of the books you speak of. My sources, to this point, have been:Quote:
In my opinion, to get a truly good grasp of C++, not only do you need a solid starting book, you also need to go through the likes of Effective C++, More Effective C++ (Meyers), The Standard Library (Josuttis), and quite a few more. Practice only makes perfect when someone's along to tell you when you do something wrong.
a) Teach yourself C++ in 21 Days (Jesse Liberty) - Good book, IMO. Used for a month or so.
b) CProg - Excellent community. Used/contributed for several years, overlaps (a).
c) Google - Excellent resource. Time period overlaps (b) and continues to date.
d) MSDN - Excellent resource. Time period overlaps (b) and continues to date.
e) Visual Studio Help (i.e. MSDN)
That's right, I used C++ in 21 Days. While it's not perfect, it's pretty damn good. I also had two first-year university courses, but they didn't teach me anything new beyond (b) and (c) at the time.
IMO, there are only two ways to become proficient with C/C++ to a [good] professional level. The first is simply to gain career experience. The second is to work on complex projects of your own, constantly pushing the limits of what you know how to do, and actively participate at a high-quality forum like CProg. The latter part is important so that: (a) You can learn from people who really know. (b) You get a broad view of problems other people have, their solutions, and generally what *can* be done. (c) You can get your @ss shot off by the people mentioned in (a), when you pick up bad habits or do something stupid. Or unethical.
>> Or unethical.
The ethics of programming eh?
>> I've never heard of the books you speak of.
Those books are just a few of several great books on C++ that should be read by intermediate to advanced C++ programmers. See my post in the book recommendations for others. You can write working C++ code without reading those books, but if you can read, understand and apply the knowledge you gain from them to your programming you will be much better at what you do.
In my personal experience, this forum is an excellent resource for becoming a master beginner. But to become very good at intermediate or advanced C++, those books are IMO a much better resource.
If you feel like you are past the beginner stage, and you haven't read any of Meyers' or Sutter's books (or even if you have), then you should absolutely read C++ Coding Standards to get a summary of all the best practices that you rarely find mention of in beginner books or even on forums like this.
Hunter, the book I was talking about earlier is the one you mentioned Teach Yourself C++ in 24 hours, by Jesse Liberty, Third Edition. When I first started programming I didn't lean on using namespace std; I knew what was included in that because I didn't know about the statement. Which has lead me to use "using std::blah" for each one I use, so that I don't have to worry about some of the pitfalls. It also taught to useinstead ofCode:int main() {return 0;)
Most of the basics that are said to beginers in here are explained in that book.Code:void main() {}
Like I said before that book, plus hundreds of tutorials accross the net has taught me to program.
>>Hunter, the book I was talking about earlier is the one you mentioned Teach Yourself C++ in 24 hours, by Jesse Liberty, Third Edition.
Actually, I was talking about 21 days, fourth edition ;) I imagine the quality of the two books by the same author would be similar though.
>>In my personal experience, this forum is an excellent resource for becoming a master beginner.
Agreed; although, as with everything, how much you learn directly depends on how much you participate. In my case, CProg got me to the point where I can read docs and manuals, and figure stuff out on my own.
This is a good point. While docs are great for learning to use flashy new features and third-party APIs, it seems that technique has to be taught (i.e. via a book), or learned by long and painful experience. In my case, it's been about 50-50 between the two, with most of the former coming from CProg, but for some time now I've been meaning to pick up one or two of the previously recommended books.Quote:
If you feel like you are past the beginner stage, and you haven't read any of Meyers' or Sutter's books (or even if you have), then you should absolutely read C++ Coding Standards to get a summary of all the best practices that you rarely find mention of in beginner books or even on forums like this.