Just for business !
I used this book for self-learning and as support material. This is the worst book i could have bought as it drained my enthusiasm for C++, despite the hours of work i put into trying to decipher how the explanations (unending paragraphs that didn't converge to any satisfactory conclusion) were related to the complicated examples.
At first sight, Deitels' books might appear like
an impressive "catalog" of text with colors, highlights, logos, etc, (which is what initially caught my attention and made me buy it) but once you dive into the contents, it's a different story. The Deitels are making their books increasingly difficult for new students to C++, and the learning process is getting harder with each new edition, sacrificing clarity and instead adding even more reading material, which makes the entire learning experience very strenuous and confusing. If done right,
the new edition should have been at least 500 pages less. But instead, you are thrown into a mix of complicated examples as from the early chapters, stretching out to several pages, and the most discouraging aspect is that the later chapters keep referring to those earlier confusing examples to build upon.
There is no learning curve with this book. You just tag along, and absorb what you can. I am so disappointed with this book's structure. I really think the authors should think more about the new and intermediate programmer, rather than
compiling as much information as they can and stacking it with every new edition, which just makes it into a C++ miscellaneous reference for advanced users, rather than a progressive textbook for new programmers.
The Deitels
release a new edition as soon as they can, every 18-24 months, which is faster than most other programming books. In this case, the release of new editions is not justified at all, as it just doesn't make any sense to keep pushing in that direction, since it's getting more confusing with every new edition. My friend had the 7th edition and i bought the latest 8th edition, naively believing that the book had largely improved, as it had advertised. Let's just say that i'm not trusting another Deitel book ever again!