Hey friends,I am a complete newbie in programming c++,know a bit of c language just the basics not advance thing.I was just googling and came here.

Now I want to learn c++ from scratch to advance level nomatter how much time it will take,so can you suggest few good books saw other threads as well but there are so many books got confused which one to read.I know everyone suggested according to their experience but its kinda confusing for a newbie.isnt it?Read somewhere complete reference by herbert shildt is good but read at few forums that its not good and not recommended

Now experts plz tell me a good book which covers all c++ basics and fundamentals my queries like how to design softwares that work on windows and how to make it for linux as well.

Like it always surprise me developers write code separately for all os or they just change the extension like a software is there for windows in exe and same is there for mac in dmg or say linux in rpm so do they write separate codes or just change the extension then how

And what is the difference in c++ and visual c++,what are the pros and cons of both