C++ Book Recommendations

**shoover** · 05-30-2008

Hi Guys

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...950/lynnallain

I understand that first book C++ Without Fear is recommended for learning this stuff at first. I learend from a book that taught me cout statements, string, functions if then while else do and thats about it. The book is great because it teaches me great and I want books that give me exercises to test out my knowledge, I am wondering if these books let me test my knowledge because I really want to learn C++ and I am off to a very good start and this is what I am doing. I just want to be able to learn this that's all. I am begging to know if I can really learn AND test my skills on the chapters with exercises on these books.

**aamirsherkhan** · 06-04-2008

object oriented programming by robert lahfore

**shawnt** · 06-19-2008

Originally Posted by CornedBee

On the other hand, if you had just looked 5 posts up from yours, you would have seen that Herbert Schildt is not held in high regard here.

I'm not sure why this is the case myself. I picked up C++ in my junior year in high school. I've used several C++ books, and found The Complete Reference to be very well structured , infomative, and easy to follow. This was the third edition so perhaps previous editions were not quite as good?

**Daved** · 06-19-2008

>> I'm not sure why this is the case myself.
I explained it a little in some posts in this thread. His books are well written and easy to follow for beginners. However, many C++ experts recommend against them because they teach bad practices. Many of the older editions had lots of errors, but even later editions with fewer errors still use examples that many people would consider to be bad or even dangerous.

Someone new to C++ might think the books are great because they are easy to understand and follow. But someone who is more experienced in C++ might think they are bad because of the bad practices they teach.

**Elysia** · 06-26-2008

I'm currently looking for in-depth knowledge of boost and template meta programming, so I was wondering if anyone knew any good resources and books on the concepts?

I've currently found C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from Boost and Beyond By David Abrahams, Aleksey Gurtovoy and I do understand the basics, but from chapter 3 forward, it's getting mega confusing, so I was wondering if there are any other resources/books about this?

Second up is boost. It's a great library with lots of promise. I found the book Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost By Björn Karlsson which is great, but it doesn't cover so much about boost. There is a great deal yet that lies hidden, just waiting to be explored. So is there any other resources or books about boost?

I'd be thankful for anything.

**CornedBee** · 06-26-2008

Originally Posted by Elysia

I've currently found C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from Boost and Beyond By David Abrahams, Aleksey Gurtovoy and I do understand the basics, but from chapter 3 forward, it's getting mega confusing, so I was wondering if there are any other resources/books about this?

You might try "Modern C++ Design" by Alexei Alexandrescu. It's more accessible than C++TM, but less in-depth. It uses a very practical approach, by introducing techniques the moment they're needed, with very practical examples.

Second up is boost. It's a great library with lots of promise. I found the book Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost By Björn Karlsson which is great, but it doesn't cover so much about boost. There is a great deal yet that lies hidden, just waiting to be explored. So is there any other resources or books about boost?

Hardly anything. There's a book specifically about the Boost Graph Library, but a) the library is about to be rewritten, with probably significant interface changes and b) unless you actually need the graph library, there's no point in this.

I think there's a book about the Regex library, but that one is pretty straight-forward anyway.

For Boost, I recommend just browsing the library documentation, reading the introduction to every library and then more if you're interested.

**Elysia** · 06-26-2008

I find it a shame that for such a popular library as boost, there is literally no resources or books. I was afraid I would get that answer, though.
But thanks for the tips anyway.

**Mario F.** · 06-26-2008

On Boost I don't think there is. I always used mostly Boost documentation and their excellent mailing lists. But in general I always found the libraries easy to use and rather well documented. The rest ends up being looking at the library code and resorting to the mailing lists on those rare occassions I cant find an answer.

As for template Metaprogramming I'm currently an avid learner too. I have two books under my belt. Loving them both:

Addison Wesley (who else?) - C++ Templates: The Complete Guide, by Vandevoord and none other than Josuttis

(guess who...) - Modern C++ Design, by Andrei Alexandrescu. The book that started it all. It will be your bible and Alexandrescu the Messiah.

(again...) - The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference, by Josuttis makes also a fundamental reading at this point, although for slightly unrelated reasons to do with the STL.

**CornedBee** · 06-26-2008

Books usually lag significantly behind the development of anything. Boost is moving at quite a rapid pace.

**samus250** · 06-26-2008

I already know C, so I'm going to see first C++ Annotations (mentioned in the second page of this thread) since its free.

But what book do you recommend for me? I want a book that gets to the advanced level, or that it mentions every detail of the language and does not leave anything behind.

**Elysia** · 06-26-2008

I don't think there's such a book. C++ is huge and there are plenty of areas you can dig into. Meta programming is one, for example. Templates are a heavy area.
Then there's inheritance and the like.
I'd definitely recommend template meta programming though. It's very powerful and can do things C programmers could only dream of.

**samus250** · 06-26-2008

OK well, guess I'll take a look at the annotations and then buy myself a reference book or something.

**Daved** · 06-26-2008

>> I want a book that gets to the advanced level, or that it mentions every detail of the language and does not leave anything behind.

I'd recommend Accelerated C++ for you, since it is accelerated and teaches modern C++. If you want a book that goes deep into C++, The C++ Programming Language by Stroustrup is a great reference.

Getting both would be best.

**Mario F.** · 06-26-2008

Addison Wesley - C++ Primer, 4th Edition by Lippman, et al is one excellent choice for an in depth study of the C++ language following on traditional teaching techniques (e.g. from simple to more complicated).

It is my main recommendation to anyone starting C++ because of the fact it covers the whole language and its facilities in much detail. It does this following current coding best practices while explaining those best practices, goes in a lot of detail, has an accessible language that appeals to the beginner and yet is concise and semantically correct.

The book lacks a proper exercises mechanism. It is implemented, but is weak in my opinion. It doesn't provide answers to the exercises either. It could, in my opinion gather a few more pages around the issue of Templates and definitely, given the scope, should have had a more detailed text on the issue of compilers. The book also makes no effort in describing debugging best practices or even talk about the issue of debugging. This is however a prevalent issue around many programming books. And I always felt it to be a strong weakness of today's books, considering the ever increasing complexity of programming tasks.

But all in all, I never found a better book for C++... and I'm a bookseller (really).

**LowWaterMark** · 08-11-2008

I'm new and a bit stuck.

I'm in search of an introductory text on C++ Programming that approaches its task from a theoretical or philosophical perspective. It's the way I learn. Imagery and diagrams are also quite helpful to me. If I get the conceptual framework of something, the details tend to fall into place much easier.

I may be suffering from death by research. I've read every post in this thread twice. I've thoroughly studied the recommendations on the ACCU Website. Additionally, I've poured over the 4-star and up texts on C++ Programming at Amazon.com, as well as reading the user comments.

I need focus (I need a book) and would appreciate any and all suggestions. I noted that "Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example" by Koenig and Moo got 5 recommendations here on this thread, "Highly Recommended" over on ACCU and 80 votes on Amazon averaging 4.5 stars (for whatever that's worth). Can anyone comment on its vantage point with respect to the stuff I wrote up above in the first paragraph? Simply put, would it be a good choice?

I just finished "Absolute Beginner's Guide to C" by Greg Perry in an effort to learn some vocabulary and syntax from a bit lower level before delving into C++. Of the thousand plus texts on C++ programming, I have no doubt that the right book for me is out there.

Thoughts?