Thread: C++ Book Recommendations

  1. #136
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    None. It's a huge book; there's lots of space to get from zero to these advanced concepts.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

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    CB, I hope this one is good, because it ended up costing a lot by the time I got shipping from amazon.de to U.S. But the summaries did sound pretty good, and I concluded that the book is a pretty good level for me: addressed to beginners through pros and including advanced topics, which I definitely need to start delving into.

  3. #138
    Registered User Dawnson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DougDbug View Post
    Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, by Jesse Liberty - Beginning book. It's easy to understand and well structured for self-study with questions & exercises at the end of each "day" (chapter), and answers & solutions in the back. WARNING - Some people hate all of the "21-Days" books!

    Programming Windows, by Charles Petzold - This is the book for learning Windows Programming. You need to know standard C or C++ before starting this book.

    The C Programming Language, by Brian W. Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie is a good reference to the C-part of the language. (A complete C reference.)

    And, I second the following recommendations:

    Thinking In C++, by Bruce Eckel - These (2 volumes) make good 2nd C++ books. They cover many C++ topics in depth. ( I think they are supposed to be beginning C++ books for people who already know C.)

    The C++ Programming Language, by Bjarne Stroustrup - This book has some really helpful information in it. But, it is rather difficult to understand. It seems to have been written for advanced Computer Science students who don't know any C++. It is cool owning the book by the creator of C++!

    The C++ Standard Library, by Nicolai M. Josuttis - I believe this a complete reference to the Standard Template Library (not the entire standard library). It makes a good 2nd C++ book if your beginning book doesn't cover the STL.

    The ANSI / ISO C++ Language Standard - The ultimate C++ reference! The only complete printed C++ reference. Of course, this is a very technical document... You're not going to learn how to program in C++ by reading this document. Hard copies are expensive (about $300), but you can download a PDF copy from ANSI for about $20.

    Since there are no complete C++ referrence books, other than the language standard itself, here are a couple of complete online references to Standard C++ :

    cppreference.com

    dinkumware.com

    Thank you for your recommendation. I have just read the <<C++ primer>> and I wanna read <<Thinking in C++>>. However, I always have lots of problems about using C++ so that I need all of you to help me.Thinks a lot!

  4. #139
    Registered User quyuandemeng's Avatar
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    C++ How to Program, Sixth Edition. A very good book for beginners, in which you can not only learn C++ language but also software engineering. And most importantly, you will understand easily.

  5. #140
    Registered User Elf's Avatar
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    nice

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    "C++ Pocket Reference" and "C++ in 10 Minutes" these helped me when i didn't understand something in the tutorials here and these books helped fill in the gaps

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    C++ books series

    Can anyone comment on the C++ book series recommended by this website for beginners, especially the 1st book "C++ Without Fear"? Is this book good?

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    Quote Originally Posted by maccat View Post
    Can anyone comment on the C++ book series recommended by this website for beginners, especially the 1st book "C++ Without Fear"? Is this book good?
    Here's a similar thread with that question. My answer would probably still be the same now, assuming there are no new (and revamped) editions recently.

    Book recomendations on Website

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daved View Post
    Here's a similar thread with that question. My answer would probably still be the same now, assuming there are no new (and revamped) editions recently.

    Book recomendations on Website
    Hi David, thanks a lot for your suggestions. Actually, at first I doubted the quality of the book "C++ Without Fear" when scanning through it at my uni bookstore, but then the fact that it sits on the C/C++ forum book series recommendation prevented me from deciding right away not to buy it (I'm new to C++, so I think I must seek help from experienced C++ guys), coupled with another fact that when I bought a book also recommend on the forum, "C Programming: A Modern Approach" by King, I found that it's indeed perhaps the best book for beginners. And that's why I came here to ask for help regarding this book.

    Your comments are very useful. I will not buy this book. Thanks a lot.
    Last edited by maccat; 12-11-2009 at 04:42 AM.

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    Lol, I recommend NOT reading C++ For Dummies. It starts out pretty slow, but once you get in midway, the author writes new syntax into his code, but doesn't explain it at all. 'Simple Talk' turns into technical talk. I bought this book, and I think it helped me with some things, reinforcing them, but other than that, not a good book to read IMO. I accomplished a ton reading the tuts on this site .

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    Quote Originally Posted by maccat View Post
    Can anyone comment on the C++ book series recommended by this website for beginners, especially the 1st book "C++ Without Fear"? Is this book good?
    My programming background is mainly in Perl and PHP with some C (mostly dealing with PIC programming) and I recently wanted to check out C++ to see what I could do with it....and how it differed from C.

    While going through the tutorials here on cprogramming.com (which I highly recommend started out with!) the book "C++ Without Fear" was recommended, so I decided to check it out. I first sought out user recommendations, such as those on Amazon.com. Then I went to my local book store to sit down with the book for a bit. After spending about a half hour with the book in the book store, I decided to buy it, and I am currently progressing about a chapter each day.

    I have many books on programming, especially those directed a beginners. Yes, there are some books out there that definitively should not be marketed towards a beginner. I found "C++ Without Fear" to be very straight forward and gets you programming almost immediately.

    The examples build on themselves which reinforces your progress. Any jargon is discussed and not assumed that the reader is familiar with the terminology. Code examples are presented in an easy to follow flow, and then a more streamline version is presented showing examples of combining statements and shortcuts. Each example is broken down in sections titled "How It Works", which breaks down each line of code and explains what each line does. Exercises invite the student to modify the code to perform a different process for a certain result. Hints are given to get the student thinking in the right direction.

    The book comes with a CD that a free compiler and all examples and answers to the questions within the book. I have not used the CD as I already have a compiler, so I can't comment on the CD itself.

    I was sort of reluctant to submit my thoughts on this book due to my experiences with other languages, however, I feel that this book would be a good investment for any newcomer to programming and a good starting point for learning C++.
    Last edited by bpasternak; 03-15-2010 at 09:19 AM. Reason: Fixed typo

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    I want to post an update about my experiences with "C++ Without Fear". In progressing through the exercises, I wanted to check the code that is provided on the CD against my coded solution to the exercises, just to see if there was a better way.

    I've found that there are some code samples to the exercises that are wrong. At first I thought it may have been just a compatibility issue with my compiler, but some of the issues are so wrong that even a newbie can see it and figure it out. Example: In excercise 4.1.3, the sample code is trying to return an undeclared variable in a function.

    The last page of the book invites the reader to register the product to "access to bonus material". In the hopes of finding updated sample code, I've registered, but I fail to find any bonus material. But, this may just be me.

    So far, this is my only complaint. Not too big of an issue to this point, but it could throw the complete novice for a bit.

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    I highly recommend Thinking in C++, even for complete beginners. I had to skip everything about the C-style stash and stack stuff that popped up throughout the book, but as far as introducing new C++ concepts it did a great job.

    Also, even if it's hard to understand, The C++ Programming Language has great exercises for a relative beginner (the only experience I have so far is Thinking in C++ Volume 1 and a bunch of exercises). I'm at Chapter 6 (expressions and statements), and I'm finding exercises that can be very challenging but have definitely made me more proficient with the STL. It also has taught me some stuff I didn't know about the basics.

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    I'd like to recommend the web book The Boost C++ Libraries .It is a very beginner friendly tutorial-style book showing some of the most usefull boost libraries.

    Also take a look at More C++ Idioms wich is a nice collection of often used tehniques.

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