Books, Beginner, MustHave

Well currently i own and am reading Sams "Teach yourself C++ in 21 Days", and despite the bad reviews, i love it as a beginner. Explains things very well, gives plenty of examples, and not too many things they skip in their examples.

However, being the money grub i am, i recieved a 25% off reciepe from the store i bought it from, and i need to buy another book to use that 25% off lol.

So i want to buy a book a little above my current skill level, so when i get done with 21 days i can move up. Or maybe something that teaches me a dif way to do things, ect.

Any ideas? Any must haves for beginners? I eventually would like to moveon to Games over IntraNet. But at the moment id prefer buying books still geared twords learning. I have searched the forums and seen a few, but its hard to get a good grasp with a 3rd of the people hating Sams books lol.

And it doesent have to be sams, just somethin that teaches me somethin new, examples are beloved, chapter quizes rock! thanks!

Direct X game programming is pretty good for starting with direct X.

in opinion
More or less after understanding pointers classes and such it better to starting reading books that are over specific topics ie direct X. Writing code helps even more tho lets you understand coding more than books do.

This your book?
Sam's Teach Yourself C++ In 21 Days

I read some of it. It's actually pretty helpful. Don't worry that is a legal copy, I think...

What I advise you to do is to look for books here Free C++ books

I bought SAM's Teach yourself C++ in 21 Days as well. I'm currently working through it...loving it.

I think it gets progressively worse as day number increases though. For example when talking about inheritance, he takes like 20 pages to say what could be said in a sentence or two. Explaining yourself is good, but there comes a limit where its just overkill :p

lol, ya i love the teach yourself. Explains it really well. I downloaded the same book online (think it was a older version though) and saw i liked it so i bought it.

And overall i want to expand into basics of applications i am going to be using in the future, even if its most basic. So DDE, API's (win32, ect.), junk like that.

One thing i really dont like is the book store itself, its borders, good store, i like barns and nobel better, but none the less you cant get what you can online lol. So its hard to ask what are good books cuz they might not have them. I am just ganna go in tomorrow and check stuff out, see if i like the gist of what they are teaching. But going into DirectX would rock, so i may also look into some direct x books. Thanks for the replies and anymore :)

The C++ Standard Library, By Nicolai M. Josuttis. Covers the Standard Template Library. (The STL is not covered in "21 Days".)

Thinking In C++, by Bruce Eckel. It makes a good 2nd C++ book, although it's written as a 1st C++ book for someone who already knows C. It comes in 2 volumes, and you can download it in PDF format FREE, :) or buy hard-copies.

C Programming Language, by Kernighan & Ritchie This makes a handy reference to the C-part of the language.

If you want to learn Windows programming, get Programming Windows, by Charles Petzold.

Note that none of the above books are as well-structured for self-study as "21 Days" :(

If you really want to be a great C++ programmer for a career, consider the books below. They do not focus on gaming or anything but standard C++, but they seem to be widely recognized in the C++ community as must-haves.

The first one is considered to be a good beginner's book, but it moves a little faster than most and is more appropriate for someone with a little bit of programming knowledge. While I have not read it, I have seen it recommended several times as a good follow up to books like your 21 days book. It might not teach you a whole lot more than what you are learning in your current book, but it will give you a different look at how to program in C++ and hopefully reinforce what you are learning now.

• Accelerated C++ by Andrew Koenig & Barbara Moo
• The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup
• Effective C++ by Scott Meyers
• More Effective C++ by Scott Meyers
• Effective STL by Scott Meyers
• Exceptional C++ by Herb Sutter
• More Exceptional C++ by Herb Sutter
• The C++ Standard Library by Nicolai Josuttis
• Design Patterns by Gamma & Helm & Johnson & Vlissides (Gang of Four)
• Algorithms in C++ by Robert Sedgewick

Ya i looked at Accelerated C++ and both the Meyers ones at the store, for the price, and the level they were at i didnt wanna get them now. I went with the bigger and a tiny bit more advanced and broad ANSI C++, the complete language.

However i'll prob be looking for the accelerated c++ in a few months. Thanksall :)

Although not exactly a beginner book The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup (the creater of C++) I hear is a pretty good book, once you get deeper into the Language. I just ordered the Special Edition, which is on special for $51 on Amazon.com (list price is $64.99 US) Its a high price because its Hard Cover, so it should last you a good while.

ya i seen that at the place also. I seen a few Strout books and avoided each one. Heard they were confusing to new people and normal books are confusing enough lol. And the price at the store i was in was 60$. (Just FYI type of thing hehe)