C++ How to Program 3th Ed by Deitel and Deitel

Hi

I would like to know, if the book:
"C++ How to Program 3th Ed by Deitel and Deitel"
is up to date, enough to learn C++ :confused:

regards,

The SharK

My advice: never buy an old edition.

If you want you can download a very nice ebook.....Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel-2nd Edition

http://www.click-now.net/ebooks.htm

But you see, I have the book already...

Get a new one. You'll need at least two anyway.

I learned C++ straight from tutorials on the internet, I found that the best way to go because you can get so many different perspectives on the subject, not just 1 author. After you learn the basics you can get books on certain categories of programming, tutorials start to run slim after the basics and you really need a professional's guidance then anyway. My suggestion: Don't buy another book, search google.com for tutorials and check out www.programmingtutorials.com. They have a lot of tutorials on almost every up to date programming language.

I don't own a copy, but the Deitel and Deitel book has a very good reputation. And, it seems to be used in some university courses.

It's an expensive book and since you already own it, you would probably get more for your money if you bought one or two additional different books. I wouldn't suggest buying an updated revision unless you really like the book.

C++ is fairly stable. You won't generally learn anything "wrong" by using an outdated book. However, there are a couple of things to look out for -

Some older books (and the cprogramming.com tutorial) don't cover namespaces. At the beginning of the examble programs, you should see:
using namespace std;

Or, the cout statement should include std like this:
std::cout << "Hello" << std::endl;

And, some older books (and again the tutorial on this site) use the old C .h headers.

The include statements should look like this:
#include <iostream>

NOT like this:
#include <iostream.h>

As long as you're aware of those two things, an "outdated" book shouldn't give you any trouble.

Thinking In C++ is a great set of books (I liked them so much I bought the hard-copies), but they're not for beginners unless you already know C.

Thanks DougDbug !

very informative ;)

Hi DougDbug

It makes use of:
#include <iostream>

The book covers:
using namespace std;
but only for a few pages out of 1200.

The other pages uses:
using std::cout;
using std::endl;

and i.e.

cout << y << endl;

That's fine. It is standard and works just as well.

Another thing that is open to debate that you might want to watch out for is whether the book uses C style and techniques or C++ style and techniques. While that book doesn't have a bad reputation, many C++ beginner books teach "C with classes" instead of C++.

For example, you should be using the C++ string class and the C++ vector class instead of null-terminated character arrays and regular arrays. If the book doesn't spend much time on those, or uses other C style code, consider learning those things from another source as you continue in C++.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The SharK

Hi DougDbug
It makes use of:
#include <iostream>

The book covers:

using namespace std;
but only for a few pages out of 1200.

The other pages uses:
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
and i.e.
cout << y << endl;

---

Of course a better recommendation would be either explicitly qualifying names that you intend to use with a using declaration:

Code:

---

using std::cout;

---

or with every use:

Code:

---

std::cout<<"blah blah"<<std::endl;

---

The using directive is no better than how iostream.h leaves every name in the global namespace.