Best C++ Book?

[JOKER_JOKER]

I would like to become a software engineer when I grow up (I'm 17), and I figured I might as well start right now. I've tried learning C++ from some of those online tutorials, but they don't ever ask you to make your own programs, they just tell you how to do certain things. I'm afraid I'm not going to understand the material enough unless I start practicing these lessons. What's the best book, in your opinion, for someone just starting out in C++?

 

[-=Nu||=-]

Well when I took my introduction to C++ class we used this , but that seems a little expensive, although I'm sure you could get it cheaper on eBay. Anyways, I thought it went over the basics pretty well, and then towards the end it got into classes and their more advanced features (inheritance, polymorphism, etc.). I thought it was a pretty good book, and from the reviews on Amazon, many people seem to agree.

 

[drizzt81]

if you are really interested and I feel like it, I could post some assingment from my intro to c class.

 

[mikeblas]

I'm sure the book doesn't seem very expensive to the author, who put a couple of thousand hours into its creation.

There's really no universally "best" book, JOKER_JOKER. Each person learns a little differently.

I like "C++ Primer" by Lippman and Lajoie, becasue it is a good reference. Some people like the confusingly titled "C++ Primer Plus" by Stephen Prata. I think your best bet is to go to a bookstore and look at books, or read the reviews on amazon.com and use the "look inside!" feature to find a book that matches the way that you like to learn.

 

[JOKER_JOKER]

I'll probably go with C++ Primer Plus after looking at all it's good reviews and its cheap ($33) price, but should I be worried that it was made 2 years ago?

 

[Pbrane101]

Im 17 as well. These are the books that worked out the best for me.

C++ Primer Plus (fifth edition)
The object oriented thought process

 

[mikeblas]

I'll probably go with C++ Primer Plus after looking at all it's good reviews and its cheap ($33) price, but should I be worried that it was made 2 years ago?

I don't think so. C++ isn't changing much these days. I don't exepct the author to be releasing a new version anytime soon.

 

[Banko]

Honestly just forgot all the language books other then the reference one.

Basically knowing a language won't make you a great programmer. You just need logic, and understand how computers work.

If you have the logic you can learn any language, just learn the syntax, and whenever you need a specific function just look it up.

Basically forgot all books that "teach" you the language, they are mostly written by idiots anyways, (thats why they wrote books, because well they can't program themselves)

 

[mikeblas]

Basically forgot all books that "teach" you the language, they are mostly written by idiots anyways, (thats why they wrote books, because well they can't program themselves)

As an author of a few different books, I think your comments are offensive and ignorant.

While I'd generally agree that learning to program and learning a langauge are different things, learning a programming language by reading only a reference is tantamount to learning to speak English by reading a dictionary. When learning your first language, you have to learn both programming and the language, so an appropriate tutorial is necessary.

There's painfully few books about programming in the abstract; I'd like to hear which ones you'd recommend.

 

[Banko]

As an author of a few different books, I think your comments are offensive and ignorant.

While I'd generally agree that learning to program and learning a langauge are different things, learning a programming language by reading only a reference is tantamount to learning to speak English by reading a dictionary. When learning your first language, you have to learn both programming and the language, so an appropriate tutorial is necessary.

There's painfully few books about programming in the abstract; I'd like to hear which ones you'd recommend.

Well honestly I don't have any books I'll recommend right this second, but I would recommend taking classes like Boolean Algebra or Discrete Mathematics which will help you in programming in general.

Problem is I have seen many people just learn languages, hell they probably remember 95% of the methods and functions but when you ask them a programming question they sit there for way too long trying to figure it out.

Now say you know logically how to solve the specific problem, you can then just quickly figure out the basic syntax you'll need, and find what methods you need using a reference book.

That will make you a good all around programmer. At least that is my opinion.

 

[mikeblas]

Well honestly I don't have any books I'll recommend right this second, but I would recommend taking classes like Boolean Algebra or Discrete Mathematics which will help you in programming in general.

Generally, I agree with you, despite your unenlightened generalizations about book authors. But I'm curious why you don't suggest a data structures course, or an algorithms class.

Now say you know logically how to solve the specific problem, you can then just quickly figure out the basic syntax you'll need, and find what methods you need using a reference book.

This is where I specifically disagree. If someone doesn't know a language, I think they're better off approaching it with a tutorial or an overview about the language, not a reference. You'll write really motley code without understanding how the pieces fit together, and a reference only tells you about the pieces; not how they fit together overall.

 

[Banko]

Generally, I agree with you, despite your unenlightened generalizations about book authors. But I'm curious why you don't suggest a data structures course, or an algorithms class.

This is where I specifically disagree. If someone doesn't know a language, I think they're better off approaching it with a tutorial or an overview about the language, not a reference. You'll write really motley code without understanding how the pieces fit together, and a reference only tells you about the pieces; not how they fit together overall.

Heh, I should've just wrote for example, because there are a lot of courses that deal with logic.

Well with regards to your second point, if you are logical you'll find out how the pieces fit

(Don't take that one seriously because well I know a few people that can figure out how the pieces fit, but there are a lot of smart people that just can't or don't have the time)

Though if you do learn on how the pieces fit yourself you will learn more about the language.

What I really meant originally is that programming you won't learn by just knowing various languages.

Though if say you want to be a software engineer and specialize in one language, the books about the language won't do you any harm.

For me (now this is just for me) it is way easier to learn languages by either just googling what I need or having a very nice language reference book.

I mean sure if you ask me about the specifics of each language (other then syntax questions, syntax is really easy to remember) I won't be able to answer it, but you give me a programming problem and I'll solve it much quicker by just looking up what methods I need to use for what I need to get done.

So if language tutorials work for you, go ahead use them, but they usually don't teach you the logic to actually solve problems.

^ that is all I really meant to say.

 

[pedant]

http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html

 

[Deque]

I usually check the reviews at the ACCU before I purchase a book. I don't base my entire decision on the website, but I do factor it in. I have been paying attention to books that have been recommended on Hardforum for the past few years as well.

For a link to the Beginner's C++ books, you can check http://brian.accu.org/bookreviews/public/reviews/0sb/beginner_s_c__.htm

 

[mikeblas]

Well with regards to your second point, if you are logical you'll find out how the pieces fit

(Don't take that one seriously because well I know a few people that can figure out how the pieces fit, but there are a lot of smart people that just can't or don't have the time)

I'm glad you acknowledge how unrealistic your expectations are.