Customer Reviews

The Annotated C++ Reference Manual

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was fairly complete at the time of its publication, but there have been so many significant improvements and new approaches to the C++ language that the book is outdated. I'd recommend this book only to people who are interested in a historical collection of C++ documents.

I'd recommend any of the other Stroustrup books. "The C++ Programming Language," (3rd edition) is the closest thing to a bible for the language. (Don't buy the 1st or 2nd edition--they're also outdated. If you want a hard-covered reference, the "Special Edition" is a hardcovered 3rd edition.) I'd recommend "The Design and Evolution of C++," which is slightly outdated but both imformative and instructional to experienced C++ programmers.

This book is suitable for intermediate to advanced C++ programmers and provides clear guidance on the rules that make up the language. It's not always an easy read, but then the language it describes is not an easy language. There is no other book I know of that describes the language itself as accurately and in as much depth as this. But if you want information about the standard C++ library (the STL, for example) you will be disappointed - this is not what this book is about. In that case try Stroustrup's 'The C++ Language' (3rd edition), which also happens to be a year or so more up to date than this book - important given that that year saw the language standardized at last. That said, for my money Stroustrup's solo affair still isn't as good on the core language as this book. If you are a professional C++ programmer, you need this book.

A good reference in its time, this book does NOT describe the latest (November 1997) C++ language standard.

This was "The" standard for creating C++ 99. Since then the standard libraries were added, a full implementation of templates and exception handleing etc. So while its a good reference for the "core" of C++, i.e. the classes etc, it shouldn't be the first book (or even the 2nd) on C++ you buy. Better to get the Hardcover "The C++ Programming Language (Special 3rd Edition)" which has chapters on all of the language.

Note: That's not the first book on C++ you should get either, if you are just learning, it is however one you should own if you are going to profressionally write C++.

On why there isn't a second edition of the ARM, has in part due to the restrictions for republishing the ISO standard. And its also 2003 and now the language looks like it will continue to evolve and thus a second ed. ARM would be soon out of date as well. Maybe we'll be lucky and there will be one for C++2005.

This is _the_ reference for the C++ language. Even though the C++ standard is presently something of a moving target, this is a good working reference manual for the basics (and not-so-basics) of C++. Once you think you've learned C++, get this book and read it -- you'll find things you didn't know, or things you thought you did but don't. Warning: This is a reference manual, and shouldn't be read from cover to cover, or used to learn the language. As a reference, though, it's an excellent resource.

Well, I know it was out there. But I was referring other books most of the time. I paid for that. Many cannot answer questions like "Why the hell you need a COPY constructor in the first place?" or "Why Copy Constructor always takes a reference to the object as an argument". Here I found the answers. Again this is the BEST reference book available. If you are a serious programmer who wants to know in and out of C++, this is a must. I won't recommend this for those "POOR" souls who just want to be a C++ programmer.

Again being a reference book, you don't have to read the PREVIOUS chapters to understand a specific topic. You may have to read couple of times to understand certain sections.

This book is, definitely the one of the best references available. It provided a lot of things that you won't find in any other references.

However, this is the reference for "C++" not its library. (And being the reference for the language itself made this book a timeless reference). So, if you want those information, you might be disappoint. But if the thing you want to the better understanding of C++, this book belong to your shelf.

Yes it is outdated as it does not cover the latest features added to the standard. However it does describe in great details the core language and it is still the most detailed book about C++ to my knowledge after the C++ standard document text itself. Even the latest edition of 'The C++ programming language' book does not provide as much details about the language itself.

This is the ANSI base document written in 1990 or so that became the standard (ANSI C++) years later. Even though this book was published way back then, it is not outdated and is the most useful manual on C++ in existence.

It's a work of pure technical consideration. This IS C++ in its purest form. It's the language definition. There is everything that anyone will ever want to know about the syntactical nature of ANSI C++. It is also dispersed with very good commentaries after each definition.

Those who have reached the insane realm of grammatical and syntactical perfection will be pleased that the grammar is summarized at the end of the book and parts of it are given where appropriate in the chapters.

-- This is THEE book on C++.
-- Concise examples placed where needed.
-- No spoon feeding to the readers.
-- No long pieces of code.
-- No fluff.
-- No mush.
-- No kidding.

This book was good when it came out in 1990. It needs to updated to to the newer versions of C++. Other than that it is a good book.