Customer Reviews

C++ in a Nutshell

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent reference designed to give you precise definitions and usage for the C++ language features and library according to the C++ Standard. Unless you are a novice, it will save you time. In the past, when I needed to lookup something, I used to gladly dive into the Stroustrup's "C++ Programming Language" or Josuttis's "The C++ Standard Library". While indispensable and authoritative, these volumes are *NOT* designed for easy reference work; reading them takes time, and what should have been a 30-second lookup inevitably turned into a 30-minute reading. The "C++ In A Nutshell" helps to solve this problem, in addition to putting all the relevant resources at your fingertips in one volume.

Most of the "reference" books I've seen for C++ have been more advanced primers (lippman/lajoie, pratta, josuttis). This is the first book I've seen for someone who knows C++, has been using it for some time, and needs a library and language reference. A welcome addition to my desk, especially since I learned C++ in 1992 and sometimes still need a gentle push away from archaic usage.

The language reference is concise but appears complete, and I disagree with the reviewer who said it is poorly organized (the library reference is alphabetical by library, the language reference follows the same convention everyone else does: Basics,Declarations,Expressions,Statements,Functions,Classes,Templates,I/O,Containers). The library reference is very, very valuable, often providing usage and code snippets as well as syntax.

This won't replace all the books on your shelf (you do have Effective C++ and More Effective C++, right?) but it will be a well used reference if you are a professional software guy (or faking it).

O'Reilly has done it again. C++ in a Nutshell is a great reference. The first 275 pages are a technical introduction to the language. The next 50 pages provide a preprocessor and language reference. The final 400 pages provide a reference to the library. Those last 400 pages are the real gem. Sections are organized by header file (e.g. <sstream>). A full prototype of each major class is provided and each function is explained individually. Also, the index is complete, so it's easy to find information on a class or function you're looking for. Descriptions are complete, but concise---all the information you need and not a char more.

This book isn't for beginners, but if you've had experience with C or C++ and are looking for a complete, well-organized reference to C++, this is the book to get.

I bought this to replace another C/C++ reference book. The other book was abysmal, with poor organisation, lacks of detail, depth and clarity. The Nutshell is a refreshing delight. It covers everything about C++, from the ground up. It's not a tutorial, but anyone familiar with C should be able to grasp C++ from this reference. Very detailed, even including a BNF grammar of the language. Excellent.

I always like O'Reilly books and are usually what I purchase. The "In A Nutshell" may be misleading to some. Just think of it as "C++ A Language & Library Reference." If you are a beginner looking for a how to, this isn't the one for you. "Thinking in C++" by Bruce Eckel (great book), or "Practical C++ Programming" would be the one a beginner would want. However, when you are ready to explore the inter-details about what C++ classes provides, this would be a good one to add to your collection. The first half describes C++ in general, while the last half details the language reference. I like how the reference is structured, grouped by the easy to find header declaration at the bottom of the page. Quickly finding what you need is a great feature here. You can only do so much "std::cout << "hi" << std::endl; without a reference and this one covers the missing details. Not for beginners, but an excellent reference.

The book "C++ In a Nutshell" by Ray Lischner is recommended for users
who are already familiar with the C++ language, its style, and coding
conventions. Although the first third of the book deals with the
basics of the language, users who are new to C++ will find themselves
looking for a more tutorial-like reference when trying out features
for the first time; to the book's credit, most subject areas are
methodically touched upon but often additional explanations and
examples would be useful.

For more experienced programmers, the book can be a source of a wealth
of information and can be a big time saver. A whole chapter designated
as a language reference allows for quick lookup of obscure C++
constructs. Here, the spirit of the book is captured perfectly as
syntax summaries are given using a modified BNF. Probably the most
useful part of the book is the library reference that provides
complete descriptions of all the classes in the C++ standard library.
This section itself is likely to save one from spending hours on
googling for small bits of information.

Thus, for those new to C++ something like "Practical C++ Programming"
by Steve Oualline would likely provide a more useful introduction to
the language. However, for those with the experience to know what they
are looking for "C++ In a Nutshell" is a very good reference.

I purchased this book after having come to rely on the pre-publication version posted on the web.

I usually use the book for its info on the standard library (particularly containers, which were incorporated from the STL to the language standard itself fairly recently, if I recall correctly). While not a C++ guru, the other material in the book appears quite thorough.

The book is concisely laid out, yet is easy to read; different fonts are nicely used to improve readability (e.g., program code is set in a different font, which is fixed-width), as is typical for O'Reilly books.

Like any reference book, not recommended for a tutorial introduction, though the book does have a few examples.

Finally, the index to the book is pretty thorough, which is a must for any reference text.

This is an indispensible book for folks who work in C++ all day long. It concisely presents lots of information about the language and was clearly a very carefully editted book. It's just packed with information. I like the standard library reference best, as it was written to be compact yet complete. A nice touch is the formatting of the method names in bold, letting you find the wheat in the chaff. If I could have only one book on C++, this would be it. It assumes you already know the language, so don't buy it to learn C++ from.

If you have used the extraodinarily good "C# in a Nutshell" and are hoping to find a simllar book for C++ you will be disappointed.
This book is useful as a reference for people who have had it explained to them and need a reminder. Every time I have tried to look up a definition for the
first time in this book I have been bamboozled, because the definitions are too succinct, I wasnt quite sure what they meant. But when I had read an explanation
elsewhere and came back to this book for a reminder, I found it useful.
You could argue that the fault is that the C++ language is so complicated it's quite a challenge summarising it into the available space.
However some negative reviews have pointed out that there are a few gaps, indicating that it could do with a more polished new edition.
Still, it's a very useful book, and I cant think of anything that can replace it.

Hi,
I'm a recent graduate B.Sc CS and used this book extensively for a month+ as to prepare for a c++ job interviews.

Unfortunately I can't say I loved this book. I found the examples to be overcomplicated by irrelevant information and language to be ambiguous at the times.

As an example, from page 160 (classes/ covariant return types):
"In a derived class, a covariant return type is a pointer or reference to a class type that derives from the return type used in the base class" ?!

Code examples are contaminated by the irrelevant programming techniques and irrelevant code. Page 158, "declaring and using virtual functions", the code example extends over two pages. In it, author uses concepts of templates, complicated operators overloading, constructor and destructor, pure virtual functions (its different topic in the book, much later) as well as a very complicated programming code. And all of this extra information used to explain a rather simple virtual functions.

If the reader is not very familiar with some concepts of programming language, reader might face a difficulty to understand the topic illustrated, as it would be polluted with much unrelated code technique.

I wouldn't recommend this book for the beginners, and would proceed with caution if you are an intermediate programmer. This is a great start but author need to maintain focus on the particular topic and not to make it more complicated then it's already is. After all it's a reference book and not the collection of the brain teasers.