C++ Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Christopher Diggins (Author), Jonathan Turkanis (Author), Jeff Cogswell (Author)
Key Phrases: string algorithms, storing objects, using boost, Digital Mars, Solution Use, Managing Data (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Despite its highly adaptable and flexible nature, C++ is also one of the more complex programming languages to learn. Once mastered, however, it can help you organize and process information with amazing efficiency and quickness.

The "C++ Cookbook" will make your path to mastery much shorter. This practical, problem-solving guide is ideal if you're an engineer, programmer, or researcher writing an application for one of the legions of platforms on which C++ runs. The algorithms provided in "C++ Cookbook" will jump-start your development by giving you some basic building blocks that you don't have to develop on your own.

Less a tutorial than a problem-solver, the book addresses many of the most common problems you're likely encounter--whether you've been programming in C++ for years or you're relatively new to the language. Here are just some of the time-consuming tasks this book contains practical solutions for:

Reading the contents of a directory

Creating a singleton class

Date and time parsing/arithmetic

String and text manipulation

Working with files

Parsing XML

Using the standard containers

Typical of O'Reilly's "Cookbook" series, "C++ Cookbook" is written in a straightforward format, featuring recipes that contain problem statements and code solutions, and apply not to hypothetical situations, but those that you're likely to encounter. A detailed explanation then follows each recipe in order to show you how and why the solution works. This question-solution-discussion format is a proven teaching method, as any fan of the "Cookbook" series can attest to. This book will move quickly to the top of your list of essential C++ references.

About the Author

Ryan Stephens is a software engineer, writer, and student living in Tempe, AZ. He enjoys programming in virtually any language, especially C++. His interests include the fields of information retrieval and data mining, and pretty much anything that has to do with algorithms and large data sets. When he's not working, writing, or programming, he plays with his kids, works on his house, or goes cycling.

Christopher Diggins is a freelance software developer and writer who has been programming computers since he was "haut comme trois pommes". Christopher writes regularly for the C++ Users Journal, and is the designer of the Heron programming lanugage.

Jonathan Turkanis is the author of the Boost Iostreams library and several other open source C++ libraries covering areas including smart pointers, runtime reflection, component architectures and aspect-oriented programming. He is a Ph.D. candidate in mathematical logic at the University of California at Berkeley.

Jeff Cogswell has been programming in several languages for many years. His background was previously in telecom, writing software for such strange things as network management protocols. Lately, however, his work has focused more on web development. After spending a few years in both Florida and California, Jeff now lives in Michigan. He's holding out for some warmer weather.

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Product Details Paperback: 592 pages Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (November 8, 2005) Language: English ISBN-10: 0596007612 ISBN-13: 978-0596007614 Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #68 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Development > C & C++ Windows Programming This is item 21 in The O'Reilly Cookbooks Series.

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Jeffrey M. Cogswell

D. Ryan Stephens

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!

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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
string algorithms, storing objects, using boost, target name, hashed containers, lexical cast, find member function, ccp files, nonconforming code, using namespace std, executable hello, exe rule, output iterator, valid float, friend bool operator, directory binaries, pragma export, standard library implementation, global locale, input iterator, initializer list, iterator categories, string tmp, debug target, existing source files

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Digital Mars, Solution Use, Managing Data, Configuration Properties, Boost Filesystem, Discussion Example, Project Options, Visual Studio, Complex Application, Configuration Visual, Boost Threads, Feldman Family Circus Animals, Select New, Solution Create, Discussion There, Text File, Applications Table, Solution Example, Language Settings, Add Existing Item, Algorithms Example, Target Settings Window, Define Xerceslnitializer, Preventing Name Collisions, Hal Brown

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 3.8 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 29 of 35 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars A very good book of C++ recipes!, December 16, 2005 By  Rob Wehrli (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Unlike a self-proclaimed "C++ Wizard," I'm of the opinion that this book is inherently useful in many ways, even for experienced programmers. Basically, it offers several ways to tackle various programming challenges with C++-centric solutions. Whining about brace style is a hopelessly lost cause. K&R style braces save lines and reduces page count in the publishing industry. Get used to it or get out of it, I say. However, this isn't a rant. There is a good portion of the book that would be more helpful to aspiring programmers and less useful to advanced programmers, such as "Making Sure a Header File Gets Include Only Once. In my programming career, I've seen a lot of bad code. If more develooping programmers would have read this book, my life would surely have been easier! Like any cookbook, a recipe is a guideline for producing a desired result. It is up to the chef to decide when to depart from the guideline and by how much. It is oftentimes difficult to find the core solution in a set of API documentation, for example, in string handling. The C++ Cookbook has a whole chapter on string manipulation and text processing. It is much easier to look at the often short and sweet recipes in the book and decide whether or not they are close enough to what you want to do to use them as a baseline for writing your own code, rather than just referring to an API document and trying to figure out which set of operations you want to use to accomplish the task at hand. I don't think that this book is some kind of answer to all of our C++-related prayers; what cookbook have you used that can be so much to so many? In all, it is a worthwhile product for those seeking assistance with their everyday coding. It does tend to promote Boost. Boost is a large project of common C++ "needs" wrapped up in a fairly platform agnostic package and available as a free download. It is a lot like a "Swiss Army Knife" API for C++ in a way similar to what the JDK is to Java developers. C++ Cookbook will be very helpful to programmers who don't want to spend time solving every little problem themselves. It may not be the best text for a veteran with ingrained Computer Sciences education, but for self-taught, non-CS disciplinarians, it may well be the ticket to writing much better code in less time. For someone making a transition from C to C++, it is an indepensible "how to" reference that you can easily read when the mood strikes. If you think FILE* before fstream, chances are this book will be a big help! A few aspects of the book are specific to a particular platform, though for the most part, it is platform independent. Not every C++ book needs to be written for the hardcore daily-life programmer. Hobbyists and others who find that they need to use C++ are certain to find it full of useful nuggets. There are often dozens of ways to set about solving a particular programming challenge. This book offers its solutions in a very readable, enjoyable manner that is also interesting and practical. If you're a C++ Wizard, you probably don't need this book, but in my experience, more than half the guys who think they're C++ Wizards tend to be wanna bes. There is a lot of good information inside of this book that should be known by most experienced C++ programmers. There are also a lot of good information that is easily forgotten by programmers who don't work in a particular area of the language very often. The Cookbook provides an easy way to look up the recipe and implement a viable solution without having to sort through barely comprehensible API documentation, which is often a lot like trying to bake a chocolate cake with the first steps being milk the cow and fetch the eggs, or more likely sometimes, plant the grass so that you can raise cows to eventually milk! This book is more like a box of cake mix. Maybe not perfect in the eyes of a master chef, but good enough for the rest of us to use and enjoy. 13 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book For New C++ Programmers, September 8, 2006 By  Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)       The 'C++ Cookbook' is a great resource for any developer that might be new to or still mastering the C++ programming language. Packed with over 500 pages and broken up into 15 chapters, this book is well written and easy to follow. My main "gripe" with this book is that when I think of a cookbook, many times it's full of solutions are less well known, or slightly more challenging tasks that the average programmer might not know the solution to. With this cookbook, I feel it's geared more towards the more junior level developer who isn't a master of the language and is still learning their trade. I don't feel that this book is perfect for senior programmers, but it DOES offer common solutions in one book, so I might be incorrect in this assumption. All in all, a solid book, and one well worth keeping on your desk and you code with C++!! **** RECOMMENDED 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Good for those (uncreative) new to programming (in c++), February 25, 2009 By  Duke "He who fixes that which is broken" (Herndon, VA) - See all my reviews Im a freshman in college and just finished my second c++ programming course, this book was my best friend. It gives you plenty of ways to do a given task and covers a broad range of topics. Because it covers a broad range of topics, even if a specific "recipe" doesn't do exactly what you want, there is usually no trouble in changing/tweaking it ever so slightly to do what you want to do for a specific problem. It's very well written and easy to understand for the laymen to c++ (like me!!)		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars The receipts are not Interesting I bought this book because I wanted the equivalent of the "Python Cookbook" but for C++. However, I didn't find that level of information on the C++ version of the cookbook. Read more Published 17 months ago by Marc Magrans De Abril 4.0 out of 5 stars C++ books A good book in a nice and handable format to take a look at the most importance topics in the c++ programming Published 22 months ago by Eduardo Rodriguez 5.0 out of 5 stars COOKING WITH C++!! Are you a C++ programmer? If you are, then this book is for you. Authors D. Ryan Stephens, Christopher Diggins, Jonathan Turkanis and Jeff Cogswell, have done an outstanding job... Read more Published on October 12, 2006 by John R. Vacca 1.0 out of 5 stars Nice programs, if only they'd compile! This book contains a lot of clever code fragments. Unfortunately I've found numerous bugs in them and some code fails to compile all together. Read more Published on March 17, 2006 by Urban Sprawl 5.0 out of 5 stars Good code, nice explanations This cookbook is a little shorter than those with the other languages, but while that may seem odd, it might not after you find that it doesn't cover operating system specific... Read more Published on December 11, 2005 by Jack D. Herrington Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (November 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596007612
• ISBN-13: 978-0596007614
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #68 in

  Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Development > C & C++ Windows Programming

• This is item 21 in The O'Reilly Cookbooks Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good book of C++ recipes!, December 16, 2005

By	Rob Wehrli (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unlike a self-proclaimed "C++ Wizard," I'm of the opinion that this book is inherently useful in many ways, even for experienced programmers. Basically, it offers several ways to tackle various programming challenges with C++-centric solutions.

Whining about brace style is a hopelessly lost cause. K&R style braces save lines and reduces page count in the publishing industry. Get used to it or get out of it, I say.

However, this isn't a rant.

There is a good portion of the book that would be more helpful to aspiring programmers and less useful to advanced programmers, such as "Making Sure a Header File Gets Include Only Once. In my programming career, I've seen a lot of bad code. If more develooping programmers would have read this book, my life would surely have been easier!

Like any cookbook, a recipe is a guideline for producing a desired result. It is up to the chef to decide when to depart from the guideline and by how much. It is oftentimes difficult to find the core solution in a set of API documentation, for example, in string handling. The C++ Cookbook has a whole chapter on string manipulation and text processing. It is much easier to look at the often short and sweet recipes in the book and decide whether or not they are close enough to what you want to do to use them as a baseline for writing your own code, rather than just referring to an API document and trying to figure out which set of operations you want to use to accomplish the task at hand.

I don't think that this book is some kind of answer to all of our C++-related prayers; what cookbook have you used that can be so much to so many? In all, it is a worthwhile product for those seeking assistance with their everyday coding. It does tend to promote Boost. Boost is a large project of common C++ "needs" wrapped up in a fairly platform agnostic package and available as a free download. It is a lot like a "Swiss Army Knife" API for C++ in a way similar to what the JDK is to Java developers.

C++ Cookbook will be very helpful to programmers who don't want to spend time solving every little problem themselves. It may not be the best text for a veteran with ingrained Computer Sciences education, but for self-taught, non-CS disciplinarians, it may well be the ticket to writing much better code in less time. For someone making a transition from C to C++, it is an indepensible "how to" reference that you can easily read when the mood strikes. If you think FILE* before fstream, chances are this book will be a big help!

A few aspects of the book are specific to a particular platform, though for the most part, it is platform independent.

Not every C++ book needs to be written for the hardcore daily-life programmer. Hobbyists and others who find that they need to use C++ are certain to find it full of useful nuggets. There are often dozens of ways to set about solving a particular programming challenge. This book offers its solutions in a very readable, enjoyable manner that is also interesting and practical. If you're a C++ Wizard, you probably don't need this book, but in my experience, more than half the guys who think they're C++ Wizards tend to be wanna bes.

There is a lot of good information inside of this book that should be known by most experienced C++ programmers. There are also a lot of good information that is easily forgotten by programmers who don't work in a particular area of the language very often. The Cookbook provides an easy way to look up the recipe and implement a viable solution without having to sort through barely comprehensible API documentation, which is often a lot like trying to bake a chocolate cake with the first steps being milk the cow and fetch the eggs, or more likely sometimes, plant the grass so that you can raise cows to eventually milk! This book is more like a box of cake mix. Maybe not perfect in the eyes of a master chef, but good enough for the rest of us to use and enjoy.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book For New C++ Programmers, September 8, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The 'C++ Cookbook' is a great resource for any developer that might be new to or still mastering the C++ programming language. Packed with over 500 pages and broken up into 15 chapters, this book is well written and easy to follow. My main "gripe" with this book is that when I think of a cookbook, many times it's full of solutions are less well known, or slightly more challenging tasks that the average programmer might not know the solution to. With this cookbook, I feel it's geared more towards the more junior level developer who isn't a master of the language and is still learning their trade. I don't feel that this book is perfect for senior programmers, but it DOES offer common solutions in one book, so I might be incorrect in this assumption. All in all, a solid book, and one well worth keeping on your desk and you code with C++!!

**** RECOMMENDED

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for those (uncreative) new to programming (in c++), February 25, 2009

By	Duke "He who fixes that which is broken" (Herndon, VA) - See all my reviews

Im a freshman in college and just finished my second c++ programming course, this book was my best friend. It gives you plenty of ways to do a given task and covers a broad range of topics. Because it covers a broad range of topics, even if a specific "recipe" doesn't do exactly what you want, there is usually no trouble in changing/tweaking it ever so slightly to do what you want to do for a specific problem. It's very well written and easy to understand for the laymen to c++ (like me!!)