Customer Reviews

Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How do you improve a book that has been known as a "bible" in the C++ community for years? As Scott mentions at the beginning of the text, he almost threw everything out, and started from scratch. When I first say the book, I thought that there are five new items that were added to the book, but I couldn't be more wrong. As you might have guessed, C++ has gone thru a number of significant changes over the past decade, and the third edition of this book is updated to take advantage of the new editions to the C++ standard. In reality, almost every item in this book has gone thru a re-write. Many have been consolidated and new chapters, topics and many new items have been added. A few items that did not make sense anymore like items 2, 3 and 4 in the second edition are removed from this third edition.

Scott breaks down the c++ language into 4 subparts:
* The old C subsystem. Before all these advanced programming languages such as Java and .NET came, C was the language of choice. C++ is "translated" to C first, and then complied and linked to an executable.
* OO C++, which is C with Classes. This is where the concept of Object Orientation in C++ started. Even though this concept was very much new a decade ago, it is very much part of a programmer's vocabulary.
* Template C++, which is the newest edition to the C++ standard and it brings with it the concept of Template Metaprogramming. This concept is very much new, and this book has dedicated a whole chapter around templates, and template metaprogramming.
* STL, which is the C++ Standard Template Library. Again, STL was a new concept a few years back, but it is very much an established notion in C++.

Scott has taken a new approach to this book and has covered all four of these subparts. He has a book dedicated to STL, but he is using STL notions and "language" throughout this book. The chances are that the reader is already familiar with other languages such as Java and .Net, so the text covers area where these two languages differ with C++, especially in the area of inheritance and polymorphism. But not everything has changed. Topics such as,"Explicitly disallow the use of Compiler Generated functions you do not want," will never get old or outdated.

New chapters cover topics such as C++ Template and Generic Programming, Resource Allocation and topics that cover the latest C++ standard and additions, including the TR1 (Technical Report 1). "new and delete" have been separated into their own chapter, and the author goes into great depth demonstrating to the reader the various ways that these two operators can be modified, and why.

Exceptions and programming in light of exceptions is also a very new concept in C++. The previous versions on this text did not touch on exceptions all that much, but the author has spread the use of exceptions throughout the text, with a number of items dedicated explicitly to exceptions and exceptions handling.

The updated items, new topics and chapters and a new look and feel of the text with color coded examples make this book a joy to for C++ programmer to read.

I really wanted to purchase this book for my Kindle 2 so I could reference it wherever I go. Unfortunately, the conversion to Kindle format made it much more difficult to read, mostly due to the fact that the code samples do not format correctly on the device. I imagine that the book needs to be re-converted to make use of the fixed-width font capabilities that are present in the newer Kindle software. Until they fix the formatting for Kindle, the print version is the only one I would recommend.

"Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs" recently came out in its 3rd edition. The first came out in 1991, making this line of book revisions positively ancient in high tech terms. But you should consider the elapsed 14 years an investment in wisdom, not obsolescence. Unlike the 2nd edition, this is a complete rewrite from the ground up. More than that, Scott Meyers begins from first principles, reevaluating what topics are most important to the programmers of 2005.

This was a very strategic and insightful move. Not only has the language evolved over that time, but the audience has too. In the first edition, the likely readers were coming from languages like C. Now the likely readers cross over from some other object-orient language, like Java or C#. Keep in mind
that the author focuses strictly on standard C++; he does not address anything that is platform-specific.

Like its predecessors, the items can be read stand-alone, and he does cross reference related items. The 55 items are grouped into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Accustoming Yourself to C++
Chapter 2: Constructors, Destructors, and Assignment Operators
Chapter 3: Resource Management
Chapter 4: Designs and Declarations
Chapter 5: Inheritance
Chapter 6: Implementations and Object-Oriented Design
Chapter 7: Templates and Generic Programming
Chapter 8: Customizing new and delete
Chapter 9: Miscellany

I would hate to have to learn the lessons in this book by hard experience. It would be costly in time and unfortunately might even cover more than one employment span.

Most decisions that are undertaken by developers should consider ROI (return on investment), which always is measured in terms of time. For developers considering professional education material like this, the measure should be in terms of how many mistakes could be avoided before the book pays for itself. In this case, the ROI is probably less than 2 defects.

If your shelfspace for C++ books has only a few slots, this book should be in your "must haves." The book's ISBN is 0-321-33487-6 and it retails for $45 US. Scott's web site is at http://aristeia.com and the errata for this book is http://aristeia.com/BookErrata/ec++3e-errata.html.

Recently, I decided to make my programming language of choice to be C++ (although I use VB, C#, C++ and occasionally java).
I bought Effective C++ Third Edition & Effective STL (both by Mr. Meyers). The author knows all that he is talking about and he is generous enough to clarify things like a personal tutor. In short, I always wish that I had a chance to read these books some years ago. I think I have aquired something which helps me build good programs and build my professional confidence in what I do.

This book is well written. Meyers explains many C++ details that are either badly explained or not explained at all in other books. His focus is always on productive and practical techniques and he doesn't sit on the fence: he gives you the benefit of clearly well thought out advice. If you want to understand C++ better and if you want to understand the design trade offs, for example, between inheritance, aggregation, and templates, this is a good place to look for help. This is one of those rare books that you will want to read more than once---as well as to refer to regularly. Highly recommended.

Quite simply, you shouldn't be programming if you haven't read this, and the two other books in the "Effective..." series. Meyers is a complete guru when it comes to coding (even the GNU GCC compiler writers seem to agree - check the available settings, one of them is specific to Meyers' works). What makes Meyers stand out from the crowd, however, is that he is extraordinarily readable. Often witty, but always getting his point across, these books are fine to be read anywhere, rather than simply as a reference manual like many other "bibles" are suited to. My only criticisms are that a: sometimes his attempts at wit can come across as ever so slightly patronising, and b: really Effective C++ and More Effective C++ should have been combined into one book for the price that these are charged at, and c: he has really, really, REALLY bad hair, and the photo on the back makes me groan with sympathy. These minor grumps aside, these are the best books on coding practice you will get, and every single coder out there that thinks he knows his stuff should buy these just to be shown how wrong they in fact are. Superb.

Classic book, but the paragraphs have no indentations on the Kindle version (at least in the iPad) and the line spacing between paragraphs is the same between and within paragraphs making it all look jumbled together and unprofessional. Other books I've gotten on the iPad look fine.

This book is fantastic, I own three editions.

But the Kindle edition is a pale shadow of the print edition. Purchase the printed edition first, use the Kindle edition only as a portable reference. Expect your reading speed to be much slower on the Kindle edition than in the print edition.

The Kindle display is too narrow for the code, causing lines to wrap at inconvenient places. Code is mostly readable, but the line wraps render the code less readable than the print edition.

The Kindle edition uses the same serifed font for both code and prose, all in black. The printed edition uses a serif font for prose, and uses a sans-serif font to differentiate code. The print edition uses color to identifies important code.

Comparing the two editions gives you deeper appreciation for the art of typesetting.

Photos comparing Kindle and printed formatting at
http://gallery.mac.com/ziggr#100056

The Scott Meyers books were *the* reason I bought a Kindle: these books were in my backpack on the day I ordered my Kindle. "I could carry a 10oz Kindle instead of a stack of books? Sold!" Even with the Kindle's limited formatting capabilities, I'm glad to finally have them in a Kindle edition.

One of the more practical books I've read on c++.
Easy to read and gets right to the point.

The book is divided into short chapters that covers some of the less-known subjects of c++, such as explicit constructors, virtual destructors, smart pointers, slicing issues, c++ castings & inlines, compilation dependancies, private inheritance, virtual multiple inheritance, templates meta-programming, placement new overloading and STL' TR1.

I've been programming c++ for more than 5 years and still managed to learn new things from reading it, so I would recommand to anyone giving it a try.

The author proposes different ways(good and bad ways) of coding or solving a problem( design problem) and presents the best practise and explains beautifully why it is a best practice. His explanations are entertaining and like a mystery novel gripping, you won't put it down untill finished.

Programming experience in C++ is assumed but a novice too can appreciate his book. My suggestion is, if you are a novice, read and grasp the concepts and syntax using Books like Stanley Lipmann's C++ primer, then jump to this book.

This book is indispensible for a C++ interview, make it a point to read this book before an interview. Various concepts of C++ are dealt with like const pointers, when to go for template class design and when to go for a inheritance class design, what is an interface, when one should use virtual destructors and when not to ( not many books say why not to ), operator overloading, the list goes on and on...