Customer Reviews

C++ How to Program (4th Edition)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I am currently a Computer Science major. Until now I couldnt find a C++ book that I felt was better than our text book. Browsing through C++ book after C++ book has led only to dissappointment. I have spent the last year looking for a great C++ reference book that also explains things in a straightforward non-egotistical way.
I hit the jackpot when I went to Amazon and went for the best reviewed book.
'C++ How To Program' explains the most important aspects of programming in a straightforward manner. The example codes are reader friendly due to the color highlighting and all work.
This covers everything from variables to data structures! The book has the added bonus of CGI implementation. Preprocessor is covered as well as an intense explanation of classes, which make C++ the great object oriented language it is.
I recommend this book to any Computer Science major or aspiring computer programmer

Quite possibly the absolute best C++ book ever!

The book covers everything from the very simplest concepts (starting off with the standard "Hello World"-type program that explains that statements must end with semicolons, the use of curly braces, that every program starts execution at the main function, and so on) up to topics such as templates, pure virtual functions, polymorphism via base class pointers to derived classes, structured exception handling, and more.

One of the best things about this book is that it EXPLICITLY teaches you good programming practices, all the way through. Some C++ books meant for beginners try to teach you the language and don't even bother to try to teach you how to write programs correctly. Not this book. Time after time they tell you the proper method of writing code, as well as explaining why it should be done that way.

Also, the authors practice what they teach (and preach). For example, chapter "X" explains how to create templates, then when chapter "Y" creates a generic data structure, like a stack or queue, the authors do so using templates. Some other books teach you something in one chapter and then seem to forget it even exists.

Also, at least the version I have, comes with a Visual C++ 6.0 compiler (its a learning edition or something, not the full version. But who would expect that anyway?).

It's a pretty hefty price compared to many other C++ books. But, not trying to sound too much like an "infomercial", this is probably the only text you will ever need for C++ programming. So you save money by buying this one text instead of buying two or three that each does only a part of what this book does.

Oh, let me clarify something. This book does a pretty comprehensive coverage of ANSI/ISO Standard C++, the subject of the book. It does not teach C++ .NET (but, the same authors do have another book for that!).

Finally, I ran across this book when tutoring someone in a college C++ programming course. So even university professors recognize the worth of the text.

At first I considered C++ How to Program a text book. The thing is, it's not like any text book I've ever seen! It's written in language that's easy to understand, has many diagrams that helps your knowledge and is of a very high quality.

As a gift to anyone who has the slightest interest in programming this would be the book to give. It may come with a hefty price tag, but this is money that's not going to waste.

The book comes with exercises (very good idea!) although most of them don't have the answers. This comes in a separate book. The thing is, if you've taken your time and worked through the chapter then you will be able to solve the exercises. It's such a great feeling when you work out something challenging without referring to any answers. Doing things your OWN way in programming is something that many programmers should adopt.

I was reading C++ From The Ground Up (3rd Ed) by Herbert Schildt and I thought that it was a good book. The thing was that he really made topics like pointers immensely hard! I started getting frustrated and felt as though I needed a break from C++, which I took and moved to other languages. I was then given Deitel's C++ How to Program and it made C++ fun. Not many books, or even people, can do that. I am enjoying working through this book!

Overall this book is for the beginner to intermediate programmer looking to dip into the C++ pool. It's bloody good and I'd recommend it to anyone. I even sent the authors an email asking a question to which I received a timely response. Impressive stuff that was! The colors used makes life easy and the way the authors describe topics will suit even the dimmest of people.

This book ideal if you're bored and want to acquire a new skill, struggling with a C++ subject at school and need some help, taking a course at university and find their textbooks bland or even if you're in a work environment. This book will serve you well.

This book is probably 75% identical to the Deitels' "C How to Program" book (4th edition, like this book). So, for a little more information, you might take a look at my review of that book here on Amazon. The biggest differences between the books are:

- Even though most of the examples are the same, their implementations have been redone from a C perspective to a C++ perspective. This is not a C book with C++ tacked on. It's a C++ book that leverages examples from a C book. If you hadn't read the other book, you'd never know the examples didn't originate for use in this book.
- This book includes an Elevator Simulation case study using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to emphasize the object orientedness of C++ and to show the reader how to implement a fairly good-sized project in C++.
- Although the C version of the book also includes a C++ segment, this book gives a far more in-depth coverage and includes some things that aren't included there (the Standard Template Library comes to mind).

So, which book to choose? If you're using these books for a class, there's no choice: get the one the class requires. If you're trying to learn C++ on your own from scratch, this book is the best choice. If you don't know whether you should learn C or C++, this is also the book to get: it's probably heresy to say, but if you know C++, you essentially know C. If you're a pure C type, you might pick up the C version as an excellent reference and read the segments on C++ and Java included in that book. Those segments are condensed enough that you shouldn't be bored going through them. As with the C book, in the preface of this book, the Deitels state that the book is for everyone (beginners to experts) who want to learn the language. They've made a very good stab at that goal, but realistically, I'd have to say that those who are professional programmers in other languages will find this book too long for their needs.

A couple of additional notes. First, the use of color in this book seems to be a recurring motif in the reviews here. I was very pleased with the book's use of color. As fully explained in the preface, all that color conveys information to the reader: it's not there for decoration. First, the code examples (and there are a lot of them) all have a light yellow background, so they are automatically offset from the rest of the text. Then, the type within the coding segments uses other colors to mean certain things: comments are in green, keywords are in dark blue, errors are in red, constants and literal values are in light blue, and all other code is in black. Newly introduced code is also highlighted for emphasis. This is very much in keeping with what various IDEs do to make code more readable (see any of Microsoft's Visual xxx products, the Eclipse Project Universal Tool Platform (specifically, the C/C++ Development Tools), and the Bloodshed Dev-C++ IDE). Beyond that, the book also uses colors to emphasize the titles of the programming tips in the text (i.e., Good Programming Practices, Common Programming Errors, Performance Tips, Portability Tips, Software Engineering Observations, and Testing and Debugging Tips). Again, all of this is an excellent way to convey more information to the reader and is not "distracting" in any way.

On an entirely different note, as an aside, this book is used in Florida State University's COP 3330: "Object-Oriented Programming" course.

Overall, this is a very good book. Experienced programmers might prefer something more terse, but all others will be pleased. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Many yrs ago, I read the 2nd edition and thought it was a adequately well-written book. Recently, I got the 4th edition to refresh my skill in writing C++ code. Noticed that certain chapters were re-arranged.

The best way to learn object-oriented C++ is to understand the concepts from a cause and effect pov. I am a visual learner and I believe that Deitel did a good job in blending the concept with UML-based diagrams. It also included [EZ to Understand] code examples.

This book can also be used as a reference guide or a beginner guide for those with some programming background.

No one book does everything for everyone. No one writing style is perfect for everyone. For someone with a solid programming background and focused on writing good "solid" code, this book is pretty darn good.

I have 5 books on C++, but this was by far the best. It was easy to understand, clearly written, and very thorough. Each time a question started forming in my mind, I'd find the answer in the next sentence or paragraph. No book will ever be a "one stop shop", but this one comes pretty close. If you need to teach your self C++, I'd highly recommend this book.

I'm also a CS student, and I was lucky enough to have this book as one of my class' textbooks. This book completely eclipses every other book I have read on the subject. There is always code to go with every explanation, and the code does a great job demonstrating what is being explained in the text. This book is worth every penny.

This is certainly one of the best introductory/intermediate C++ books available, and can be highly recommended despite it steep price.

(+) It covers a wide range of relevant topics (including some of the more advanced, such as function pointers, multiple inheritance, templates, exceptions etc).
(+) It contains a well chosen abundance of illustrative self-contained examples.
(+) The authors' language is unambiguous, and their style highly pedagogical.
(+) Those with little experience, provided they are motivated and patient, can benefit as much as those who have prior experience with the language.
(+) It comes with a copy ("introductory edition") of Microsoft's Visual C++, on an accompanying Cd, so that you can try out the examples and get practice programming straight away.
(-) The index is so detailed as to be almost useless, with the main references failing to be sufficiently distinguished. This certainly diminishes the books value as a reference.
(-) The big plug for its "Introduction to UML" on the front cover falsely suggests a much better introduction and extensive coverage of UML than is actually present in the book. Though the attempt to introduce UML is commendable, the actual treatment certainly doesn't merit touting in a big flag on the front cover as if it were a moving reason (or any reason, for that matter) to buy the book.
(-) The price is steep, and the answers to the programming exercises are not given (but some can be purchased separately).

This is by far the best introductory computer science book I have ever used. In addition to clear text and numerous code examples, the book comes with Visual Studio C++. Also, if you read the introduction, you'll find you can download the PowerPoint classroom presentations from the publsher's Web site. These presentations have a lot of notes in them that may help clarify the code examples further. Also, if a person has a specific question, they can contact the Deitels via email. Astoundingly, the Deitels will respond within a very short time. I've been amazed at all the "flames" directed toward this book; I've been in the software industry 23 years, and NO book is perfect, but this one comes darned close.

I am an experienced programmer that has mostly utilized interpreted languages (Perl, PHP, Ruby, Python). For a long time I have regretted not knowing a compiled language. This book is absolutely wonderful at helping me transition to C++ syntax and OOD. It explains the concepts in a very straightforward manner. The colored illustrations make readability easier than most books. I went to the book store to purchase another book because this one seemed expensive at first. After comparing the two, and the way content is presented, this book was the only choice. I am more impressed with this book than any other learning reference I have ever used!

This is THE book for familiarizing yourself with the complexities of C++.