Customer Reviews

C++ Primer Plus (5th Edition) (Practical)

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are new to C++, this is THE C++ you need to read. There is another book called "C++ Primer" (no plus). The following comment is what I wrote for the book C++ Primer, which may give you some idea of the difference between these two:

This is a great book for anyone who want to enhance his/her knowledge
on C++, but this is by no means a primer book. If you are new to C++,
read the book "C++ primer plus" first. It is so funny that the book
"C++ primer plus" (which is also a great book) is really an introductory
book. The names of these two books should be swapped because C++ Primer
introduces more advanced topics and the topics that an experience programmer should know but a student does not need to. From my teaching experience in a state university, I would suggest students to read C++ books in the following order:

C++ primer Plus
C++ Primer
Thinking in C++ (great book, free on the internet)
The C++ Programming Language (by Stroustrup)

Then you may want to read some books on special topics such as Visual C++, Database, etc.

Stephen Prata: give the man a cheer (beer!) (or many)! This book is good...no, not good...GREAT! A book doesn't last 20 years (yes, 20) through various editions (5 obviously) without being something special. And this is no exception. This is unqeustionably the best beginner/intermediate book on C++ I have ever read (it pains me to say it...but it has dethroned Object oriented programming in c++ by Lafore, ISBN 0672323087 in that respect). Maybe it's just me, but Prata has a tone (a way) that just makes it VERY easy to relate to the concepts he is trying to explain. He doesn't belabor a point, nor does he treat you like a gumby or one of his colleagues to impress with his knowledge of the arcana of C++. He, oddly enough, seems more interested in teaching you (properly) then trying to get paid (look at the size of the book! if he were looking to get paid, cut the book in half, sell it in two parts or sell one reduced size part for the same price).

Prata offers fair coverage of the language: particularly the basics, as well as some nice software engineering opinions along the way (not in little colored boxes like Deitel with an Ant picture...which is cool: the ant analogy just annoys me- loss of identity, no individuality, part of a hive, etc...). Obviously he can't cover everything. Check out the chapter listing to see if he has what you want! But what he does cover-> the ++basics are extremely well done. There are programming exercises at the end of each chapter of course (with answers).

Prata has adopted a friendly, welcoming tone, laced with humor (not insipid humor, or just plain lame). He doesn't lambast microsoft or push any particular product/compiler. He provides little tips if you're using new or old, non-ansi-c++ compliant compilers. This is just a really helpful, useful, good to learn from book. I've read it to recover some obfuscated c++ knowledge lost from spending too long in java land (a nice, highly productive place...but just a little too safe if know what I mean: everything is fenced in and there are no pointers for self navigation!), so my opinion may be from somebody who is not a beginner. Nevertheless, having taught people, i would suggest this: this is a pedagogically sound work that offers achievement and understanding for anybody willing to step up and take a serious whack at c++. Read it and enjoy a true rarity nowadays: someting that not only lives up to its promise, but goes beyond it. This is money that is sure to be spent in a non-resentful manner: there's no buyer's remorse here! There's nothing about this book that I find weak.

Very well done Mr Prata!

Definitely Two thumbs up!

The decorously named "C++ Primer Plus, fifth edition" is a book for C++ beginners and those who would consider themselves a C++ virtuoso. C++ Primer Plus doesn't follow the trend of being the type of programming book that you either learn from and set away forever on a dusty shelf nor the type that you can use as a reference guide but can't use it to learn from. This is one of the few programming books I have read that I have both learned from and can still use as a perfectly suitable reference guide.

In C++ Primer Plus, you are lead through the "cin's" and "cout's" of C++. In this book you will be given well guided lessons with examples from the basic to the advanced features of this wonderfuly capable programming language. You will learn the common C++ programming idioms and techniques as you turn the pages, each example constructed clearly and professionally. One of the great features attributed to this book is the dedication to teaching its readers C++, one being each example code given to you to
use was carefully crafted to be compitable with most popular and even a few less heard of, C++ compilers.

The author is also good at explaining each piece of code with wonderful precision and patience, so well in fact they don't have to provide constant screen shots to show what they are trying to explain - unlike many other programming books.

If you have ever wanted to learn a programming language that is greatly respected in the business world, then I would of course suggest picking up C++. If you want a great book to learn from and use as a guide throughout your programming life for C++, then I suggest picking up "C++ Primer Plus, fifth edition". Just as much as I appreciate this book for its ability to teach people directly, I equally would recommend this book as a
good teaching text for those of you who may already know C++ but find it hard to teach others. I myself hope to use this book to teach others by one day.
-Rift-

I'm a very picky kind of guy when it comes to buying books on programming. To see what I think of this book, you should read my little story.

When I entered the wonderful world of programming, I chose Visual Basic .NET. This language was famous for being easy to learn. What I didn't know was that it had grown into something more complex, and .NET is a bit tougher to learn than any of the previous versions. So I thought it would only be natural that I needed to buy a couple of books to master the language.

The more books I bought, the more I got sick and tired of authors who weren't able to follow simple naming conventions. Another annoying thing with .NET books is that you can find one sentence in almost all of them saying, "You don't need to know this" when it comes to using built-in functions. Whether I need to know something or not is my decision, not the author's decision. So the author's job is to explain it, and if I really "don't need to know it", I can skip the section. But to make matters worse, most authors didn't even switch to .NET and continued writing bad code as they did with previous versions of Visual Basic, which has nothing to do with .NET. In consequence, I switched to C#, hoping that things would get better.

After the switch, I could still use my Visual Basic .NET books because the syntax is so similar. But I decided to buy some C# books since I hoped that quality would get better. In fact, quality did get much better. But another problem was still the same: most beginning .NET books are too trivial, too superficial, and too incomplete. For a good start with .NET, you need quite a couple of books. The nine books on .NET I own range from beginner topics to advanced topics, but I still find it's incomplete and much too superficial. Not even all the books together give me the information I want.

In terms of syntax, C# and C++ are quite similar. If you can read C# code, then you can read C++ code and vice versa. I know that many C++ book authors go a bit deeper, so I decided to buy a book on C++ to see if that could provide me with the information I want and need. After some research, I ordered C++ Primer Plus mainly based on the excellent reviews here at Amazon.

The reader arrived quickly, and I started immediately. After the first chapter, I knew I had wasted a lot of money - on the nine books I own, that is. This one is a beginner's book, but it goes much deeper than all the other books I own together. If I had known this before, you can be damn sure that C++ Primer Plus would be the only beginner's book on my shelf.

The author has written a true jewel - coherently, concise, and fun to read. It even covers topics that you can't find in advanced .NET books, so I guess another switch is about to happen.

If I had to vote for the best beginner's programming book, this is it. No matter at what level you are, this book is great to have on your shelf. You'll appreciate Stephen's talent to get you started in case you've never touched programming before. If you think you're advanced, put this book on your shelf - it's great for reference as well. Fed up with superficial .NET? Come over to C++, Stephen makes it so simple. Want to continue with .NET? No problem, I have nine books for sale.

I was learning C++ in order to program music applications. I found this book to be the clearest computer book of any I have ever read. He orders his thoughts clearly. The examples maintain interest. Unlike the "learn c++ quickly"-type books, he goes into great detail on subjects like dynamic memory allocation etc. You will be programming simply in hours (my ten year old could program the first few chapter exercises), but can go the the high intermediate level with this one book. Don't waste your time with any other c++ book. Get this one first!

If you already know some basic programming concepts, and want to see how C++ works as compared to what you already know, this book is fantastic. You can be writing your own programs in a short time. He does not shy away from explaining fairly complex things early in the text, and makes sure to explain everything he uses in every code listing, which is very very helpful. I'm not sure I would use this book if I had never written a program in any language, though -- the same explanations that I appreciated might be too much for a complete novice.

I've been working through this book to learn C++. It is an excellent teacher. I particularly like that it does not assume I am an expert C programmer like so many other C++ books. It also doesn't use C-ish code to do lots of the common tasks.

The exercises are good...not too difficult, not too easy. They tend to take me 15-30 minutes each. I haven't had any problems compiling the examples in the book that I've chosen.

However, when I reached Chapter 13, the binding broke. I now have two books loosely connected by a thin strip of paper. I'll have to rebind it, probably as two different parts. For the cost of this book, I expect a better quality product. None of my heavily used O'Reilly texts have ever had their binding break. So I've subtracted one star for that.

I'm a veteran C programmer and have been given an assignment in C++. I thought the jump would be a piece of cake, because I had sort of looked at C++ many years ago never going much beyond Hello World, and because I had done 2 years of C# programming. It turned out that C++ is considerably more complex than I had expected and it has evolved over the years. I did have Lipmann's C++ Primer in its second edition but nearly every time I tried to read it I would fall asleep. Somehow Lippman's style didn't grab me. I also had some other advanced books, but they were rather dated, and were perhaps the wrong place to start. I had bought C++ in a Nutshell and didn't like it at all as a way of learning C++. So I decided to get an up to date book that focussed on the concept and saw that this was highly recommended.
When the book came in the mail I was shocked at how big it is. I had to take the lift to get back to my apartment ;).
I had been expecting a book around 400 pages, it is 1200 pages. I guess that it's the language's fault.

Since I had a special need: to find a thorough explanation of references as used by functions, I jumped straight to the chapter, and found its style was wonderful. It could not be better. The text is full of reminders of concept he uses, just in case you had not read them very carefully before. I'm finding the style most engaging unlike Lipmann. It reads so well that the extra pages don't matter so much.

I've tried various topics and have found that you can go straight to the topic and get by quite well, because the author is constantly reminding you of the assumptions.

Unlike some other introductions to C++ this one does not stop early, and it insists a lot on what is going on behind the scenes.
I also noticed that it's very usable by people who do not have much programming experience. I would not recommend that anyone start programming with C++ however, it's just too complex. You would be better off starting with Python or Java.

Based on what I have read, it seems that Prata's place in heaven is assured.
The Devil learns C++ in Prata. (sorry I could not resist that one).

Update:
I have been reading this book a while now, and I must say that it's not wonderful as a reference, because it's hard to find information on a specific topic without having read a considerable amount of what was said before. It's also rather hard for me to skim tough the pages to find the explanation of something, so I'll have to use the index. But it's not meant as a reference, (However it does have a few very good reference sections, like the one on the STL) but rather as a teaching book where you go through the chapters one after the other.

I've just been reading the section on Iterators. It's simply the best explanation I have ever read of this topic. I found it much better than Ivor Horton's text on this point.

You will probably want several C++ books, including a reference book like C++ in a Nutshell. Bu dont read the latter until you have mastered the basics with a book like this one.

C++ Primer Plus (5th Edition)
This is probably the best C++ book I have read. It is not overly technical or cryptic, but it can still effectively teach the language to anyone. With just the right amount of humor, it walks the reader through all of the technical concepts.
This book, however, has a very poor binding. Before I even opened the book, I could see that the binding was starting to come apart. Every time I opened it up thereafter, it came apart a little bit more. I understand that this is a 1200-page book, but there is no excuse for the binding.

Book covered all the sections in c++. English is my second language but this is book so easy for me to read and actually I enjoy it cause I can understand every concept with the examples provided. I have read starting out with C++ but C++ Primer Plus has different view about programming(they compiled the C++ in human language).