Problem Solving, Abstraction, and Design Using C++ (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Frank L. Friedman (Author), Elliot B. Koffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0201612771 | ISBN-13: 978-0201612776 | Edition: 3rd

In the third edition of this introductory programming book, authors Frank Friedman and Elliot Koffman continue their strong focus on teaching beginners how to program and how to write C++ code. Problem Solving, Abstraction, and Design Using C++ focuses on problem solving by consistently using a five-step problem-solving process throughout the book. This book uses C++ to teach introductory principles of software engineering while tailoring these principles to the abilities of novice programmers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Frank Friedman and Elliot Koffman continue their strong focus on teaching beginners how-to program, and not just how to write C++ code. Problem Solving, Abstraction, and Design Using C++ focuses on problem solving by consistently using a five-step problem-solving process throughout the book. This text uses C++ to teach introductory principles of software engineering while tailoring these principles to the abilities of beginning computer science students.

0201612771B04062001

About the Author

Dr. Frank L. Friedman is Professor and Chairman of Computer and Information Science at Temple University. He received M.S. degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Purdue University and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University. Dr. Friedman is also the coauthor of textbooks on programming in Fortran and Basic. His current research and instructional interests are in software engineering, specifically object-oriented paradigms for software design. Elliot Koffman is a professor of computer and information science at Temple University. He is one of the country's foremost CS educators, a former chairman of the ACM Task Force for introductory programming methods courses, and author of a number of successful language texts in Modula-2, FORTRAN, in addition to his four editions of Pascal and Turbo Pascal. 0201612771AB04062001

Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley; 3rd edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201612771
• ISBN-13: 978-0201612776
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,190,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Opinion of a C++ Instructor, May 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Problem Solving, Abstraction, and Design Using C++ (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

In my opinion, this book is below average. According to the chapters it covers, this should be a book for beginners at programming. But by reading the book, only non-beginners would be able to follow all the examples. Rather than rely on the feedback of one person, I will give you the feedback of the students that I taught with this book. Most students beginning a programming class will have a hard time understanding this book that assumes that you already know a lot about math and logic. When I tried assigning homework from this book, most of my students had problems just understanding what the math and logic of the problem would require, and couldn't concentrate on the programming concepts. There are quite a number of inaccuracies in it as well, such as it's miscalling preprocessor directives a compiler directive. It also calls an array a data type which it is not, it is a data structure. It also calls the exponent of a scientific notation a characteristic. That term is only used in the natural science community. Even the IEEE standard for floating-point numbers calls it exponent and not characteristic. One of its first examples starts with a standard input statement without prompting the user with what input the program expects. These little annoying problems with this book have caused me to abandon it all together. I would much rather recommend Diane Zak's Fundamentals of Programming in C++ if you are a beginner to programming.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Works well when accompanied by a talented instructor, June 17, 2003

By 

Irving M. Lamansky (Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Problem Solving, Abstraction, and Design Using C++ (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

This book was required for a C++ course I attended at the local community college. I had been doing some minor programming in other languages but felt I needed at solid foundation in C++. This book would have been a difficult place to start. However, thanks to a talented and very patient instructor, the entire class did well. I would have given at least a four star rating but this Addison/Wesley paperback was very poorly published. Pages fell out daily throughout the semester. Have some tape and glue handy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Copied and Pasted from Previous Edition, February 1, 2010

By 

Joseph Bradley Mccullough - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Problem Solving, Abstraction & Design Using C++ (5th Edition) (Paperback)

I'm using this for COSC 1436, introductory C++. I had coincidentally picked up the 3rd edition of this book from a used bookstore last year for 5 bucks just for curiosities sake. There is almost no difference between the two editions. This book still refers to a floppy disk as a normal form of data storage?!?! The examples are the same too. As I'm reading through my 3rd edition while writing this review, I am severely missing the 90 dollars I forked over.

The content in my opinion is fine, not too hard to get through. So why am I giving this book a low rating? The publisher has not justified at ALL a new edition. You might think "Well the new edition will have different programming homework problems to work"

BARELY. Keep in mind this is not one, but TWO editions old. The only difference is that on some chapters, the newer edition has 2 or 3 more problems, but the problems they have in common are exactly the same down to the numbers.

If you are thinking about buying this book, just go buy this one for a penny + shipping. [...]

In the statistically improbable event that your teacher assigns a problem that your edition doesn't have, just ask a classmate to see their book for 2 minutes and write it down! Or use the school library edition if one is available.