Customer Reviews

C/C++ Programmer's Reference (Programmers Pocket References)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I agree, the first guy was clueless. This is a fantastic reference. The key word here is reference; this book does not teach you C++, nor does it try to. It is like a dictionary of the language. This is the book to look stuff up in when writing real code.

I like the style of this book much better than that of the "In a Nutshell" reference books, so I plan to get the Java version of this book ("Java 2 Programmer's Reference") instead of "Java in a Nutshell". Stuff is much easier to find.

Most compilers come with their own reference on disk, but they usually mix platform dependent stuff with platform independent stuff. I need my code to be as portable as possible, so I prefer to look stuff up in here.

It's cheap. It's great. Buy it.

As an experienced programmer, this book is simply ideal for me. Whether to remind me of the ordering of parameters to functions or to recall the subtleties of using the STL, it's all there.

The book is thoroughly cross-referenced, has an excellent index, and is well organized -- it can be meaningfully browsed end to end, an extraordinary accomplishment. Mr. Schildt describes each entry concisely, thoroughly, and in a completely readable way. Consider for example the following description of the "static" keyword:
"static is a data type modifier that creates permanent storage for the local variable that it precedes. This enables the specified variable to maintain its value between function calls, for example.
"static can also be used to declare global variables. In this case, it limits the scope of the variable that it modifies to the file in which it is declared.
"In C++, when static is used on a class data member, it causes only one copy of that member to be shared by all objects of its class."
That is without compare the cleanest description of the keyword I've ever seen. This is a typical entry; it's all there, with enough detail that I recall exactly what is going on.

I am amused by the various bad reviews which complain that this is not a "complete" reference. It is exactly the judicious editing and concision which makes this so useful to me. My only complaint is in fact the opposite; that in some cases it goes into too much detail. There are sporadic "Programming Tips" scattered throughout, and I find each of these to be a waste of time in a reference text. These would seem more appropriate in an introductory text.

In short, this is an extremely useful reference for the experienced developer.

This book is immensely helpful for anyone with prior programming experience that wants to quickly learn c/c++. The layout of the book is great, and the way they differentiate c from c++ is very simply stated. They also quickly explain the basic concepts in c/c++ very well. They give it to you straight, and don't treat you as clueless like most books do. I strongly recommend it.. but only if you already know programming.

A quick reference indeed... a little too quick for my taste. The book is also very bulky on the inside (it seems as if the font was incresased in order to take up space). If you are the type of programmer that can spend the entire day with the computer turned on, this book would be a horrible waste of money. You could get better, and more in-depth info with the online references that most of todays compilers include. But if you're like me, and you often read and check code when your computer is off, or you're on the road and forgot the declaration to some function and don't want to turn on the laptop. This is a very nice book. Small (fits into a suitcase nicely) and "to the point" (very "to the point") info on C and C++'s syntax, basic functions, STLs, container classes, etc. I'm an amateur programmer that didn't want to spend alot of money on a huge book, and this turned out to be an OK buy. If you're looking for more in depth info on both C and C++. I have heard that Harbison and Steel's "C: A Reference Manual" is a great buy for the C programmer, and "C++ The Complete Reference" from Herb Schildt is also nice. All in all... this book gets 3-1/2 stars... for its utility on the road/offline, or when you don't have an online reference manual. Cheap too.!

This book has been a valuable reference for myself and my collegues. I also have "STL from the ground up" but find that 99% of the time I turn to "C/C++ Programmers's Reference" as a STL reference.

This book is a "Must Have" for any serious C/C++ programmer. It is not intended for people learning to program, but is excellent for people who want to know: what is the format of operator overloading, or a C++ template, or the parameters to the strstr function. It is well laid-out whith function names and keywords highlighted so that they are easily seen when thumbing through the pages. Very good table of contents and index.

This book is worth it's weight in gold to any C or C++ programmer. All of the basic types and header files, ansi c and ansi c++, what isn't portable and why. The STL and much much more. All in clear concise summarized format for the programmer who wants answers now and doesn't want Long explanations of simple topics.

This is Schildt's "C Pocket Reference," "the next generation." He covers more here than he did in the Pocket Reference editions, adding C++ in there. It's not a tutorial, but it's not intended to be. It's a quick reference, and for that, it's organized well.

I bought Herb Schildt's C++ the Complete Reference (3rd Edition) ten years ago as a freshman computer science student. The binding finally gave up the ghost in more than a few places last month and I think it needs to be put out to pasture. I bought this book thinking I'm a little older and (arguably) wiser now and maybe could get by with a slimmer reference book. So far this book has been perfect. This is much more of a C reference than I was expecting but I don't think that is a bad thing (I finally learned why restrict keeps showing up in my man pages!). The book certainly has C++ chops as well. For now I feel comfortable using this instead of my Complete Reference, perhaps I'll upgrade when (if?) the 0x standard finally comes out. This book is for the experienced programmer. If you are new to the languages or only have a couple of years under your belt, the Complete Reference version is the way to go. Some reviewers chastise this book for its lack of detail, perhaps they would be better served by the Complete Reference. And finally, this isn't an STL reference; it's a core language reference. There are better options for that sort of thing.

It's true that a book of this size has no chance of containing all possible information about the functions it features. You probably won't learn to use the functions herein described with this book. What it does set out to do, it does very well. I use this book nearly every day as a syntactical reference. It contains prototypes along with brief descriptions of functionality and extensive cross references. It is perfect for those functions you use just infrequently enough to remember the exact order of parameters. The organization is easy to use.C and C++ standard input/output and other standard functions are included. I highly recommend this book.