35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Solid language tutorial, but not really dedicated to Linux, September 9, 2002
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself C++ for Linux in 21 Days (Paperback)
TEACH YOURSELF C++ FOR LINUX IN 21 DAYS, while it may seem the ideal book to the budding Linux programmer because of its size, is a poor book for the beginner, and indeed for most programmers hoping to use C++. The book is a so-so introduction to C++ the language, but doesn't offer any useful Linux-specific information (if you want to program in Linux, you probably already know what vi and emacs are, and how to open a command-line). The CD-ROM, containing a distribution of Mandrake Linux, is three years old and thus already ancient compared to today's Linux scene.
The book is not really a "21 day" course, but rather a course made up of 21 units. Some units are too big to tackle in one day, such as the chapters on references and error-handling, unless one has 8 hours to dedicate to this. I'd say three months is a reasonable amount of time to complete this book.
When this book came out, in 1999, the K Desktop Environment (KDE), programmed in C++, was the most popular desktop and thus budding programmers could find plenty of code to work with and improve. In the years since, however, the GNOME desktop, programmed in C, has gained ascendency among power users, and is now the default in many distributions. So, learning C++ on Linux nowadays as a first step in programming gives one very little to work with, as C is the primary language. While in many operating systems one doesn't have to learn C before C++, in Linux it is almost essential because the kernel, most if not all GNU software, and GNOME programs are all in C. So, for the beginning Linux programmer I'd advise first going through Sam's C FOR LINUX PROGRAMMING IN 21 DAYS. Afterward, one could use this book, or ideally a more Linux-centric book, to reap the object-oriented benefits of C++.
Unfortunately, it is quickly apparent that TEACH YOURSELF C++ FOR LINUX IN 21 DAYS is actually just Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C++ in 21 DAYS with a couple of token references to the GNU Compiler Collection, and a very out-of-date "bonus week" added. This becomes particulary obvious as every chapter has talks about how to compile each example on, of all things, DOS. Another problem stemming from the fact the most of the authors aren't Linux programmers, one that consistently shows throughout the book, is the authors' lack of familiarity with free software and the GPL. As a result, the chapter on software design shows a process best suited to the programming department of a corporation, where everyone can get together every morning to discuss the project, and this would not be very efficient in the Linux world of international contribution over distance. A glance at the authors' experience shows they may not be dedicated to ideals of the GNU Public License and open-source software, for example Jesse Libery is now consulting on the .NET project. I would urge anyone wishing to program on Linux to use resources written by actual Linux programmers.
Bottom line, get Sam's C FOR LINUX PROGRAMMING IN 21 DAYS first if you're a beginner. If you're an experience programmer who already knows C, this book may be helpful, but it has its problems.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!, April 25, 2000
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself C++ for Linux in 21 Days (Paperback)
I think that this book is perfect for the programmer that is used to Windows, but not familiar to Linux simply because that's exactly what I am. This book starts out from the very bottom just like most of the other Sams books, but it also covers advanced functions. I do think that they could have covered some of the chapters more extensively, but overall I liked it very much. I'd reccomend this book for beginners to Linux, no matter how good they are with C++. Sams did a great job with this one.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
great for beginner, needs some work on the examples, January 8, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself C++ for Linux in 21 Days (Paperback)
I'll start of with the positive, this book definately give lots of explanations of the concepts used, and lots of background for those not familiar with GNU/Linux or C++. I did find the example code supplied extremely buggy, and required lots of modifications to compile. Also, in the sections of system calls (threads and pipes), the example code only shows wrappers around the actual calls needed, and they only show the definition of that wrapper class, not the implementation. I guess if I want to find out exactly how to create a thread or named pipe, i'll have to dig elsewhere.
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