Data Abstraction and Problem Solving With C++: Walls and Mirrors 2nd Edition

by Frank M. Carrano (Author), Paul Helman (Author), Robert Veroff (Author)

21 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0201874020

ISBN-10: 0201874024

Why is ISBN important?

Hardcover

$6.74 - $78.95

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 4 versions

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Better World Books: East

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

FREE delivery May 9 - 12. Details

UK imports may differ from local products. Additional terms apply. Learn More.

Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. Details

Ships from and sold by Amazon Global Store UK.

Amazon US Return Policy applies to this item.

There is a newer edition of this item:

Data Abstraction & Problem Solving with C++: Walls and Mirrors
$149.06
(98)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Focusing on data abstraction and data structures, the second edition of this very successful books continues to emphasize the needs of both the instructor and the student. The book illustrates the role of classes and abstract data types (ADTs) in the problem-solving process as the foundation for an object-oriented approach. Throughout the text, the distinction between specification and implementation is continually stressed. The text covers major applications of ADTs, such as searching a flight map and performing an event-driven simulation. It also offers early, extensive coverage of recursion and uses this technique in many examples and exercises. Overall, the lucid writing style, widespread use of examples, and flexible coverage of the material have helped make this a leading book in the field. New in this Edition:

Uses recent enhancements to C++, such as data type bool and C++ strings

States ADT operations in English, specifies them in pseudocode, and finally implements them in C++. Students can see more clearly the progression from an informal statement of an operation to a more formal specification.

Offers new and revised examples of ADTs that clarify their relationships to classes as well as new coverage of dynamically allocated arrays and circuits

Provides more balance between numeric and nonnumeric examples of recursion

Contains many new exercises and programming problems

From the Back Cover

New in this Edition Uses recent enhancements to C++, such as data type bool and C++ strings States ADT operations in English, specifies them in pseudocode, and finally implements them in C++. Students can see more clearly the progression from an informal statement of an operation to a more formal specification. Offers new and revised examples of ADTs that clarify their relationships to classes as well as new coverage of dynamically allocated arrays and circuits Provides more balance between numeric and nonnumeric examples of recursion Contains many new exercises and programming problems

** Instructor's materials are available from your sales rep.0201874024B04062001

About the Author

Frank M. Carrano is Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Rhode Island.

0201874024AB04062001

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Addison-Wesley; 2nd edition (November 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0201874024
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0201874020
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.76 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.25 x 8.5 x 10.5 inches

Customer Reviews:
21 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Frank M. Carrano

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star		26%
4 star		22%
3 star		24%
2 star		15%
1 star		14%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Jeff Haskell

Wasted money

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2008

Verified Purchase

Don't be confused by the 5 star reviews. This book is horrible and can only be trumped by the 5th edition of the same title (sadly I know first hand).

It is particularly funny that reviewers state there are great coding examples contained in this book. Are there really? Did you actually read the same book I am trying to read? Perhaps they are confusing the totally worthless pseudo-code with code examples.

If you are used to learning from other computer books that:
1. Summarize the topic of a section/chapter.
2. Show you a WORKING, compilable code example.
3. Then go into greater detail about the functionality.
This book is NOT for you.

But please, don't take my word for it. Search out the name Frank Carrano on Amazon and look at the 1 Star reviews of other books he has pushed on the college education system. If you are thinking of taking this as a college course and have less than 2 years C++ programming, DON'T TAKE THE COURSE.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ian Boggs

Carrano can fill the pages with words, unfortunately that doesn't mean much

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2010

Verified Purchase

I come from a long history of what I would call informal programming. I've now decided to take formal classes in computer science and get more into the sciency side of computers. A couple of the important concepts a computer scientist needs to understand are recursion, and abstract data types.

Sadly, this book fails to concisely provide the information you need to learn these concepts. Sure, there are the classic examples, towers of Hanoi, 8 queens problem, etc. But the amount of text Carrano requires to get from A to B is astounding. Even worse, you can't skim this book (believe me, I tried) or you'll end up confused.

So, I pick it up every day, hoping it won't bore me to death to the point where I give up on CS altogether. Had the author had a better set of editors to help him whittle down his material, this could've been a great book; one to keep even after the class is over. Instead, I can't wait to sell it to some other poor chump for his/her course on Data Structures.

As a good example of a "textbook" on the subject (algorithms instead of data structures), check out Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen. Now that is an example of a book that's concise and useful past the end of the course.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

burningbaal

clear and easy

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

glad I bought the book. I took the class online through a community college after two c++ based programming courses. book does a pretty good job of showing both graphically and in pseudo- and in actual code (c++) how the data type should function.

worth it.

Helpful

Xingxin Zhong

This is an excellent textbook that I used at UCLA during my short ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent textbook that I used at UCLA during my short exchange. I was an undergraduate at that time and only took an very introductory course in C++ prior to reading this book. Right now, I am away from programming for many years and still wanna use this as a reference when I am preparing interviews related to C++.

Helpful

Humberto Hernandez

Very Satisfied

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

Super good deal and perfect condition!!

Helpful

J. Denton

minor sticker issue. Fine otherwise

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2010

Verified Purchase

My only problem with it is that it still has the old rental store's sticker on it, claiming that it is a rental. I wish they had removed that, but otherwise it came in in the description provided.

Helpful

Ludvik Jerabek

Masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2006

This book is a great book to learn data structures. The book should not be read by the absolute beginner and you should have a solid C++ foundation. I used this book for a distance learning data structures class and found every chapter to be well written. The book explains everything in great detail even without an instructor to guide you through you will achieve a solid foundation in data structures. The book has excellent examples of recursion, sorting, hashing, and binary trees. They explain the efficiency(in big O) of the sorts\searches and when to use them. This book is an easy read with great examples but in some cases it helps to do computations on paper or compile small examples so you can truly understand how the various data structures are working. The section on hashing greatly demystifies hashing algorithms and how they work. You can download the sample code from the web. These authors did an excellent job of delivering a clear and concise text on data structures. I would recommend this book to anyone serious about learning data structures and recursion.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

nevermore

A lot of words

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2011

This books has a lot of words ... which I'm sure is enough for some people to find it good and challenging but when I read a book like this I'm looking for some substance.

How this book ever made it to the curriculum of any course is no less than appalling, first thing you see when you open it is "the life cycle of software" ... or for someone who has built software before ... WATERFALL! Even the guy credited with inventing the waterfall model says that his original report called it "an example of a flawed, non-working model" (wikipedia on waterfall model) and this is honestly the first book I read that doesn't use it as an example of what not to do.

The author also hammers on how programming is only "a small part" of the process and is far less important than the other phases (I know, I know, managers can't stand the thought that a lowly programmer is doing something more important than them ... ) but the remaining chapters deal with "how to program something" ...

I did not read a single thing in any of the long (LONG) chapters that was not explained better in a single wikipedia page on the same subject.

The one star I'm giving this is because next winter this book will provide my home with 15 minutes of heat and amusement while I watch it burn.

Helpful

Data Abstraction and Problem Solving With C++: Walls and Mirrors 2nd Edition

Buy used: $6.74

Buy new: $78.95

Amazon Global Store

There is a newer edition of this item:

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Frank M. Carrano

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Buy used:

$6.74

Buy new:

$78.95