Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs 3rd Edition

by Scott Meyers (Author)

381 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0321334879

ISBN-10: 0321334876

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“Every C++ professional needs a copy of Effective C++. It is an absolute must-read for anyone thinking of doing serious C++ development. If you’ve never read Effective C++ and you think you know everything about C++, think again.”
― Steve Schirripa, Software Engineer, Google

“C++ and the C++ community have grown up in the last fifteen years, and the third edition of Effective C++ reflects this. The clear and precise style of the book is evidence of Scott’s deep insight and distinctive ability to impart knowledge.”
― Gerhard Kreuzer, Research and Development Engineer, Siemens AG

The first two editions of Effective C++ were embraced by hundreds of thousands of programmers worldwide. The reason is clear: Scott Meyers’ practical approach to C++ describes the rules of thumb used by the experts ― the things they almost always do or almost always avoid doing ― to produce clear, correct, efficient code.

The book is organized around 55 specific guidelines, each of which describes a way to write better C++. Each is backed by concrete examples. For this third edition, more than half the content is new, including added chapters on managing resources and using templates. Topics from the second edition have been extensively revised to reflect modern design considerations, including exceptions, design patterns, and multithreading.

Important features of Effective C++ include:

Expert guidance on the design of effective classes, functions, templates, and inheritance hierarchies.
Applications of new “TR1” standard library functionality, along with comparisons to existing standard library components.
Insights into differences between C++ and other languages (e.g., Java, C#, C) that help developers from those languages assimilate “the C++ way” of doing things.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

“Every C++ professional needs a copy of Effective C++. It is an absolute must-read for anyone thinking of doing serious C++ development. If you’ve never read Effective C++ and you think you know everything about C++, think again.”
― Steve Schirripa, Software Engineer, Google“C++ and the C++ community have grown up in the last fifteen years, and the third edition of Effective C++ reflects this. The clear and precise style of the book is evidence of Scott’s deep insight and distinctive ability to impart knowledge.”
― Gerhard Kreuzer, Research and Development Engineer, Siemens AG

Important features of Effective C++ include:

Expert guidance on the design of effective classes, functions, templates, and inheritance hierarchies.
Applications of new “TR1” standard library functionality, along with comparisons to existing standard library components.
Insights into differences between C++ and other languages (e.g., Java, C#, C) that help developers from those languages assimilate “the C++ way” of doing things.

About the Author

Scott Meyers is one of the world's foremost authorities on C++, providing training and consulting services to clients worldwide. He is the author of the best-selling Effective C++ series of books (Effective C++, More Effective C++, and Effective STL) and of the innovative Effective C++ CD. He is consulting editor for Addison Wesley's Effective Software Development Series and is a founding member of the Advisory Board for The C++ Source (http://www.artima.com/cppsource). He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Brown University. His web site is http://www.aristeia.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Addison-Wesley Professional; 3rd edition (May 12, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0321334876
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0321334879
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.3 x 1 x 9.15 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #36,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in C++ Programming Language
- #69 in Computer Programming Languages
- #104 in Computer Software (Books)

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381 ratings

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Sarah G.

Excellent Intermediate C++ Book

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2019

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So... I read alot 1 or 2 star reviews for this book and many mention that Meyers either doesn't go into enough detail or he explains things that are rather obvious to most C++ programmers.

I'll tell you a bit of my background and why this book is a goldmine for someone like me:

I have a degree in electrical engineering. I did some C++ programming in college but never got to the OOP stuff when I was in school. As I changed jobs over the years eventually I landed in a position where I needed to manage an existing C++ system. I learned the basics of OOP just by doing some reading online and picked it up over the years as most engineers are able to do. I got to the point where I was very familiar with the system and for the most part I could do pretty much everything I needed do for my job.

But my only formal training on C++ barely even scratched the surface of its capabilities, so I thought I should read a book on some "good practices" in C++.

This book was exactly what I was looking for. Coming in at under 300 pages, and with Meyers listing 55 specific items, this only leaves approximately 5 pages per item. This of course means that this book is not the definitive C++ reference guide. That said, this is not a book for beginners. I would say that you should be practicing OOP within C++ for at least a year before reading this book. (But it probably also isn't a book for experts either, because experts probably already know mostly everything in this book.)

Many of the items in this book are structured like this:
1) Meyers shows some snippet of code that looks innocent at first glance.
2) He explains how this could result in disaster if the exact wrong series of events happen (and provides a basic example of how this might unfold).
3) Then he explains how to modify the code to avoid this behavior. (Although, there are some dark corners of C++ that unfortunately can't be completely prevented from happening, even with proper class design. For these, Meyers explains how to minimize these chances of happening.)

This structure is very easy to understand and effective for retaining the information in this book.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who understands the rules/syntax of C++ and has been using it for a few years, but maybe needs some guidance in taming the C++ beast.

12 people found this helpful

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Sean Richards

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

This book is a really great book. However, I make one observation before I recommend you reading this. You must have attempted or completed at least one very large c++ program. You must be familiar with various design patterns. Have attempted to use said design patters at least one or twice.

C/C++ to me is about your progression in learning the language. Most people start out small begin learning and slow progress to much larger programs. As you make your way to these larger programs you run into some fundamental logic flaws (or design flaws). This book helps shed some very useful and en lighting information on these flaws. Be it you think it's a language flaw or design flaw in your programming. This book will give you some very useful tools to be used medium to large scale c++ programs. It is a most definitely on my recommendation of books to read for a C++ programmer.

15 people found this helpful

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Luan Ta

Coming to C++ as a Java programmer, this book is exactly what I needed!

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2020

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It's quite difficult to find a good book that assumes your familiarity with programming as well as your obliviousness of the language in question. This book happens to be in that rare minority.

The importance of the above assumption cannot be disregarded. This book assumes that you have little to no experience of the language. Every Item goes very deep into explanations of the concepts by giving clear (and realistic) examples of the pros and cons of a certain design. The code examples are especially good as they are not fragmented, yet very easy to understand as well as being relatable (if you are already familiar with programming).

The structure of the book is what stands out the most to me. Not only that this will forever remain as a great reference-book, if you're new to C++ like myself, and there is a concept that troubles you, this structure gives you a place to jump into and explore that concept, and from there, expand into other Items of concepts and ideas you may not even have considered in the first place. Another added bonus is the decomposition of each Item. Each Item is concise enough to be read in one go, yet all of them provide details in-length of the matter at hand. On top of that, the Items are not extremely dependent on other Items, making them easy to read as well as referencing.

2 people found this helpful

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Lantana Al

Why learn this stuff the hard way?

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

I'm a C++ developer and should have read this book a long time ago. It was very helpful in improving my C++ knowledge. I knew I didn't know everything about C++ and needed to learn more and this book and a couple of others (mentioned below) got me on my way to learning more. Of course I still don't know everything about C++, and probably never will, but I've definitely increased my C++ knowledge with this book and the others that I've recently read.

First, I recommend starting with some FREE books you can find on the Internet - called "Thinking in C++" by Bruce Eckel. There are 2 volumes and I recommend both. You can buy the print versions but I used the electronic versions.

I then read this book - Effective C++. Of course there is some repetition, but I like it as it helps 'drive stuff into my head'.

The next book I'll read is Effective STL: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your Use of the Standard Template Library .

I bought Effective C++ Third Edition in May 2013 from Amazon as the seller, and received the thirteenth printing (March 2013)

While some of this stuff seems dated in 2013, I think 98% of it is still quite relevant, though I do wish they would keep the books a bit more updated (no more than 4 or 5 years old).

I do plan on looking into a book on C++11 in the near future.

Bottom line for this book is that I found it well worth the price. It's much easier and cheaper to learn the stuff in this book by reading it instead of having to 'learn it the hard way'.

15 people found this helpful

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Amazonbuyer

Brilliant book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2016

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A must-have book for everyone writing code in C++. I have access to the online version of the book via my company's Safari subscription, but found myself getting back to things I've read so often that I decided to buy a paper version for reference. Well written and extremely helpful book (and the whole series by Scott Meyers).
Amazon was so nice to deliver it to me on the next working day, so great experience all along.

One person found this helpful

Patrick

Essential

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2014

Verified Purchase

Anyone beyond an absolute beginner with C++ must read this. C++ is a versatile, generally fast language (still the mainstay of video and engineering development), but that power carries with it dangers to be wary of. This book explains these as concisely as possible and explains possible solutions.

I doubt there are many C++ programmers out there who would not gain something from a refresher reading of this book.

One person found this helpful

Cameron

Fantastic book, wish I had purchased it years ago

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 12, 2013

Verified Purchase

I have been using C++ for a few years and this book taught me one or two things and clarified a few points regarding topics I already knew about. Would also make a great second book for someone who has read through and understood a tutorial style book.

If you are serious about learning and using C++ this is a book you will need eventually, I would recommend sooner rather than later. As long as you keep using C++ the worst that could happen is that it sits around on your shelf for a while until you are ready for what it discusses.

Chris

Absolute must read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

I was originally recommended this book by a colleague and must say that it is an absolute must read for anyone who is programming in C++.

Dimo Dimov

... is a programmer by trade so I'm guessing it's good!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

Bought for my brother as he is a programmer by trade so I'm guessing it's good!

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