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C++ The Core Language: A Foundation for C Programmers (Nutshell Handbooks) Paperback – October 29, 1995

by Doug Brown (Author),‎ Gregory Satir (Author)

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C++ is an object-oriented enhancement of the C programming language and is becoming the language of choice for serious software development.C++ has crossed the Single Book Complexity Barrier. The individual features are not all that complex, but when put together in a program they interact in highly non-intuitive ways. Many books discuss each of the features separately, giving readers the illusion that they understand the language. But when they try to program, they're in for a painful surprise (even people who already know C).C++: The Core Language is for C programmers transitioning to C++. It's designed to get readers up to speed quickly by covering an essential subset of the language.The subset consists of features without which it's just not C++, and a handful of others that make it a reasonably useful language. You can actually use this subset (using any compiler) to get familiar with the basics of the language.Once you really understand that much, it's time to do some programming and learn more from other books. After reading this book, you'll be far better equipped to get something useful out of a reference manual, a graphical user interface programming book, and maybe a book on the specific libraries you'll be using. (Take a look at our companion book, Practical C++ Programming.)C++: The Core Language includes sidebars that give overviews of all the advanced features not covered, so that readers know they exist and how they fit in. It covers features common to all C++ compilers, including those on UNIX, Windows NT, Windows, DOS, and Macintosh.Comparison: C++: The Core Language vs.Practical C++ ProgrammingO'Reilly's policy is not to publish two books on the same topic for the same audience. We'd rather spend twice the time on making one book the industry's best. So why do we have two C++ tutorials? Which one should you get?The answer is they're very different. Steve Oualline, author of the successful book Practical C Programming, came to us with the idea of doing a C++ edition. Thus was born Practical C++ Programming. It's a comprehensive tutorial to C++, starting from the ground up. It also covers the programming process, style, and other important real-world issues. By providing exercises and problems with answers, the book helps you make sure you understand before you move on.While that book was under development, we received the proposal forC++: The Core Language. Its innovative approach is to cover only a subset of the language -- the part that's most important to learn first -- and to assume readers already know C. The idea is that C++ is just too complicated to learn all at once. So, you learn the basics solidly from this short book, which prepares you to understand some of the 200+ other C++ books and to start programming.These two books are based on different philosophies and are for different audiences. But there is one way in which they work together. If you are a C programmer, we recommend you start with C++: The Core Language, then read about advanced topics and real-world problems in Practical C++ Programming.

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Editorial Reviews

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C++ is an object-oriented enhancement of the C programming language and is becoming the language of choice for serious software development. C++ has crossed the Single Book Complexity Barrier. The individual features are not all that complex, but when put together in a program they interact in highly non-intuitive ways. Many books discuss each of the features separately, giving readers the illusion that they understand the language. But when they try to program, they're in for a painful surprise (even people who already know C). C++: The Core Language is for C programmers transitioning to C++. It's designed to get readers up to speed quickly by covering an essential subset of the language. The subset consists of features without which it's just not C++, and a handful of others that make it a reasonably useful language. You can actually use this subset (using any compiler) to get familiar with the basics of the language. Once you really understand that much, it's time to do some programming and learn more from other books. After reading this book, you'll be far better equipped to get something useful out of a reference manual, a graphical user interface programming book, and maybe a book on the specific libraries you'll be using. (Take a look at our companion book, Practical C++ Programming.) C++: The Core Language includes sidebars that give overviews of all the advanced features not covered, so that readers know they exist and how they fit in. It covers features common to all C++ compilers, including those on UNIX, Windows NT, Windows, DOS, and Macintosh. Comparison: C++: The Core Language vs. Practical C++ Programming O'Reilly's policy is not to publish two books on the same topic for the same audience. We'd rather spend twice the time on making one book the industry's best. So why do we have two C++ tutorials? Which one should you get? The answer is they're very different. Steve Oualline, author of the successful book Practical C Programming, came to us with the idea of doing a C++ edition. Thus was born Practical C++ Programming. It's a comprehensive tutorial to C++, starting from the ground up. It also covers the programming process, style, and other important real-world issues. By providing exercises and problems with answers, the book helps you make sure you understand before you move on. While that book was under development, we received the proposal for C++: The Core Language. Its innovative approach is to cover only a subset of the language -- the part that's most important to learn first -- and to assume readers already know C. The idea is that C++ is just too complicated to learn all at once. So, you learn the basics solidly from this short book, which prepares you to understand some of the 200+ other C++ books and to start programming. These two books are based on different philosophies and are for different audiences. But there is one way in which they work together. If you are a C programmer, we recommend you start with C++: The Core Language, then read about advanced topics and real-world problems in Practical C++ Programming.

About the Author

Gregory Satir helps develop online publishing tools in the Portland, Oregon, office of Electronic Book Technologies. He graduated with a B.S. in computer science from Brown University. Doug Brown is a consultant/contractor in Beaverton, Oregon. He has been developing software for circuit simulation, synthesis, and testing since 1977. Doug coauthored lex & yacc, another O'Reilly & Associates Nutshell Handbook. He received an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1976.

Gregory Satir helps develop online publishing tools in the Portland, Oregon, office of Electronic Book Technologies. He graduated with a B.S. in computer science from Brown University.

Series: Nutshell Handbooks
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates; 1st edition (October 29, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 156592116X
ISBN-13: 978-1565921160
Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 24 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #101 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > C & C++ > C
- #133 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > C & C++ > C++
- #137 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Microsoft Programming > C & C++ Windows Programming

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J. Thomas Dyess

Excellent OOP

May 14, 2000

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

After reading the excellent "Visual C++ Blue Book", I still felt a little ignorant about how the OOP works with C++. Though the "Visual C++ Blue Book" explained it well, OOP is such a 'core competency' or 'fundamental' I felt I needed a little extra understanding on these concepts of C++. This book did an excellent job of explaining the core concepts of OOP as it relates to C++. Since it is short, I didn't get bored with the endless yammering of many authors. It was quick, consice, and yet somehow managed to be extremely thurough. I highly recommend this book to anyone even though it recommends itself to C programmers moving to C++. I'm from VB, ASP and was able to grasp all of the concepts. Buy it, it will make you a better programmer.

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Malcolm

GREAT FOR UNDERGRADS!

December 18, 2001

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As an undergrad and passionate dbl major, having read many books in C and C++, this book quickly became my friend. It's a good read for those breaking out of C to C++. This book helped me cope with the shock experienced while I was trying to learn ADTs, BSTs, splay trees, skip lists, multiway tries and extendable hashing in the high level programming courses where if you asked questions you'd look dumb. The information in this book made me feel contiguously good while sitting in class. It also served as another perspective and filled in the gaps that the professor and school text left out. Also, pick up Robert Sedgewick's Algorithms in C++ 3rd Edition, which is also a splendid read.
Enjoy helping computers understand people!
late-

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J. Mixer

C++ for the C Programmer

March 2, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

"C++ the Core Language" was written in the mid-90's but is still relevant today. It was the only text I could find to teach C++ to this 25 year "C" programmer. Don't try and use it if you don't already know "C" and its structures and unions. If you know "C", the book is straight forward and doesn't waist your time defining what an "int" is or how to write a loop.

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Sam Shirey

Five Stars

December 13, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

son loves it

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A customer

Excellent book for coverting programmers from C to C++

August 13, 1999

Format: Paperback

This wasn't the first book I picked up to learn C++. Initially, I thought it couldn't be as useful as "Practical C++" by Mark Terribile (McGraw Hill) which is three times its size. After reading through several grueling chapters, I picked up "C++: The Core Language" and what a difference (night and day)! Satir and Brown have done an excellent job of providing easy to follow examples when presenting structures vs. classes. They have totally demystified C++ for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone transitioning from C to C++.

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Digital Puer

Excellent book, but missing some "core" ideas

February 12, 2004

Format: Paperback

This is an excellent book for C programmers coming to C++ for the first time. I found the writing style and organisation of topics to be very good. The authors describe key object-based and object-oriented concepts first using familiar C constructions and then extend those ideas into the C++ domain. The ease of transitioning from C structs to C++ classes was very good, as was the discussion of subtle points like the copy constructor. Almost all major C++ concepts are described, including inheritence, virtual functions, and even templates.
My only negative criticism is that the authors leave out some important C++ functionality from their view of the C++ "core." They only mention in passing the use of const, considered by many to be vital to good C++ design. Also, since this book was published in 1995, it does not discuss the C++ standard library, which was finalised in 1997. It is therefore missing a discussion of the very useful 'string' class, among many others. Readers should defininitely follow up on these topics.
Regardless of this missing information, this book will give C programmers a solid foundation for using C++.

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Zachary Cude

Teaches the ++, not the C

September 14, 2000

Format: Paperback

First and foremost you need to already know C in order to use this book. You need to be familiar with the entire language because the authors derive most of their examples by saying: "This is the concept, this is how you would do it in C (to see the basic mechanisms), and now here's how you do it in C++." This book does not hold your hand through this teaching though, they assume you know what you are doing and are following what they are talking about, which is okay by me. I personally don't like books that are really wordy and have alot of information I already know and so I waste my time and money on needless words. There needs to be more books like this one, just tell me the core concepts like what they do and why and the burden for learning and understanding them falls on me not the authors. One complaint that was echoed in an earlier review was the lack of disk I/O commands which are different enough in C++ to necessitate in me having to go to another book to look them up. How about an appendix or website or something like that, sure would be helpful. All in all, a very good book if you don't like all the B.S., fluff, and general page filling that you see on the bookshelves (aka. every book except O'Reily's).

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C. J. Anderson

A Great Introduction to C++ for C Programmers

June 20, 2000

Format: Paperback

I read this book from front to back and I really enjoyed it. It gives a great introduction (or "subset," as the book calls it) to C++ for C programmers. I love how each chapter is short, understandable, and well-focused. You'll even be surprised at how many chapters you can read in a day! Also, you don't really need to be an expert in C; as long as you have a basic knowledge of its syntax and how pointers work, you'll be fine. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because the book didn't cover how to read data from the keyboard or from a file using C++, which I think should be one of the first things to teach. Other than that, it's wonderful! In case you're wondering, I should mention that this book doesn't use (or cover) the STL at all, which is fine because it's an introductory book. I bought "Essential C++" by Lippman after reading this book. It uses the STL a lot and teaches you how to read from the keyboard and from a file in the first chapter; but I'm still reading it, so I can't compare it to this one, yet.
In conclusion... buy "C++: The Core Language"! It's really good, and you'll enjoy it!

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Most recent customer reviews

Harlan E. Zamora

C++

If you have programmed with C++ in the past and it's been years since you done any C++, this is a great book to get a refresher on C++.Read more

Published on October 19, 2008

Nicholas DiToro

Focused and Concise

C++: The Core Language is a well written book and a pleasure to read. It appears that that authors made an extra effort to remove unneeded verbiage.Read more

Published on November 15, 2004

B. FOSTER

Good C to C++ Transitional type book

This book is relatively short, but many people might see this as a good thing, since it is really intended to transition C programmers to the basics ("core") of C++.Read more

Published on October 18, 2004

John G. Ferguson

Good Review Book for Programmers

I had 7+ years C++ programming experience and then spent 3+ years in Java, XML, and JScript so I needed a nice, brief book which covered the core aspects of C++.Read more

Published on April 12, 2001

Kubilay Kucukoglu

Good introduction to C++ language.

I am a 10+ years C programmer. I red this book twice without coding a single C++ line. Then , this book helped me to start thinking in an object oriented way and provided me to...Read more

Published on April 6, 2001

Nur Allen

Great but let me tell u what is missing

Great book, concepts clearly explained and some flashes of wit to keep u entertained. However, people should realize that the "core language" covered here does not make...Read more

Published on February 22, 2001

Paul McNally

Excellent Starter

I had to add my voice to the chior of praise for this book. Having experience in C, I found this book well written and easy to understand - even though it has been a couple of...Read more

Published on May 30, 2000

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