ISBN:0201889544Amazon.com
In this brand-new third edition of The C++ Programming Language, author Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, presents the full specification for the C++ language and standard library, a spec that will soon become the joint ISO/ANSI C++ standard.
Past readers will find that the new edition has changed a great deal and grown considerably to encompass new language features, particularly run-time type identification, namespaces, and the standard library. At the same time, readers will recognize the lucid style and sensible advice that made previous editions so readable and enjoyable. Probably the biggest change is a substantial new section, well over 200 pages in length, covering the contents and design of the C++ standard library, the most important new feature of the C++ specification. The author has also added a substantial number of new exercises while keeping many from previous editions that have retained their value.
While The C++ Programming Language is not a C++ tutorial, strictly speaking, anyone learning the language, especially those coming from C, will greatly benefit from the clear presentation of all its elements. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this book for anyone who is serious about using C++./p>
Reviews From AMAZON.COM
A good book for some programmers, but unfocused
The good: The author is the inventor of C++ and a top C++ expert, who concisely integrates numerous subtle yet important points of the language into his presentation. The book is both accurate and thorough.
The bad: The book lacks a single clear purpose. Is the book's purpose to teach C++? To document and/or describe the language? To give examples of its use? To explain relevant software design methodologies? The book does not succeed well at any of these. No iron law of style absolutely requires a book to serve a single role only, but a book ought to serve at least one role well. This book, whose presentation is uneven and slightly disorganized, serves no role with distinction in my view.
I have owned this book four years, during which time I have read most of it -- and have read much of it several times (my copy's binding begins to fall apart through overuse). It is an interesting, informative, useful book, and I do not regret the many hours I have spent studying it. However, the author makes the reader's task much harder than he should have done. He loves extended, overgrown examples too well; and he refers forward far, far too often. To understand the book, you almost need to know C++ already, which in an important respect defeats the book's own purpose.
The book offers many exercises for the student to try at each chapter's end. The exercises are not especially well chosen, but that should not stop you from buying the book (one can simply ignore the exercises, after all). Just before the exercises in each chapter the author includes a much more useful Advice section, brief and wise.
The author teaches the language without ever clearly discussing the highly system-dependent topics of symbol exporting and object linking. This is an understandable error, but an error nevertheless in my view. One of the main attractions of C++ is that, like its predecessor C, it plays well with the linker. Without this dimension, C++'s rationale (over Python, for example, or Java) and its robust, ecumenical philosophy are hard to grasp.
The author's prose style is less clear and much less concise than Kernighan's and Ritchie's in their great book, The C Programming Language. However, the author's style is tolerably readable.
My recommendation for this book is neutral. One can learn C++ from this book alone but it is unnecessarily hard to do so. As a reference, the book sprawls unappealingly but is quite complete. The book fails to discuss linking cogently, but scatters enough clues that the determined reader can figure the linker out on his own. Whether you buy this book depends on whether you think that you need what it offers, because in many ways the book is impressive, and it certainly is useful. The book is not, however, pleasant to read; so, let the buyer beware.
The best C++ book!
Excellent book. You need some feedback before you read it, but this book is complete and good reference.