|
|
| Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example (ISBN: 020170353X) |
|
List Price: $39.99
Our Price: $39.99
Used Price: $25.00
Release Date: 15 January, 2000
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Pub Co (Paperback)
Sales Rank: 17,729
Author: Andrew Koenig, Barbara E. Moo
|
Buy This Book
|
|
Average Customer Review:  
Andrew Koenig and Barbara Moo have written a terrific introductory book on C++ here. They teach you C++ by presenting programming problems to be solved, and introducing the exact language features you need to solve them, one right after the other. Very early on you find yourself using the power and simplicity of the STL to write some pretty cool programs. The programming examples are very interesting, and this book has the clearest exposition of the workings of pointers and arrays that I've ever seen. (In fact, they introduced iterators earlier in the book when using the STL, and I think introducing them in this order makes their discussion of pointers a lot easier to understand than it would be otherwise.) They eventually cover all the features of the language that a person realistically needs to accomplish just about anything, the discussion of each feature always motivated by an actual need for it to solve a problem at hand. I'm glad I've got this one on my shelf!
| great book with a unique approach to teaching the language | |
After having read this book I very much regret coming to C++ from a self-taught Pascal and C background - it could have been so much easier. Many introductory texts on C++ assume a background in one of the procedural languages and consequently start teaching the C subset of C++ first. This is, according to the authors' experience, counterproductive to understanding 'proper' C++ and programming true to it's paradigms and design. Thus they follow the radically new approach of discussing whatever (sometimes advanced) facilities C++ offers to solve a particular problem instead of going from one isolated language feature to the next. This leads to the somewhat unorthodox chapter sequence, which teaches the design of user types (classes) after introducing template functions (a feature many seasoned C++ programmers still don't know how to use effectively) or even stranger: the explanation of pointers and arrays (chapter 10) in terms of the standard library iterators and containers, which have been introduced as early as chapter 3. What I particularly liked are the useful and real world examples, although the book does cover the omni-present 'hello world' program, it otherwise fully delivers on it's promise of teaching 'practical programming by example' (subtitle). Due to this approach and the well constructed exercises at the end of each chapter the book gets the student writing non-trivial, useful programs taking full advantage of advanced C++ library features almost from day one. The authors also lead by example and show proper commenting and programming for flexibility techniques even in the smallest code fragments. This is in refreshing contrast to many an author's crime of showing the 'quick and easy' way first and the 'proper' way later.
If you read The Design and Evolution of C++ you'll soon notice the repeated mentioning of Koenig and Moo as two of the key players in the development of the language. Their in-depth knowledge and experience really shows in this work. Although the book is mainly aimed at beginners, veteran C++ programmers can still profit from it, even if only by loosing some more bad old C habits.
This is a great book for anyone who is really motivated to learn C++. The authors get you writing useful programs in just minutes. In another review someone mentioned that this book doesn't make a good reference. Thats because it's not a reference. It's a book that teaches you C++ and it does it better than any other introductory C++ book out there. So if your looking for a book to learn C++ at a fast pace, this book is "the" way to learn it.
|
|
|
