Amazon Price: $45.95
Addison-Wesley Longman ( http://www.awl.com/ )
ISBN 0-201-82470-1
Pages 1237
beginner, July 11, 2000
Reviewer: badname (see more about me) fromAustralia
I think most of reviewers who wrote reviews for this book are experienced programmers or at least they know how to buy computer books. Well I am a C++ beginner and I bought this book and I've used it for a while. See how a real beginner think. I bought this book 2 months ago when I started programming in C++. Nobody recommended it to me. The reason I decided to buy it because it looked to me that the book was very well organized. Well it really is. When I started reading and practining with it, I found that this book is definitely not for beginners. The author wrote in preface "Knowledge of the C language is not assumed... this book is intended as a first book on C++; it is not intended as a first book in programming!" I think if he changed to " this book is intended to be used with other C++ books", would be much better because it's really hard to understand C++ by using this book alone. If you use this book as your first book for C++ and you understand well what are presented in the book, you may be one of the following.1. You hold the head of the department of computer science
2. You just received bronze medal for computer olympic or the like
3. You should found your own software company soon
4. You are cheating
The book starts with a program contained several funtions, followed by processor directives and pointer. I didn't understand most of first 100 pages but when I go to other books and came back to this book, I could understand much better.
However I give this book 5 stars. What I can say is the book is great but not for beginners. Now I have about 12 books on C++ and I regrete that I bought some of these but I never regrete that I bought this book. I think that this book is the best of all I have. Why? Other viewers already mention it all. If you know a litle bit of C or C++ and you are thinking to buy a book, think of this one. You never regret.
Pretty Good, but should change the title....(why?), April 25, 2000
Reviewer: dave_japan (see more about me) fromUniversity of Tsukuba, Japan
After years of being a C++ programmer, read quite a lot of books (about 20, I think)... I considered this one as one of my favourite, that I usually refer to when I have some problem.However, this book is definitely not-for-beginner. So, some of the reader might be misleading by/confuse with its title. The writers had stated this clearly on the back cover, which said "for developers new to C++" and in the preface, which said "This book is intended as a first book on C++; it is NOT intended as a first book on programming!" (However, it's a Primer for "C++" not for "Programming" anyway :-)
One big thing that made this book different from most of the C++ introductory books is, this book provided a lot of "real-world" program examples. Here, I really mean "real world", the program that you can really "use" (maybe after make them a bit more advanced/complete), like the text query system. While all other books provided some little codes to illustrate the points. Ok, that's better for those who know nothing, someone who come to C++ "from scratch", something like that... But after you finished it, you still might not get the idea of how to put them together , unless there are any bigger program to illustrate the idea.
Note to those who are new to programming : Read other book first, so you won't blame on a good book like this.
Note to everyone who had been misleaded by this book's title : Make sure you've read the back cover and the preface of any book before buying it, if you can... (if you can't, you have to try your luck..., good luck for you then :-)
This has to be THE classic book on C++, April 26, 2000
Reviewer: A. Kim fromNew York
This book is to C++ what K&R's C programming language is to C. Both books are not for novices to C or C++, so any harsh comments on this book from beginners should not deter intermediate to advanced C++ programmers from reading it. This book is concise, logical, to the point, and no extraneous, redundant explanations. Just like what K&R's C is. Through careful reading, I was able to follow 95-99% of the material, which is much better percentage than I was doing with Stroupstrup's (maybe less than 75%). If you are a C++ practitioner going for job interviews, each page in this book is a gem, clearly written,concise interview questions. I was programming in C++ for 4 years before I thoroughly read this book, and I feel like I know everything about C++ at this point (ok, maybe 9 out of the scale of 1-10)C++ Primer, February 18, 2000
Reviewer: Jeff Maxwell fromUSA
The worst textbook I've ever used. I'm trying to learn C++ and I find this book to be confusing, to say the least. The method of showing three or four wrong ways to do something before showing the correct method is totally exasperating. I have completely lost all faith in this book as a learning tool. A complete and total waste of time, effort and money!
A reader from Computer Science Lab. U.F. , July 21, 1999
Head for higher water....
I'm quite confused about who the intended audience of this book is for. The book's cover would suggest that its for beginners but it is written in such a way that a beginner would have a tough time with it. And it is not an advanced book by my definition. What really ruined this book is the ridiculous layout of the book. Whoever made the decision to write this book this way should be forced to program in Prolog for the next 6 months or read the entire "War And Peace" while standing on one foot. You don't present material early in a book and then explain it many chapters later! This goes against the human thought proccess. The material should have been presented with some semblance of logical order! Lippman knows his stuff, he just does'nt know how to write. I would recommend passing this one over for a more clearly written book.A reader from USA , July 10, 1999
I "Teach Myself C++" with this book.
I don't know anything about C++, even though I have a master degree in computer science. I need to learn C++ because we are in the process of converting C code to OO paradigm. C++ is the first choice. This book was given to me by my boss (I did not spend a dime). I read it from cover to cover, and I am reengineering our application in C++. In my opinion, this is an execllent book, althought I didn't read any other C++ books. I like to give it 5 stars, because during the past 5 months I learn more than just a languag syntax. I could give this book a bad review so nobody wants to read it. But it is not fair, isn't it?alec99@earthlink.net from US , June 30, 1999
Disorganized, not for a begginer
The content of the book is fair, however the organization is terrible. Some more complicated topics are introduced before simple concepts, or in some areas, complicated topics that were not discussed are used to explain simple ideas (it does get better after chapter 5 or so, but the first five chapters are the very basics that you should know before doing anything remotley complicated). For this reason, you should at least have your feet wet with C or C++ before reading this book.Next, this is one of the few books I've read that has 'decent' quiz questions. But guess what ? There are no answers!
Some topics are not explained very well, again the author assumes you already know something about it.
The examples in the book are fair, but most of them are not 'real world'. In several places however, there are just fragments of code instead of a full example, which can sometimes confuse the reader.
This book should not be bought alone to learn ANSI C++ if you are just starting with the language, however it can be used in addition to another book.
A reader from New York, USA , May 13, 1999
The authors assume too much
This might have been a good book on C++ programming if the authors did not assume any prior knowledge of C++ on the reader's part. The way information is presented in the book is much too difficult to grasp (and i'm not a beginner in programming) - the reader is drowned by the complexity (or maybe good explanation) of programming examples. I do understand that the authors know a lot about C++, but the book falls short of trying to explain the language in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. The bottom line is - look somewhere else for a good C++ textbook. P.S. The book that i personally liked reading is called "C++ primer plus".Excellent Introduction to C++ for C programmers, December 21, 1997
Reviewer: paulmac@apl.jhu.edu (see more about me) fromEllicott City, Maryland, USA
Lippman's primer is the first book on C++ programming that I read. It happends to remain one of my favorites. The first part of the book is devoted to the "basic" syntax of the language. The differences with C are pointed out and for those unfamiliar with C programming this material is essential. The second half of the book coveres C++ specific topics like templates and object-oriented constructs. I find Lippman's examples superb.
I would rate the book a 9 out of 10 for technical content, but unfortunately C++ has changed appreciably in the 6 years since it's publication. Overall I'd have to give it a 7 since it does not cover the recent changes to the language, for example the Standard Library (STL). Of course, only one introductory text does cover STL anyway, so I have high standards.
Conversly, since the book was written about the time of the Annotated Reference Manual (ARM) it is a great introduction for experienced programmers who don't already know C++ and who might not want to know right away about the latest and esoteric features of the language. Persons entirely new to programming might not want to start with this book.
I teach C++ programming courses to part-time graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University and of the 20 or 30 C++ texts on my shelf I consider C++ Primer one of the top 2-3.
Paul McNamee --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Paperback - 720 pages 2nd Bk&cdr edition (March 15, 2000)
Prentice Hall; ISBN: 0139798099 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.30 x 9.20 x 7.06
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 1,832
Avg. Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 8
think like a programmer and apply this using C++, June 22, 2000Reviewer: maged (see more about me) from
It's hard to find a book that teaches you how to program or how to use your logic to write programs. This book describes the problem of programming in C++ in a complete different way than other c++ books. It doesn't list the keywords and the syntax of the language but rather introduce you to problems that any programmer using any language might face, and then give you the answer in C++. It was nice that you can write a C++ program just in the second chapter while understanding completely the meaning and the usage of keywords like "#include" and namespaces which you'll usually find in the last chapters of ordinary c++ books. so you'll get the feeling of how, why and where to use any part of c++ language not just knowing how to use it. Thanks to Bruce Eckel for providing the book completely online in his web site. that shows that he really cares to make people understand c++ programming not just making money out of publishing a book. I'll be more generous than him by buying the hardcopy of the book :-)
Looking for a Good C++ Tutorial for C Programmers?, July 26, 2000Reviewer: A Seasoned Programmer from
As a C programmer, I purchased "Thinking in C++" to learn OOP and C++, but I'm sadly disappointed. I find the book very wordy and poorly organized, and the gradeschool-style of large type makes reading it even more difficult. And you can forget about using the book as a reference, as clear definitions are difficult to find. The CD-ROM may be helpful to beginning programmers, but don't expect too much from it. And realize (arrgh) that you have to use Microsoft products exclusively to run the CD! On the plus side, the book contains lots of code examples showing how to use the language attributes, which is very helpful.
If you like a fluffy, narrative style of writing then
perhaps you'll like this book, but most readers will find the book to be like
wading through molasses.
Finally, a decent C++ Tutorial, July 15, 2000
Reviewer:
Allen Vander Meulen; Masters Consultants Inc (see more about me) from
Thing in C++ is an excellent introduction to C++ programming.
As a fairly competent C programmer, I found his book to be clear and readable:
focusing on the essentials and stepping you through C++ in an orderly and
straightfoward fashion. I highly recommend it for any programmer looking to
get into C++.
Mr. Eckel's text and example code rely heavily on the STL (aka the ANSI Standard C++ Library), which is an excellent idea. However, the text does little more than give you a flavor of what the STL is, and what it can do. The author promises that a second volume (Thinking in C++, 2nd. Editon, Volume 2) is in the works, which will delve deep into STL. He refers you to his website to see rough drafts of this planned text and a companion text (The Thinking in C++, 2nd. Edition, Volume 1 Annotated Solutions Guide by Chuck Allison).
Unfortunately, it appears that neither of these companion books will be published for at least a year. The text he supplies on the website is still (obviously) in very incomplete form.
This leaves me more than a little disappointed. If you buy this text, you'll find yourself (like me) returning to Amazon.com in a few days to find someone else's book on STL!