C++ Without Fear
An all-in-one book for beginners to C++ that will still be useful for years to come.
My Rating: 
Pros
- Does not assume any prior knowledge of programming.
- Introduces the parts of C++ in a logical order with examples that span several chapters that demonstrate how parts of the language inter-relate.
- Has a significant C++ reference in the back of the book.
- Appropriate emphesis based on how useful the parts of the language are.
- Covers new syntax introduced in C++0X
Cons
- Mistakenly identifies shareware as free when in fact shareware is "try before you buy".
- Slightly dated in its reference to a DOS prompt when the very last versions of DOS - Windows 98/ME - effectively died out years ago.
- Suggests that current PCs are 32 bit whereas many are now 64 bit.
Description
- Second Edition: 2011
- 581 page paperback
- Published by Pearson Education Inc (Prentice Hall)
- ISBN: 978-0-13-267326-6
- A beginners guide that makes you feel smart
- Author Brian Overland
Review
For anyone looking to purchase one book to learn C++, this is one that certainly deserves consideration. The author makes use of his extensive programming experience to not only explain step by step how to write C++ programs, he also covers how useful each pirce is and what approaches are likely to cause trouble. What this means is that the reader can focus their attention on those parts of the language that are actually useful rather than wasting lots of time on parts of the language that are only rarely used.
The book starts of with explaining the basics of how programming languages work in chapter one and by the last chapter is explaining relatively advanced aspects of programming. This approach makes the book more useful over a longer period as long as the reader doesn't try to learn everything too quickly and therefore not follow the material properly through not having learnt the earlier material properly before moving on. The appendices provide a significant reference to C++ programming.
The high standard of the C++ material in this book is further emphasised in that the only flaws I could find in the book are all relatively minor and none are directly related to C++ itself.
More Information from the Publisher
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