I came across this title while looking for something fairly unrelated (UML
diagrams for C++ templates). The review quoted below is solidly positive.
I'm not going to be able to run out an buy the book right now. I am still
interested in opinions of people who have read it. Learning C++ is on a par
with tensor analysis for me. It's damn hard! Anything that reduces the
obstacles facing the beginner is worth promotting - IMHO.
I'm still working on Stroustrup's tome. There was a comment somewhere in
the introductory sections of TC++PL(3E) saying the book was intended to
contain enough material to so that more than one reading would be rewarding
to most programmers. I believe I missed that the first time I read the
first part of the book.
C++ From the Beginning by Jan Skansholm
http://www.accu.org/bookreviews/publ...p/cp000030.htm
To write a book about C++ aimed for beginners is not an easy task, but this
is a real good one. Jan Skansholm is a lecturer in the Department of
Computer Science at Chalmers University in Sweden and has also written 'Ada
95 from the beginning'. He does not require any previous experience of C
from the reader and really starts from scratch by explaining how a computer
and a program works.
There is a short but interesting history of OOP and the process of
developing a program is described in detail, without expecting any previous
knowledge of programming from the student.
After 185 pages (of a total of 537) the author starts to explain object-
oriented program development. I have never before seen topics like pointers
and inheritance explained in such a clear and easy to understand way. The
code examples are clean and compact. I think the samples have to be short
when trying to explain such a difficult language as C++. The book's value
is enhanced by the small information windows with syntax and/or explanation
of different C++ statements. These Windows are collected in a index of
their own at the end of the book. For me, this title will also find use as
a handy pocket reference beside the computer.
The newer features of the C++ programming language are well covered. For
example, the topic of exceptions is treated in its own chapter. However, I
don't like the authors idea of collecting the switch statement, do
statement and the conditional operator in a last chapter for the reason
that they did not 'fit in anywhere else in the book'. Of course the do
statement should have been introduced together with the while and for loops
and the conditional operator in the same scope asif-else.
There is a collection of good exercises after most of the chapters, but in
spite of that, I think the speed in this book (after the first chapters)
will make it hard to read for the real beginner. Maybe making it more
suitable for programmers with experience from some other language,
requiring a thorough introduction to C++. However, this title is well worth
its price.
--
STH
Hatton's Law: "There is only One inviolable Law"
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