BEST C++ book(s)

[Robert Hutchings]

If you had to pick the best books with which to teach C++ to absolute beginners, what would your choices be?

[Mr Flibble]

On 19/09/2014 17:22, Robert Hutchings wrote:
> If you had to pick the best books with which to teach C++ to absolute beginners, what would your choices be?

The best C++ books are the ones that include advice about sausages.

/Flibble

[Jorgen Grahn]

On Fri, 2014-09-19, Robert Hutchings wrote:
> If you had to pick the best books with which to teach C++
> to absolute beginners, what would your choices be?

Absolute beginners as in "haven't done any programming at all"?

Stroustrup's "Programming -- Principles and Practice Using C++" must
be a strong candidate. I haven't read it, but he's a good author and
a good programmer.

http://www.stroustrup.com/programming.html

/Jorgen

--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .

[Christopher Pisz]

On 9/19/2014 11:22 AM, Robert Hutchings wrote:
> If you had to pick the best books with which to teach C++ to absolute beginners, what would your choices be?
>

You can usually tell just from skimming a few pages

if it contains

void main()
#include <iostream.h>
#include <windows.h>

then toss it out, because it won't teach the C++ language.

I learned from one of the old 21 days books, but a lot of people seem to
hate it, mostly because of the title. I didn't come across anything that
would have been shot down in this newsgroup along the way, and always
asked in comp.lang.c++ if I needed clarity. I'd have to say 85% of my
learning came from the newsgroup and the other 15% was just a matter of
learning what I needed to learn, which books did help with.

[Osmium]

"Christopher Pisz" wrote:

> On 9/19/2014 11:22 AM, Robert Hutchings wrote:
>> If you had to pick the best books with which to teach C++ to absolute
>> beginners, what would your choices be?
>>
>
> You can usually tell just from skimming a few pages
>
> if it contains
>
> void main()
> #include <iostream.h>
> #include <windows.h>
>
> then toss it out, because it won't teach the C++ language.

One of the best books I have has <iostream.h> out the kazoo. _C++ Primer
Plus_ by Stephen Prata. The book - the second edition - was written before
the standard was approved.

I left over two lineal feet of C++ books behind on my last move - that gives
you an idea of how rare I think good C++ books are. It's a real challenge
to find a book that's a good fit with how your mind works. I would spend
several *hours* with the Amazon reviews.

[Robert Hutchings]

> Stroustrup's "Programming -- Principles and Practice Using C++" must
> be a strong candidate. I haven't read it, but he's a good author and
> a good programmer.
>
> http://www.stroustrup.com/programming.html

> /Jorgen

Yes, I agree! Thanks Jorgen.

[Christopher Pisz]

Maybe so, but a C++ book for a beginner should not be teaching how to
use C pre 1992. It should be showing the beginner how to use the latest
standard and the modern way of doing any common task they choose to
cover. A beginner has no foreknowledge of what they are being taught
incorrectly vs correctly. They should be at ease with accepting
everything in the book as correct. Once they get some experience, they
can go back and read books where it is required to keep in mind the time
they were written.

If they didn't use #include <iostream> rather than <iostream.h> I'm sure
they didn't use std::stringstream anywhere either, or std::fstream, or
any number of others that are required so commonly in beginner's tasks
like file parsing, string parsing, obtaining commands from the command
line etc.

We don't need them littering code with typesef struct{} MyStruct;

We don't need to train any more C programmers to think they are C++
programmers when they aren't.

[Ian Collins]

Robert Hutchings wrote:
> If you had to pick the best books with which to teach C++ to absolute
> beginners, what would your choices be?

It's been out a while, but I would still go for "Accelerated C++:
Practical Programming by Example" by Koenig and Moo backed up by
Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition" for greater
depth and C++11.

--
Ian Collins

[Christopher Pisz]

I think Ian, Victor, Alf, and Paavo should get together and write a
book. I learned more from them over the last decade.5 then any text really.

[Lynn McGuire]

On 9/19/2014 6:08 PM, Ian Collins wrote:

+1, an oldie but a goodie:
http://www.amazon.com/Accelerated-C-Practical-Programming-Example/dp/020170353X/

Lynn

[David Harmon]

On Sat, 20 Sep 2014 11:08:39 +1200 in comp.lang.c++, Ian Collins
<ian-...@hotmail.com> wrote,

>It's been out a while, but I would still go for "Accelerated C++:
>Practical Programming by Example" by Koenig and Moo backed up by
>Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition" for greater
>depth and C++11.

Those are the classics.

For the absolute raw beginner, someone who doesn't yet know what
programming is, Francis Glassborow _You Can Do It, A Beginners
Introduction to Computer Programming_

[Robert Hutchings]

> It's been out a while, but I would still go for "Accelerated C++:
> Practical Programming by Example" by Koenig and Moo backed up by
> Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition" for greater
> depth and C++11.

Excellent choices Ian. The Koening/Moo book is top-notch and of course Stroustrup is THE man for C++

[Robert Hutchings]

> I think Ian, Victor, Alf, and Paavo should get together and write a
> book. I learned more from them over the last decade.5 then any text really.

Yes, and there are some very good online tutorials these days!

[Robert Hutchings]

> The best C++ books are the ones that include advice about sausages.
> /Flibble

LOL, OK, I will check for that :)

[Ian Collins]

Robert Hutchings wrote:

Please don't snip attributions: doing so is considered as rude on Usenet.

--
Ian Collins

[Robert Hutchings]

>
> Please don't snip attributions: doing so is considered as rude on Usenet.

> Ian Collins


Okay Ian. Is this better?

[David Brown]

No, that is /not/ okay - you have snipped that attributions (the lines
at the top saying things like "On 21/09/14 17:36, Robert Hutchings wrote:").

Please look at almost anybody else's posts, and you will see how it
works. (This is also a matter of politeness in any situation - look at
how other people communicate, and try to fit in with the existing style.)

Of preference, you should get a proper newsreader and proper newserver,
rather than the google groups monstrosity. People have different
opinions on the best choices, but Thunderbird along with
news.eternal-september.org is a popular and free choice.

[Robert Hutchings]

On Sunday, September 21, 2014 11:26:12 AM UTC-5, David Brown wrote:

> No, that is /not/ okay - you have snipped that attributions (the lines
> at the top saying things like "On 21/09/14 17:36, Robert Hutchings wrote:").
> Please look at almost anybody else's posts, and you will see how it
> works. (This is also a matter of politeness in any situation - look at
> how other people communicate, and try to fit in with the existing style.)
> Of preference, you should get a proper newsreader and proper newserver,
> rather than the google groups monstrosity. People have different
> opinions on the best choices, but Thunderbird along with
> news.eternal-september.org is a popular and free choice.

OK, I will check out Thunderbird. Thank you.

[David Brown]

I don't know what sort of copy-and-paste job you did on the other post,
but you got the attributions right on this one. (We are not telling you
this to be annoying or pedantic - it really is easier to follow posts
when the quoting and attributions are correct, and people use
bottom-posting or inline answers. So when your post follow the
standard, more people read them and respond to them.)

I hope you get to like Thunderbird. I don't know what OS you are using
- there are many other newsreaders available for most systems. But
Thunderbird is a pretty good start - it's easy to use, follows most of
the rules by default, and makes a fine email client as well. So it is a
solid choice to start with, and then in the future you can look at
alternatives once you are familiar with newsreader basics. (Or, as I
do, you can just stick with Thunderbird ever after.)

You also need a newsserver. It used to be the case that most ISP's
provided a free access newsserver for their customers, but that seems to
be rare now. news.eternal-september.org provides free access to anyone,
but you have to register with a valid email (some people don't like
that). Again, it's a fine choice to start with - people with unusual
requirements might look elsewhere.

[Robert Hutchings]

On Sunday, September 21, 2014 4:27:13 PM UTC-5, David Brown wrote:

> I don't know what sort of copy-and-paste job you did on the other post,
> but you got the attributions right on this one. (We are not telling you
> this to be annoying or pedantic - it really is easier to follow posts
> when the quoting and attributions are correct, and people use
> bottom-posting or inline answers. So when your post follow the
> standard, more people read them and respond to them.)

> I hope you get to like Thunderbird. I don't know what OS you are using
> - there are many other newsreaders available for most systems. But
> Thunderbird is a pretty good start - it's easy to use, follows most of
> the rules by default, and makes a fine email client as well. So it is a
> solid choice to start with, and then in the future you can look at
> alternatives once you are familiar with newsreader basics. (Or, as I
> do, you can just stick with Thunderbird ever after.)

> You also need a newsserver. It used to be the case that most ISP's
> provided a free access newsserver for their customers, but that seems to
> be rare now. news.eternal-september.org provides free access to anyone,
> but you have to register with a valid email (some people don't like
> that). Again, it's a fine choice to start with - people with unusual
> requirements might look elsewhere.

OK, I tried to use Thunderbird in conjunction with news.eternal-september.org. I registered there and set up Thunderbird as the client and got to comp.lang.c++. Then, after I loaded 100 messages, I tried to REPLY to this post of yours, but it I think it just "went" to your email...??

[David Brown]

The clue is that "reply" goes to email (yes, I got it) - you want
"followup" to follow up to the newsgroup. I am not going to claim that
this is the most intuitive terminology, but you get used to it.

[Robert Hutchings]

OK, this is "Follow Up"....

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

[Robert Hutchings]

On 9/22/2014 3:26 AM, David Brown wrote:

Thanks David!!

[David Brown]

You are almost there - just one thing left to do. You should not bother
using a virus scanner for outgoing emails or usenet posts - if you've
got a virus, it is not going to pass itself through the scanner. And no
one is going to believe a sort-of signature claiming that the email is
virus-scanned, because viruses could easily spoof such a message. So
the virus scanner on outgoing mails and posts simply adds a slightly
silly advert to the bottom of all your posts.

[Robert Hutchings]

OK, let's see if this works...

[David Brown]

On 22/09/14 15:37, Robert Hutchings wrote:
<snip>

> OK, let's see if this works...

Good enough for me! Now we can get back to C++. Thanks for making the
effort to fit with the rest of the group - and I hope you find your new
newsreader a better way to work with Usenet.

David