Reviews for C++ Primer

1. Easy to follow introduction

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 2007

   The defining feature of "C++ Primer" is the meticulous, logical presentation that leaves no room for confusion. Even more advanced concepts such as generic programming, copy control and operator overloading are presented in a simple, easy to follow fashion, and yet never over-simplified. Add "C++ FAQs" (Cline, Lomow, Girou) and you have an excellent self-learning bundle.
   
   Some programming experience is assumed, and I wouldn't recommend this book as a first introduction to object-oriented languages either. The main reason for this book getting just four stars from me are that some important topics such as exceptions and static class members are glossed over, and that the code examples are a bit lacking.
   
   If you are coming from a modern garbage-collected, object-oriented language such as Java, Python or Ruby and want a gentle introduction to the complexities of the older generation, this book is an excellent choice. Absolute beginners, and experts wishing learn every nook and cranny of C++ immediately should probably look for other options.

2. Good detailled explanation of modern C++ for intermediate level programmers

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 2006

   This a largely an excellent book, let down by poor examples (would have been five stars if the authors had chosen one or two realistic projects and developed them from the ground up using the concepts in the book) and fairly erratic presentation of closely-related concepts. There is a lot of good detail here, and if you put the time in you will learn a great deal of important stuff. As a few other reviewers have mentioned, it would be just as well to have some kind of prior programming experience (Java perhaps, though you DO NOT need to know anything about C!). The book tries to veer away from the low-level fairly quickly, after a few (excellent) chapters on that kind of stuff (pointers etc) it delves into the realm of generic programming, OO concepts, templates etc. All in all, I would say this is best suited to someone who is reasoably comfortable with another language and programmming in general and wants to get a good in-depth grounding in C++

3. Definitely it is not what one expects it to be...

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2003

   I would expect this book to be a tutorial, a good initial course for C++ but I found it to be disappointing. C++ Programming Language by C++ creator is definetly better than this book.

4. Definitely not a Primer.

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2001

   Definitely not for beginners (not an original comment), would put you off C++ from word go! There are much better C++ tutorials (Scott Meyers Effective C++ being the best examples I've read). The examples in this book are poor. It would have been MUCH better if it had more meaningful examples. The book is WAY too big. It is a difficult read (boring...). C++ is already a difficult subject, making this book more interesting and more digestable (bite sized chunks?) would make the job easier. Only one star for this book sorry...

5. Great Tutorial, not a complete reference.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 1999

   I have been programming in C++ since MSVC 1.0 and some Simula before that, still there has been a lot I have not bothered to learn. This Tutorial has helped me learn more easily, and have fun learning. Now I just wish MSVC start to properly support C++ strings (causes warnings) and templates (a list of a struct can lock the compiler if it has a comparator). The Tutorial does not mention structs, and that's OK.