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Summary: This C++ developer came away impressed
Review: Background (why you might care what I think): I've programmed and taught programming for 20+ years, in time migrating to C++. The title, of course, is an oxymoron: You are mistaken if you think you can master C++ without sooner or later being able to chew your way through the following:
"It has always been possible to overload a member function in one class with a member function in another class. With inheritance, however, you can overload a base class member function with a member function in a subclass as well." However, by the time this book gets to where that quote is lifted from (roughly halfway through), Mr. Davis has done quite a credible job of preparing you for it. He sometimes falls down badly: his explanation of pointers completely neglects to mention the implicit referencing that is part of every normal assignment statement. The expression "variableX = variableY" (in all computer languages) actually means "the address pointed to by variableX is assigned the value pointed to by variableY", not "variableX is given the value of variableY". Most students would be much less confused by pointers if he had started his discussion by pointing out that all variables are actually pointers by nature. Given the rather astonishing subtlety, complexity, and even beauty of full-bore C++, 400-odd pages are not going to make you into an overnight master (reading Stroustrup is the only way to do that) . The pace is extremely rapid, but the author succeeds fairly well in what he sets out to do, which is to explain the most complex computer language (by far) in clear and understandable terms. If you have no programming background and no outside help, you will be quickly lost. And yet I firmly believe that C++ is the best language for a beginning programmer to start with, even if for no other reason than to avoid the development of bad habits. I am still searching for a book that will thoroughly explain the fundamentals of programming from the ground up, using C++ as the starting point. However, if you do have some programming experience, and want to bootstrap your way to C++, this book is a good choice. The "humour", on the other hand...
Rating: 
Summary: Not Meant for XP!
Review: While I don't doubt the validity of this book and the breadth and depth of knowledge contained in it, it simply is NOT MEANT FOR WINDOWS XP! This edition was published in 2000, when Windows XP was not yet available. This book requires you to edit the autoexex.bat file and enter MSDOS commands. Windows XP, however, is NOT built on MSDOS and therefore can not execute commands in the same way. I'm hoping that the 5th edition will be available soon for use with XP, but until then, DO NOT PURCHASE THIS BOOK!
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Summary: I read the reviews and I thought this would be a good book..
Review: Like I said, I read the reviews on this site for this book, and thought it would be a good book, but I was wrong. The first thing I noticed about the book was in the installation part. 1st, it says 'Copy the complete set of gnu c++ zip files from the cd-rom into \djgpp. I had no idea if it meant to unzip the whole cd, or some zip file (which I only could find after I had unzipped the whole cd). That isn't that bad at all. I shouldn't have even said it. The worse thing was right after that-- the next step where it said, 'Add the following paths to autoexec.exe set path=c:\djgpp\bin;%path%
set djgpp=c:\djgpp\djgpp.env' I'm pretty good at computer stuff, so I figured that was in c:\. I opened up c:\, looked, and couldn't find it. I even started the windows search program, and it didn't find it. Finally, I Went to tools>folder options, and made hidden files visible. There it was. I tried to open it, but it said something like, 'This is not a valid win32 application.' I went online to a c++ message board, asked someone, and he told me to open it through a text editor. Fortunately, that worked, and I typed in the two set commands, and it worked. If that was all there was, I would still probably keep using this book, but the next problem was with the little amount of describing that this book has. It just starts with a program, and only tells you what around 5% of the code means. This makes the programs later in the book harder because you don't know the basics. I'm sorry if I sound like some of the other reviewers I read who had negative comments like this. After all, It does have funny jokes and cartoons, but this is the 4TH EDITION! YOU THINK THEY WOULD HAVE IT RIGHT AFTER 4 TRIES!!! I guess not. That's all I've got to say. Thanks for reading this, and I hope you found it helpful.
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Summary: Not the most ideal book
Review: I'm currently in my second semester of a computer programming class at my high school. I bought this book hoping that I would learn some interesting new things, and to observe the conventions of the author. However it turns out that I already know just about everything in C++ For Dummies. It's hard to be objective since I didn't enter book as a complete beginner. However I felt that he poorly explained many subjects, and left out some important basic details. The rules of indentation were not to be seen except by example, and there wasn't much of an overall introduction into C++. There were just many times that important details were glossed over, that I could imagine creating a bottleneck for beginners because an idea wasn't fully explained. And it would've been nice if he started the chapters with a blanket overview (such as explaining the idea of a loop, then explaining differen't loops, followed be explaining when you'd want to use each). It would've been nice if he tried to keep the same example and evolve it as the book went on, but instead there were many differen't examples that exhibited differen't formats than the others without much explanation. Overall the book is either too basic for someone with some general knowledge, or too confusing for novices.
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Summary: Bad CD! No treat!
Review: The book was good. No, the book was great. It's a good intro book for anyone who wants to pick up C++ (you need to be computer literate when you start, though). Now, about the little CD in the back cover. I had lots of problems installing the GNU compiler that comes with it. ...
Rating:
Summary: Not terrible, Not good
Review: I read the first 6 chapters then decided to go looking for a more coherent book. Some things the author describes well, others are extremely poorly described. Once you understand some sections, you find yourself saying, "well why didn't he just say this, this and this?" Also, the editing is horrendous. There are myriad errors in this book. e.g., "[the numbering] conviction used is because of traditional number conventions" - or something like that. Anyway, there are ALL kinds of errors like this that stop you in your tracks while you are reading. (accidentally typing 'conviction' instead of 'convention') The examples are not very good either. Instead of building one concept upon another, he often has sloppy examples that happen to include concepts that have not yet been covered. For example, he uses a main function that includes arguments, before he has even talked about arguments. LONG before. They're just there.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a book for dummies
Review: This is not a book for dummies. I bought this book before taking a C ++ class because usually textbooks are very hard to understand. However this book is very hard to understand. The author throws in lots of concepts without explaining what they do or what they are. In the end, I found that the textbook that was used in class is 100% times better and easier to understand. The name of that book was: A First Book of C++: From Here to There
by Gary J. Bronson
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Summary: I would give it 0 stars if I could
Review: Makes absolutely no sense at all. Weren't these books written for newbies that didn't know much about that subject? What kills me is that Davis said that you didn't have to have any prior programming expierience to excell in C++. I would list the page number he wrote this but their are about 30 so I don't want to take up too much room. I have had programming expeirience before I read this book and it still went straight over my head.
Do your self a favor and go use this money to buy a Christmas gift for a loved one.
Rating:
Summary: C++ for Dummies
Review: I purchased this book "used" from the marketplace and Myra had it shipped to me within days. The book had hardly been opened and still had the original CD. I was very happy with the service I received!
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Summary: A nice intro to C++
Review: This book is a good introduction to C++, the code is a little frustrating and so far, I've only been able to do the first program in there. I've gotten past Chapter 10, and it has helped a lot for me, having no clue of what C++ is before I bought it. I would say if you're looking for a nice introduction to C++, and a little humor, getting this book would be your best bet, though the code is a little frustrating at times, and the compiler on the CD doesn't work right.
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