Rating: 
Summary: Atrocious book
Review: This book was obviously written and published in a hurry. There are just too many typographical and stupid errors to count, and I'm only up to Chapter 8! You spend most of the time trying to figure out what the author is trying to say, rather than on understanding the language. For example, page 49, second paragraph "Four bits make up a byte". This in a computer programming book! It really does beggar belief. I'm not going to even bother reading the rest. It should have been titled "C++, by an illiterate dummy". I encourage you to look for another book.
Rating: 
Summary: No light reading.
Review: Hi, I have the exact same book but in Dutch.
The thing is if you want to learn C++ you really need to read all of this book, back to back. But the examples aren't much fun to keep a beginner motivated. Getting the computer to do flashy things is what is the reason for a great deal of people working as programmer. The author should have done things like for instance an anagram game. Would fit in nicely somewhere in part II. And something like that should come in the later beginning, even in a slow book. Now the examples are not in a near context; they reflect some things you might want to do if you're working on a database. It doesn't stick. Trust me it's the same techniques you learn whether it's a playfull thing or boring stuff that only becomes exciting when you want to feed your children being a programmer.
Also it's never mentionned that a regular computer program has only three characteristics.One. Step by step execution of statements.
Two. Decision making.
Three. Looping aka iteration. Basically ALL programmers ever do is play with those things over and over and a primer guide should mention stuff like that to help it all be less intimidating. Also the more you're aware of those three things the cleaner your code will be.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the beginner
Review: I purchased this book as a supplemental text for a beginning C++ programming course I was taking. As a non-programmer type of person, I found the book to be very good, but geared very definitely to the person who has some C++ programming experience. I was looking for information geared for the "newbie" and was disappointed in that regard. The book is written in a humorous style and all the information is clearly laid out, but much of the information is presented in a style for one already in the know. I did not try to install the CD, so I cannot talk about its effectiveness or lack thereof. As a newbie, if I had previewed this book in a bookstore, I would not have purchased it, and would have looked for something else instead. So, if you have experience, this book is good, and if you don't, then this book will disappoint you and I would recommend looking for another book!
Rating: 
Summary: C++ for Dummies is quite biased.
Review: Well, first off, I should say that this review won't apply to about 99% of the programming community because that 99% programs for Windows. (And boo to them...) But, C++ for Dummies includes software only useable with Windows and pretty much all references to things are for Windows and Microsoft's Visual C++. Is there some sort of connection here? Did MS pay these guys? Other than that, the book takes it slow and easy. I bought this mostly as a supplementary book because a previous purchase from elsewhere (Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours)proved to be too... Fast paced. Ah, if only there were more Learn C++ using a Mac books. There are indeed specialized C++ on Mac books, like Programming Mac Games and books for things like Carbon and Cocoa (which coincide with C++, Java and Obj-C). Oh, well... I'm not saying Mac programmers shouldn't buy this, but it certainly wasn't meant to cater to them!
Rating:
Summary: awful
Review: Waste of money. Tried to install the software but couldn't due to the messed up contradictory instructions in the beginning. Author glosses over intro, absolutely no indication of what the various symbols means. Tons and tons of typos. My favorite p.52- "(Try this test: was is 0X6 | 0X3?")- sweet. Illogically organized and makes no sense in some parts. Didn't seem to have an editor review it for readability/mistakes. Do yourself a favor and do not purchase this item.
Rating: 
Summary: ohh my goodness
Review: THIS IS PROBALY A FIVE STAR BOOK, BUT I WOULDNT KNOW BECAUSE I CANT EVEN GET PAST THE FIRST CHAPTER INSTALLING PART. I HAVE SPENT HOURS TRYING TO INSTALL BUT THINGS WOULD BE ERASED FILES MISSING AND ALL KINDS OF [STUFF]. THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE SO STUPID THEY MAKE NO SINCE.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing!
Review: This book could use some MAJOR proofreading. There were examples where the explanations did not match the examples, which is more confusing than helpful. The instructions to install the compiler, were vague and lacking (also, there seemed to have been some bugs, because for some reason, it could not find some of the files it installed!). I wish I'd read the amazon.com reviews before purchasing this book.
Rating:
Summary: proofreading shocker
Review: One star, and no argument. There is a need for guide books written from an outsiders point of view, but the poor programming examples in this book, absolutely chock-a-block with errors that should have been pulled out by proof-reading, are just going to screw so many potential students up.
This book scares me. As soon as a real primer gets delivered, I'll be able to burn it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very understandable, ignore bad ratings (im 13)
Review: Ok first off forget the negative reviews, this book is quite understandable. Secondly, forget the reviews about this being a book that u need to know c to understand. In this issue, the 4th edition, u do not need to know c, that was in the previous editions. The author states that in this book. So if ur a new-b go pick it up. Im 13, although and honor student, and it was quite easy to understand. I have made a few small programs already and im currently learning how to make video games.
Rating:
Summary: Hopefully the later editions have improved.
Review: Stephen R. Davis, C++ for Dummies (IDG, 1994) One of the main problems (from my perspective) with the vast majority of C++ books on the market is that they're written for C programmers who want to migrate. What's a person to do who knows very little about C and wants to learn C++? The obvious answer is that he gets on an insanely steep learning curve, unless he wants to go back and learn C before tackling the plethora of C++ how-to books on the market. Davis' book is no exception, despite being from the much-vaunted (by everyone except the programming community) for Dummies line of books. To be fair, the cover does say that the book's perfect for C programmers who want to learn C++. And it would be hard to fault a 1994 book for not taking Windows programming into account, another common failing of C++ manuals (if you want Windows programming, you either get a platform- specific book [and most commercial C++ programming platforms hide the Windows programming internals] or you're stuck with the unintelligible reference books from Microsoft itself). So my two main complaints with the book are really not complaints I can complain about in great detail. That doesn't make the book perfect. One of the common complaints about the for Dummies books relating to C++ is that the authors of those books tend to ignore the ANSI standard for C++ (Michael Hyman actually touches on some of the more egregious discrepancies in Visual C++2 for Dummies and gives the justification the authors used, but that doesn't make it any less annoying for those who like to see good code), leading to legions of coders who believe that 'void main()' is a perfectly
acceptable statement. At the very least, if you're going to use the for Dummies books on C++, find a resource that lists out the discrepancies (or that's closer to the standard, e.g. the comp.lang.c++ FAQ or Bruce Eckel's Thinking in C++ books) and make the changes in your copy of the book when you find them. Your co-workers will thank you. All that said, C++ for Dummies was my first major C++ reference after one comp sci course that touched on C back in my college days, and despite that learning curve, it did give me enough of a basis in C++ that after two or three re-reads I'd pretty much figured out most of what Davis was on about. Eight years on, it's hard to separate what he should have taken more time to cover with what wasn't standardized yet, but I think I'm pretty safe in faulting him for not taking a lot more time covering templates, and I know that I've read a number of descriptions of pointers that make a whole lot more sense. As any C++ programmer will tell you, the proficiency of his colleagues lives and dies with an understanding of pointers. This particular book took a lot more re-reads and a lot of outside references before I figured out pointers, and I'm still not completely comfortable with them. I should point out a few of the good things about the book, if only to justify the rating I'm giving it, shouldn't I? Despite the whole ANSI standard controversy mentioned earlier, Davis does give us some excellent rudimentary tools many programmers would be wise to adopt (most notably the signature fields he introduces towards the end of the book, which are wonderful tools for figuring out pointer errors). The concept has been built upon and done better since, but for its time it was an excellent concept, and it's much easier for the beginner to handle than some of the more complex run-time error-checking routines that have appeared since. Signature fields alone may be worth the price of admission for the beginning user. In short, there's definitely a decent skeleton here, but it could use (and may have gotten after eight years) a lot of work. ** ½
| 
