Rating: 
Summary: GOOD
Review: A good book for programmers having a decent knowledge of C++.For every FAQ it contains relevant references to three books.(Stroustrup's C++,Ellis and Stroustrup's C++ Manual and Lippmann's C++ primer.Helps you to think in an Object oriented way.Also points out to many bad programming practices.Not for beginners.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely one of the best C++ books ever written.
Review: Books like this can't get much better. The 3 authors slam through every topic worth mentioning concerning C++ and do it well. There isn't any dogmatic fluff how C++ should take over the world like other books because they aren't caught in the hype of object orientation like the rest of the mindless masses are (e.g. they don't waste their time tearing procedural styles because there are more important things to discuss).The most eminent thing that the blue faqs reflect is common sense. The authors aren't caught in an endless web of technical nonsense. Of course, the nature of the subject IS technical, but you'll notice and like the fact that the authors know their stuff, and answer the questions you have before you ask them to yourself. It is absolutely perfect for folks with some C++ experience. The blue faqs put everything together, covering management perspectives, testing strategies, containers, the big three, and a heck of a lot more. In short, it will cover everything you'll need to know to exploit the C++ system of programming. It is simply a wonderful, useful, organized piece of work. I wouldn't recommend learning C++ off of this book, though. It seems to be aimed more towards individuals that have experience in C++ and design. It might be good for businessmen to gain some insight. There are pieces of helpful code peppered throughout the book. No excercises (it's not a textbook), no CD-ROM comes with it, either. It's written in a fun, understandable, down to Earth conversational style and gets (VERY) technical where needed. For those who want it, do not worry about not finding rigor in it. This is probably the only book that ever has hit a wonderful balance between the mush than those awful "buzz" books offer and good, technical precision. Go to Yahoo! and find the Internet version of the C++ faqs, maintained by the authors of the blue faqs and decide for yourself. That has a ton of good stuff in it, but the blue one has 500% more stuff in it.
Rating:
Summary: Infrequently-asked Questions Answered Here
Review: C++ jocks like to show off, using sophisticated features of the language. How to figure out what the heck they're doing? This is the book. Not only will you figure out what they're doing, you'll learn why -- and become a better programmer. I would call it a combination reference and tutorial. This book is essential in figuring out what is actually going on, under the covers. As the title says, it's a list of Frequently Asked Questions. For each, there is a short one-line answer, and then, a (much longer) detailed answer, that tells you not only HOW, but WHY, down to the nitty-gritty. It makes no apologies for C++ shortcomings; rather, it points them out and tells you what to do about them. Nearly every question has example code, typically entire programs that can stand alone. Sometimes, there are several examples, illustrating different ways of doing something. Yes, I first printed out and pored through the online version. I learned a lot. Then I went to the bookstore and looked through this one. And felt amazed at my good fortune -- that such a book exists, and that I had actually found it. I couldn't wait to get out of there with it.
Rating:
Summary: Infrequently-asked Questions Answered Here
Review: C++ jocks like to show off, using sophisticated features of the language. How to figure out what the heck they're doing? This is the book. Not only will you figure out what they're doing, you'll learn why -- and become a better programmer. I would call it a combination reference and tutorial. This book is essential in figuring out what is actually going on, under the covers. As the title says, it's a list of Frequently Asked Questions. For each, there is a short one-line answer, and then, a (much longer) detailed answer, that tells you not only HOW, but WHY, down to the nitty-gritty. It makes no apologies for C++ shortcomings; rather, it points them out and tells you what to do about them. Nearly every question has example code, typically entire programs that can stand alone. Sometimes, there are several examples, illustrating different ways of doing something. Yes, I first printed out and pored through the online version. I learned a lot. Then I went to the bookstore and looked through this one. And felt amazed at my good fortune -- that such a book exists, and that I had actually found it. I couldn't wait to get out of there with it.
Rating:
Summary: Essential book for C++ programmers
Review: Don't even _think_ of writing C++ without reading this book first. Yes it sometimes preaches ("arrays are evil") and clubs you over the head about the "one true way" of doing things but there's method behind the madness and it's just trying to save you the pain of finding certain things out the hard way. Suffice it to say that if your program has any new[] or delete[] in it then you need to read this book. Apart from the chapter on arrays it also has masses of tips to help you write reliable, working C++ programs in the real world. One of my favourites is to "imagine that your '~' key has a big alarm attached to it and red lights will flash every time you press it" (see book for reasons why) will go a long way towards helping you avoid mysterious errors and long debugging sessions.Apart from the nitty gritty details of C++ the book also has whole sections on programming philosophy and design techniques, how to organize your code to minimize recompiles and all sorts of things to help you work more effectively with this untamed beast we call C++. Above all, this tries to help you avoid repeating the mistakes and painful learning experiences being suffered by C++ programmers the world over. It's very readable and it _will_ improve your programming technique. Ignore it it at your peril.
Rating: 
Summary: Questions, questions? Answers, answers.
Review: I always like to start any review of a technical book with the table of contents, and see no reason to break with that practice here: I Preliminaries Introduction - Basic C++ Syntax and Semantics - Understanding the Management Perspective- The Architectural Perspective II Object-Oriented Design Object-Oriented Fundamentals - Specification of Observable Behavior - Proper Inheritance - Detecting and Correcting Improper Inheritance - Error Handling Strategies - Testing Strategies III Language Facilities References ('&' type) - New and Delete - Inline Functions - Const Correctness - Namespaces - Using Static - Derived Classes - Access Control - Friend Classes and Friend Functions - Constructors and Destructors -Virtual Functions - Initialization Lists - Operator Overloading - Assignment Operators - Templates - Exception Tactics - Types and RTTI - Containers IV Topics Mixing and Overloading with Inheritance - The Big Three (destructors, copy constructors, assignment operators) - Using Objects to Prevent Memory Leaks - Wild Pointers and Other Devilish Errors - High-Performance Software - COM and Active X - Transitioning to CORBA - C Language Considerations - Private and Protected Inheritance - Pointers to Member Functions - The Transition to OO and C++ - I don't think there are any great C++ books. A great book would eliminate the need for others, which none that I've seen do. Even if not great, this is a good book, and worth reviewing. The book attempts to be two things: first, a programming style guide, and second, a nuts-and-bolts C++ reference book. (Incidentally, the cover is somewhat misleading: it also trumpets coverage of ActiveX, CORBA, and COM, but the material on them here is very thin - if you need to understand them, look elsewhere). As a programming style guide, it is rather a mixed bag. Its main weakness is a tendency towards salesmanship - that is, the authors are trying to sell you something and are therefore quite aggressive in discussing the merits of their wares and tend to be silent when discussing the weaknesses of them. A particular problem I could point out is the use of C++ in DLLs. If you follow the style guide in this book, and try to put your code into DLL's, you will find that you have some very serious versioning problems, problems the advice in this book was instrumental in creating but useless in alleviating. This doesn't mean that the advice isn't generally good, but there are issues here that the authors are not as frank as they should be in discussing. (I don't know why propaganda of this sort is so common in C++ books, but it is. I've never seen one without it.) Whatever it may be as a style guide, as a nuts and bolts problem solving book this is really very good. C++ is a large language - it is by far the largest, most complex language ever to find wide use, and there it contains many pitfalls. This book's great strength is in identifying many of these problem areas, and providing solutions to them. The discussion of object construction, copying, and destruction, alone, for example would make this book worth owning. The coverage is not, however, complete. Reader knowledge of language basics is assumed, and some advanced topics, such as multiple inheritance, are not covered. Because of this, you will not find this a good book for learning C++, nor should it be the only C++ book you own. That said, of all the C++ books I own, this is the one that most often contained the easiest to find, clearest, and best answer to the problems that I actually had when using (as opposed to learning) the language. The answers were generally easiest to find because of the extensive table of contents (it averages about one entry per page) and very complete index. In addition to being easy to find, the answers were also clearly written. There is a lot of sample code in this book, and it is generally very good code for teaching its points. The authors also clearly understand their stuff, and I did not find any of the dreadful this-is-too-technical-for-the-reader hand-waving that so often mars computer industry books. Finally, in addition to being clearly written, the answers were also usually the most complete and thorough I found among the C++ books I own - the problems the book addressed, it addressed very well. In summary, until and unless that great C++ book is ever written - and I'm not holding my breath - this is a book that almost any C++ developer would do well to have, limits and all.
Rating:
Summary: "Opinionated," but good
Review: I bought the book after reading the Lite version on the web. While an online version makes for better searching, this book's index is more than adequate. The information is invaluable and informative. I give it 5 stars for content, even though I get so sick of hearing that "[such and such] is evil." Granted, the authors do go on to describe why they say that, but the whole phrasing reeks of opinion rather than facts, and it's facts in the FAQs that we developers really need.
Rating:
Summary: "Opinionated," but good
Review: I bought the book after reading the Lite version on the web. While an online version makes for better searching, this book's index is more than adequate. The information is invaluable and informative. I give it 5 stars for content, even though I get so sick of hearing that "[such and such] is evil." Granted, the authors do go on to describe why they say that, but the whole phrasing reeks of opinion rather than facts, and it's facts in the FAQs that we developers really need.
Rating:
Summary: The shorter online version is good enough AND FREE
Review: I bought this book after using the CPP FAQ-Lite by the same author. The FAQ-Lite is available freely on the internet and contains all the important stuff. Plus, since the FAQ-Lite is in HTML format, it's more comfortable to read/search than this bulky book. Buy this book only if the explanations in the FAQ-Lite aren't sufficiently deep for you (or if you want to support the authors for their great FAQ-Lite...).
Rating:
Summary: A great reference
Review: I find this book to be a great reference. Anytime I want the answer to an obscure question I look it up in my C++ FAQ's book. Not only does it have the answer I am looking for, but also a lot of advice and cross references to other related questions, answers, and advice. You will find in depth discussions of strange language issues such as placement new, calling destructers without deleting an object, having a default implementation for a pure virtual function, making a function pointer that points to a non-static class member function, and all kinds of other advanced topics not covered in your average C++ book. I am willing to bet most experienced C++ programmers don't know about many of these issues. Of course, all the basics are covered as well. You can learn just about everything about C++ by reading this book from cover to cover.
|
