Rating: 
Summary: nice c++ book for experienced programmers
Review: i spent about 4 days going through this book. it's a great read, makes me feel that i've touched the very essence of c++. C can do everything C++ can. all C++ does is to make some of the programming tasks relatively easy, which would require high skills to implement in C. therefore as an experienced C programmer, i could never imagine reading a 1000+ pages C++ book, such as Lippman's other book <c++ primer>. it's just too inefficient. but reading this book is quite pleasant: it grasps some of the established C programming idiom and shows you how they can be done in c++ with less effort. here are some examples: chapter 3 shows how a templatized iterator does what a "void *" pointer does in C; chapter 4 shows how to implement polymorphism with function pointers, which can be done easily with virtual functions shown in chapter 5; chapter 6 shows the usages of template, which in C is usually done with arcane macro... all in all, i think Lippman has done a good job. but be warned: this book is not good for beginners without any programming experience. for a beginner, "essential" means syntax, not idioms.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: I was rather skeptical when I first heard of this book. After all, explaining C++ in anything less than 500 or 600 pages seemed impossible. I was very pleasantly surprised when I started reading though. This is very down-to-earth and crystal-clear reading. Easy to understand and, most importantly, you won't get overwhelmed by the sheer size of the mountain ahead of you. Naturally, you can't expect this book to turn you into a C++ guru. But that isn't its purpose. (Besides, there are *no* books that will turn you into a guru, only books that are more complete, including Stan's own C++ Primer.) This book is excellent for *learning* C++ and getting off the ground. It achieves this goal better than any other C++ book I've read. Once you've read this book, you can graduate to more advanced material, such as the C++ Primer (which is didactically very good) or Stroustrup's book (which is didactically nowhere near as good, but works better as a reference due to its terseness). "Essential C++" provides very solid C++ grounding without neglecting any of the important parts of the language. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: nice c++ book for experienced programmers
Review: I'm fairly new to C++ programming and have spent a great deal of time in both formal training and working on my own. I found Essential C++ to be concise, direct and to-the-point. It's use of examples and excercises (with the answers included) proved invaluable. It's a great learning tool and an invaluable book to keep close by as a reference.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding C++ Resource
Review: I'm fairly new to C++ programming and have spent a great deal of time in both formal training and working on my own. I found Essential C++ to be concise, direct and to-the-point. It's use of examples and excercises (with the answers included) proved invaluable. It's a great learning tool and an invaluable book to keep close by as a reference.
Rating:
Summary: Great book to learn C++ right
Review: Several years ago, I worked my way through one of those 1000-pg tomes that claim to teach C++. This is after learning Fortrann77 once upon a time. I came out of that knowing a lot of syntax, but not being able to use it well. Fast forward 4 years, and a few programming languages in between, and Essential C++ is comparatively enlightening. Not only do I review the syntax, I come out of it understanding why certain features are good andhow to use them. I can quibble about some things. (the chapter on generic programming comes fairly early, and going through it made me think of "deep magic") but Essential C++ is for people who want to learn, not just syntax, but how to use C++.
Rating:
Summary: As Simple As Possible, But No Simpler
Review: The enormous success of C Programming Language is, IMHO, because it is simple,
flexible and powerful. The whole language is very well written by K&R in the
classic book. Every sentence in that book is precise yet complete. For novice,
the learning curve of C++ is steep because it is not as simple as C. At least,
at first, software developers are afraid of the huge number of features and the
inter-connections it offers.
I have been waiting (and wondering) why pioneers of the C++ language didn't provide
a simple book (at the same size of K&R C) for the development community? Here is the
answer I found with this book "Essential C++".
I bought C++ Primer long time ago. But I couldn't finish reading that book - just
because the book is huge and better serves as a reference.
With the same attractive/readable font and formatting as C++ Primer, Essential C++
offers a very good introduction to C++ in a step-by-step fashion - Procedural,
Generic, Object-Based, Object-Oriented and STL programming.
I sincerely suggest that every C++ programmer will be benefited by reading this
book first. After reading this book, I am sure, you will change impression about
C++ and look it as a beautiful, simple and powerful language.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: The nice thing about this book is that it can be used for both learning the C++ language as well as for having a handy reference. The book covers C++ with a supprisingly good level of details even though it's meant to be concise. The author wrote valuable comments about the execution efficiency issue when using different coding options. A general comment on the author's approach is that he starts with the basics of C without making a distinction between C and C++ related instructions as the book moves further ahead. The C++ coverage does not suffer from that approach, the emphasis being put clearly on C++. Consequently, I recommend this book but a reader having a good knowledge of regular C will of course feel more comfortable.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT PROFESSIONAL COVERAGE
Review: THIS BOOK ALONG WITH LIPPMANS' C++ PRIMER ARE ALL THAT IS NEEDED TO LEARN C++. BOTH BOOKS ARE EXTREMELY GOOD, IMHO! P. S. NOT FOR THE 'TEACH YOURSELF C++ IN 21 DAYS CROWD" THESE BOOKS ARE FOR PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMMERS.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Intro to C++ for the Experienced Programmer
Review: This book does an outstanding job of meeting its stated objective, which is to provide an experienced programmer who is unfamiliar with C++ with an understanding of the language which will enable him/her to produce effective C++ programs within a very short time. It is clear and concise, and I was "up and running" in the C++ environment very quickly! This book is not for experienced C++ programmers, nor is it an introduction to programming for a beginner. For its target audience, however, it's a winner!
Rating:
Summary: Good, and concise! however, not suitable for beginners...
Review: This book introduced the very "essential" part of C++ (just as its title). However, the content of this book is not easy to follow if you are a "pure" novice. It's more suitable for "a little" experienced programmers rather than just a C++ beginner. It put more emphases on the "object-based, object-oriented, and generic" programming with function template, class template and some basic STL those had been used widely through this book. Even if the last chapter of this book covered the "Exception Handling", it is just a glance (14 pages for basic concepts). It's the most disappointing part. Other chapters are better and mentioned the key of their subjects. Again, just as I said, if you do NOT have ANY experience about C++, try a easier book. If you want to start C++ with this one, you'd better also have a great reference (such like "C++ Primer" by the same author, or "The C++ Programming Language by the the "father" of C++, Bjarne Stroustrup) and someone who can help you clear some important concepts. The author offered a very useful examples for generic algorithms and the solutions to the exercises in the appendix.
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