C++ for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: Not for new programmers learning C++..
Review: After reading it over briefly and reading a few of the chapters, I 've concluded that this book assumes that you have knowledge another language or know C. There is so much code which is not defined, I really wonder who the author is speaking to.
There are several pages where I felt totally lost, in what he was trying to teach with snippets of code. Not a good choice!! Look elsewhere, or use C as a primer, then change back to C++. Other titles which I felt considerly better were Herbert Schildt's C++ books, he has many, but I don't recommend "C++ From The Ground Up", it's much like this title where he assumes you have previous experience with C. The only good comment I can make is that it's easier to understand once you grasp the format and functions using C, other then that it's directed to an audience of intermediate to expert programmers.

Rating:
Summary: Edition 5 but still.....
Review: I am definitely one of the "dummies" that this book is supposedly written for: I have no programming background at all and wanted to start with a portable programming language.

The book cover promises that you'll "create your first C++ program before you finish Chapter 1!". Uh, yes, if by "create" you mean "copy from the CD".

By chapter 2, the auther was introducing concepts that are pretty foreign to me, a non-math-minded person. It's all reading from there to chapter 5, which is where I have stalled out. All the reading, with not a hint of hands-on practice, is very very dull and hard reading. Plus, if this is supposed to be the "Introduction", it still leaves off many things which I looked for. For example, in the Template, the following statements are included but never defined until Chapter 9!

//
// Template - provides a template to be used as the starting
// point
//
// the following include files define the majority of
// functions that any given program will need
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include
using namespace std;

int main(int nNumberofArgs, char* pszArgs[])

You'd think that a true "beginners" book would define these right from the get-go, especially since these are in your face on every page that includes a program.

I would hesitate to call this a beginner's guide, since this beginner is already lost.

Rating:
Summary: The only dummy is the author
Review: I felt like a dummy for buying this book, not because I am new to programming but because the book is far from explanatory. Instead of using the straight forward syntax of the commands in the examples in order to get the reader comfortable the author uses examples that convalute the command. Page 67 introduces the for loop, page 69 advises to avoid the dreaded infinite loop but from that point on the for loop is used as an infinite loop. There are no layman explanations of classes or of why you would implement them the way they are shown. The book seems to jump around. I would recommend the Schaums Outline Programming with C++ instead. Avoid this book it is not worth the time, effort or money.

Rating:
Summary: Riddled with errors / typos and assumes prior knowledge
Review: I'm in my 3rd year Computer Science studies, and am coming from a Java background after fiddling with C/C++ on embedded systems and decided some structured learning was needed.

On the whole this book rambles quite a bit, but that's to be expected for something aimed at beginninger - however this means that most of the learning meat is learnt from examples; which is a very bad thing as there are a lot of inconsistencies between the example code and the passage describing it.

Specific examples of what I mean:
On page 46 the author says that theoretically 10.0 == (100 % 10), and says to revise the modulo operator if you're confused. I'm pretty certain that 100 / 10 does not have a remainder, and hence that 100 % 10 = 0, and not 10 as the book states.
On pages 52-53 the passage says the code takes two numbers from the keyboard and does something with them, while the code does in-fact instantiate the variables directly, and does not accept any input at all.

There are also plenty of typos, both in the general writing ("was is 0x6 | 0x3?") and the code (page 52 "0x2" is written as "0x[subscript 2]").

Some of what is said is just plain wrong, for instance there are 8 bits in a byte, not 4. (Page 49).

I also got the impression that prior knowledge is being assumed, there are terms and concepts used casually, such as the default word length on an average PC is 32bit, without making it clear what this means - ints and floats were described in terms of what values they could contain, not their binary lengths.

And finally many important concepts are not explained fully, such as XOR, which does not even have a description in the operator table on page 50, it does have a partial truth-table though - why the other two cases were not included I have no idea, certainly my understanding of XOR did not come from this book.

I'm seriously glad that I'm borrowing this book, and didn't buy it myself. It seems to cover all the important topics, just not very cleanly, and I certainly wouldn't dream of inflicting it on a beginner. It's merely annoying if you have enough prior knowledge (of binary and how computers work with it, of logic (NOT, AND, OR, XOR) etc).

Rating:
Summary: Good...but not great.
Review: There are good and bad things about this book. I will start with the good. As the title says, the book is good for people who don't know anything and barely know how to work a computer. There are better books for those who have had a little programming expirience or those who are smart enough to not need a whole page and a half explaining what an integer is.
I also agree with others that the little chunks of programs are very annoying.
ok, so this is my suggestion:
1. People who can barely use a computer: buy this book, and also buy "Sam's teach yourself c++ in 21 days." Use this book for hard to understand concepts and use Sam's for actual uses and programs.
2. People who know a little programming or think they are not a dummy: "Sam's teach yourself c++ in 21 days" is perfect.
3. Expert programmers: Why are you reading this?

Rating:
Summary: Hardly helpful
Review: This book is very similar to other Dummies books I have read. It got both very good and very bad passages. Most often the
Dummy books are good at explaining the easy theory (of C++), and terrible at explaining the hard theory. But I also have a feeling that the author has not spent enough time on selecting material for the different chapters, as the entire book is not easy to follow.

My two stars goes the the parts of the book which touches the introductory C++ theory. For learning more advanced C++ with heavy use of pointers, consider buying C++ Primer.

Rating:
Summary: Fine intro to C++
Review: This is a solid introduction to the syntax and semantics of the core C++ language. It starts with the very basics of program structure using standard I/O examples and simple data types. There is some well thought out material on the basics of object oriented programming with the pillars of OO described at a practical level.

Templates are covered a little, but probably not enough to have you building them without some more reading them. The Standard Template Library (STL) is also covered thinly. This is a basic language reference. External libraries aren't the primary focus. In particular you will find no coverage of window systems or graphic user interface APIs, like Windows or anything else. If you want a complete C++ book for Windows, this isn't your book. But then I don't think that would be a good book anyway. You should learn the fundamentals of the language, then get a book specific to the platform you are developing on.

Rating:
Summary: C++ For Dummies 4th Edition
Review: This was no book for dummies. The examples were far too complex and the language explainations failed to follow a logical progression.

It did not include procedures for input and output to files.

Would only recommend this book to people who have already written C++ programs.

Definitely not for beginners.