jimad@microsoft.UUCP (Jim ADCOCK) (11/22/90)
A Short List of Preferred C++ Texts With the size of the C++ community continuing to double about every nine months, many C++ programmers haven't had a chance to complete their C++ bookshelf. The below "Short List" of C++ texts attempts to list favorite C++ texts in many categories, in approximately the order a new C++ programmer might wish to acquire the texts. A few good texts don't appear in this list because they closely overlap other, more preferred texts in this list. Specialized texts, not applicable to most C++ programmers are not listed here, primarily because I have not read all, but also because this is intended to be a "short list." Teach Yourself C++, Stevens, MIS Press 1990, ISBN 1-558-28027-8 A raw neophyte should be able to breeze through this text and example software in about a day. A C++ Primer, Lippman, Addison-Wesley 1989, 0-201-16487-6 The most common text to learn C++ from. Best coverage of multiple inheritence. The Annotated C++ Reference Manual, Ellis & Stroustrup, Addison-Wesley 1990 0-201-51459-1. Much more than you ever wanted to know about the intimate details of the language, and why. Today's definitive answer about what is, or isn't in the language -- excepting [small] changes coming from the ANSI committee. The C++ Answer Book, Hansen, Addison-Wesley 1989, 0-201-11497-6 Lots of good, small, ADT-like examples of C++ programming. The best reference on how to write little classes like Int, string, vector, etc. Data Abstraction and Object Oriented Programming in C++, Gorlen, Orlow & Plexico, John Wiley, 0-471-92346-X The best reference on how to write big, "Smalltalk-like" classes relying on polymophism, a common base class, dynamic type casting, etc. The C++ Programming Language, Stroustrup, Addison Wesley 1986, 0-201-12078-X The historical reference of where the language is coming from, and the way C++ compilers used to behave circa release "1.2" Please use Stroustrup's newer text above to answer fine grain details about what the language is suppose to be! [until this text can be updated.] Object Oriented Design with Applications, Booch, Benjamin/Cummings 1991, 0-8053-0091-0. The most widely regarded text about what it means to design object oriented software. Object Orientation: Concepts, Languages, Databases, User Interfaces, Khoshafian & Abnous, John Wiley 1990, 0-471-51801-8. A survey of the object oriented world, and the best description of databases and issues of object identity. Supplemental Readings: USENIX C++ Workshops and Conferences Proceedings OOPSLA Conference Proceedings The C++ Report Journal of Object Oriented Programming comp.lang.c++ comp.std.c++ comp.object Good Luck!
jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) (11/27/90)
In article <59242@microsoft.UUCP>, jimad@microsoft.UUCP (Jim ADCOCK) writes: > > A Short List of Preferred C++ Texts which is a very good list. One small correction though: |> The C++ Programming Language, Stroustrup, Addison Wesley 1986, 0-201-12078-X |> The historical reference of where the language is coming from, |> and the way C++ compilers used to behave circa release "1.2" |> Please use Stroustrup's newer text above to answer fine grain |> details about what the language is suppose to be! [until this |> text can be updated.] No, this book describes version 1.0, not 1.2. In particular, the "protected" keyword is not described, because it did not yet exist. Unless you're a language historian, you should avoid this book; it recommends certain hacks that no longer work and I then have to "deprogram" people who have read it. :-) -- Joe Buck jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu {uunet,ucbvax}!galileo.berkeley.edu!jbuck