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c++ books

Started by Rick Lynch, 2007-10-05T17:12:27-05:00 (Friday)

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Rick Lynch

I know I probably seem to be flooding the forums with basic questions, and I'm sorry if I'm being annoying, but I have yet another question pertaining to introductory programming. I am not in CS 140 yet, but I am teaching myself, trying to keep up with the CS 140 class. The only issue is that I'm not sure if I am taking the right approach. I am learning out of Accelerated C++ right now, and I'm thinking about picking up a couple more books and just wanted your guy's suggestions. I was thinking along the line of C++ Primer 5th Edition by Stephen Prata and the C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrap. What do you guys think? Would having all 3 be benefitial or is there another good one?
Rick Lynch - Junior
Applied Mathematics Major
(Don't let this fool you. I love CS as well!)

William Grim

Avoid The C++ Programming Language unless you want to learn how the language is designed.  Overall, I didn't find it very useful.

Some good ones are Modern C++ Design, Effective C++, and More Effective C++.
William Grim
IT Associate, Morgan Stanley

Kit

Personally, I like the interwebs for learning about a language. This, however, only works when you're motivated to write code.

Start small. Aim high. Don't be afraid to ask for help on this forum!
SIUe Computer Science Graduate

Kaitlyn Schmidt

Check out this link:
http://caos.cs.siue.edu/modules/newbbex/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1462&forum=2
The CS department endorses this book and it looked pretty good to me.  It has a ton of code examples.  Hope this helps. :-)
Kaitlyn Schmidt
Senior, Computer Science
Former President of CAOS

Rick Lynch

Thanks! I'll have to go check it out from the library.
Rick Lynch - Junior
Applied Mathematics Major
(Don't let this fool you. I love CS as well!)

Rick Lynch

I went to look at C++: The complete Reference today. It seemed to be a really thorough book from what I can tell. The only thing that got me is that it had a whole bunch of C in the beginning to explain certain aspects of C++. From what I heard, learning C before C++ really isn't necessary anymore. I don't know.

Anyway, I think I will more than likely get C++ Primer 5.0 by Stephen Prata, and C++: The Complete Reference. I'll probably hold off on the ones you suggested Will, unless of course, they will come in handy real soon? Let me know if you can. Once again, thanks a lot guys.

Rick
Rick Lynch - Junior
Applied Mathematics Major
(Don't let this fool you. I love CS as well!)

Tony

Learning C first is not really necessary, but it comes in handy.  A lot of microprocessing is done in C.  It also gives you a good understanding of how the easy stuff, like arrays, work.  This way you can get familiar with that stuff before you start moving into stuff like classes.

You certainly do not need to learn C, but a few things are different, and you might use it some day.  I will most likely be using it this semester or the next in my senior project, so I am glad I learned it when I was first starting out.

If you are interested in computer science and want to be a good code developer, don't just lean C++, the more languages you know, the more your worth.  I would start off with C++, or C, but never count anything out.  Also, there are a lot of similarities with C and VB syntax, which you will be doing is CS 275, so that will help you get familiar with some of the different syntax that is used in VB.

Tony
I would rather be hated for doing what I believe in, than loved for doing what I don't.