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Fast C++ book

Started by January 08, 2016 12:12 PM
5 comments, last by Ravyne 8 years, 11 months ago

Hello. I know the title sounds weird but..I'm learning C++ for some years now and I think I'm a little more than a beginner but I never managed to know all the rules of the language or I forgat many of them because I did not use those features. Is there any book suitable for me more like a "dictionary" or one that presents rules and examples without all the explaining ? Its boring to read books with 1000+ pages and try to skip the things I know.

Thanks.

http://en.cppreference.com/

http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/

The online documentation for C++ has gotten a LOT better in recent years. You don't need a book anymore.

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There is no better reference work than "The C++ Programming Language" by Bjarne Stroustrup.

If you have trouble using that as a reference book, the problem is not with the book.

Stephen M. Webb
Professional Free Software Developer

So we are at an interesting place in the C++ language right now where the language is actually moving faster than the publishers at this point. I highly recommend as was already recommended that you open up http://en.cppreference.com/w/ and start to go thru each item. Don't expect though to pick up the finer points there if you don't already know them such as cache misses, atomics, compiler nuances, etc.

When I was a beginner cppreference was too complicated to me for same reason, so I've used http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/

And of course the best t?hing is always practice.

There are two books you should absolutely own as reference -- The first is as Bregma mentioned: The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup, and the second is The C++ Standard Library by Nicolai M. Josuttis. You'll be wanting the most recent editions of both, 4th and 2nd respectively. These should be on every serious C++ programmer's bookshelf -- I buy mine in hardcover. Both of these books will give you a lot more depth than any one place on the internet will, especially if you're interested in history or theory.

For a very quick, but surface-level review of a language, I've had good experiences with O'Reilly's Pocket Reference books. They're small and inexpensive, but they'll hit enough of the high points to be able to re-familiarize yourself with the basics of features you don't use often. For example, when I've interviewed for jobs in the past where the gig uses a language I haven't actively used for awhile, I find these books to be a great, quick refresher, and since they're inexpensive (usually < $10) I can always just go buy the latest one.

After that, Scott Meyers' Effective Modern C++ (1st) and Effective C++ (3rd) are also something you should at least read, if not own. There's also More Effective C++ but its very aged at this point because it never got a second edition or update -- still, there are probably some gems of wisdom in there so I would say its a read if you can get your hands on it, but don't buy unless maybe you find a really cheap used copy -- Even Effective C++ is starting to age, but its 3rd edition is new enough to be a worthwhile addition to your bookshelf.

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So we are at an interesting place in the C++ language right now where the language is actually moving faster than the publishers at this point.

I stand by my post above, but this is also very true. I don't believe any of the books I recommended have an impending replacement any time soon, not within the next two years probably, but they do suffer from being behind the language currently, due to the language's quick pace of evolution as of late. We'll never return to the past's decade of language stability, and that's a good thing, but it also means the books will have caught up to the language for a lot less of the time. I don't like to be flipant about money when I don't know people's situations, but $60 for a new book every 3-4 years is money well spent for professional growth and/or hobby.

You should own at least the two reference books, but do expect you'll need to go online to get the latest information.

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