Book suggestions for self-teaching C++

MrBond

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
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I'm going to need to learn C++ fairly quickly for work - we have some relatively simple programs that do various data logging tasks for us and I'd like to be able to work on them,

I'm looking for some suggestions on books I can pick up so I can get an understanding of the language and be able to use it. I don't have much in the way of programming experience, I've written some VBA macros in Excel but other than that I'm completely green.

I was checking Amazon and looking at reviews, but I thought I'd ask here for suggestions. I tend to pick up things pretty quickly so hopefully I can find a resource to help me learn C++ enough that I can enhance my team at work.
 

GarfieldtheCat

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2005
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You Can Do it

You can Program in C++

Both by Francis Glassborow

The first is for someone with no programming experience, the 2nd is for someone new to C++. Both teach "modern" C++ (not C with a few C++ extra's)

Other good books would be:

Accelerated C++ by Koenig and Moo - This is probably too fast for you, it is for someone experienced in programming other languages who wants to learn C++.

C++ Primer, 4th Ed by Lippman and Moo - Another good beginner book.

Once you get the basics, reading Herb Sutter's and Scott Meyer's books are highly recommended, they go over a lot of practical "howto's" and best practices to actually use C++ fully (and correctly)
 

spamsk8r

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2001
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I second taking at least a basic class. In C/C++, if you don't really understand how the machine works (the stack, heap, multiple levels of indirection, byte offsets, etc.) you will probably have an extremely frustrating time without additional guidance. The C/C++ syntax also doesn't make things any more clear, as some operators do different things depending on the context (e.g. the * character can indicate a pointer, or it can be a multiplication operator).
 

sao123

Lifer
May 27, 2002
12,653
205
106
Having Taught C++ classes beforeat a branch campus of Penn State, I generally recommend the books by one of 2 authors.

Harvey Deitel ( C++ How to Program, 6/e )
Walter Savitch ( Problem Solving with C++ - The Object of Programming, Sixth Edition )