general

I have been using the Deitel books for the last 4 years. I have tried Java How To Program 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edith; as well as the Visual Basic 6 How To Program Book. All of them are well written and easy to understand. The end of chapter exercises are good for reinforcing concepts, and some are challenging and require that you think a bit. Thats the challenge of programming, problem solving! I find it difficult to believe that people could be finding the C++ How To Program Book hard to read. I have just purchased it, and it very EASY compared to the other C++ books out there. Programming isn't for everybody, and C++ happens to be more complicated than a lot of other programming languages. I feel that C++ can be mastered as a first programming language, but it might be better for a first timer to start with an easier language like Visual Basic or Java to ease into C++ programming. I hope this helps.

First thing I noticed was code examples. I cannot tell you how much easier this will make it for novice programmers to have the color coding. It makes deciphering [what I'm sure for them is alien text] so much easier. Next, the focus on Object Orientation at the end of each chapter is a crucial element most other titles leave out. Most C++ books teach you the syntax, but not the design procedure. This is akin to being taught how to make a brick, but not how to build a house. The information here is presented in a clear, systematic fashion. There is some C coding presented, but this is not made the focus of the text. Last, but certainly not least, the freebie Visual Studio is a nice touch, since this is such a popular compiler, get familiar w/ its enviornment, and some of the other cooler features it offers.

This book is well organized, and gives clear, readable descriptions of the whole C++ language - and that covers a lot of area.

There's a lot of thud factor here, well over 1K pages. A lot of that is taken up with sample code and with programming advice that seems to help beginners. If you just want a language handbook, that's way more than you need or want. I tolerate it, though, because of the clarity of the rest of the presentation.

(If my emphasis on clarity seems excessive, that's because you haven't experienced Stroustrup's "stream of conciousness" style.)

This book gives only minimal and incidental descriptions of the standard C/C++ libraries, the STL, and all the other necessaries of the C++ world. Well, you can't have everything. Not if you want to be able to lift the book, too. This picks a topics and covers it - you'll need additional references for the rest.

This does what I want: it gives me the language, all of it, without requiring a linear search through the whole text. Until I find something better, I'll use this for my C++ reference.