What book would be recommended for C and C++?

[php111]

Hi,

I have been referred to look into development forums for my book questions.

I am currently reading C Primer Plus to learn pure C. I am trying to get a list of books to go from basics to Developer. Will someone please post books for that on pre C and C++? Please reply back with a list of books. Thank you.

[ralph l mayo]

Get the latest edition of The C++ Programming Language by language architect Bjarne Stroustrup. You may need another book to use alongside it if you're very new to programming, but it's essential anyway.

[sjankis630]

I saw that book in my local Barnes and Noble. I was flipping through it and after reading the foreward thought that it was the best looking book I had seen for someone who may be a beginner like me , but who was serious about learning how to program correctly from the beginning. No cutting corners.
What I didn't understand was the header file that he was using in the opening chapters.
He did not use iostream and no namespaces. I had never even heard of the header file that he was using. I was wondering if anyone who has actually used the book could explain what the heck he was doing.

Here is the header that he was using:
#include "std_lib_facilities.h

[ralph l mayo]

Are you sure you were looking at "The C++ Programming Language" and not "Programming Principles and Practice Using C++" by the same author? The latter is the only one I remember having the nonstandard header. Anyway, what it's about IIRC is just including a bunch of stuff from the standard library so that he does not have to include #include <iostream> #include <string> #include <vector> .... for every example and yet still have the example compile if copied verbatim from the book (assuming the user has managed to copy the "std_lib_facilities.h" from earlier in the book or from an included CD).

Very few examples in "The C++ Programming Language" are meant to compile all on their own. He picks out a language feature and explains it, but it's up to the reader to include the proper headers and put it in int main() or some other appropriate context if they want to see it in action.

He explains at the beginning of chapter 3 (which starts with the archetypal "Hello, World!" program) that he suppresses both #includes and the std:: prefix from most of his examples for brevity's sake.

[sjankis630]

Ralph,
Thank you for the information. It was the second book that I was referring to. The original post led me to believe that the person was a beginner and Programming Principles and Practice Using C++" was the more appropriate book IMHO. I was always of the mind that "The C++ Programming Language" was more for the intermediate to advanced programmer.

[demtron]

I do not use C++, so I can't recommend any specific books. But, I can tell you that books by APress and SAMS are generally well-written and full of examples and pictures. I have never gone wrong with one of their books.

[it career]

I also recommend the C++ book by Bjarne Stroustrup.