ISBN0136152503

I started learning C++ with the "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days" book. Bad mistake. Stay away from the '21 days' books. The examples were bad, bad explanations, and bad programming practices.

I then picked up Deitel's C++ How to Program 3rd edition. I learned much more from that book with it's good program examples and somewhat muddled writing. The 3rd edition had long winded, robot like explanations. It got the job done, but it was a bit of a hard read to get through.

The new 6th edition is a must get for the beginner or as a reference book for programmers already versed in C++. Unlike previous editions, the great thing about this book is that it starts using classes from the beginning of the book and teaches the basic concepts such as control structures, stream I/O, functions, etc. through the use of classes.

There are also new sections to this book. I am learning C++ as a hobby to create games, and the game programming section looks exciting. It uses the Ogre library (www.Ogre3d.org) to create a colorful game of Pong, and it explains in detail the code and introduces the general topics of sound, graphics, lighting, etc.

If you're just picking up programming for the first time get this book, you won't regret it.

My teacher is using the 5th edition, but I have the 6th edition, and it is not a problem. The assignments are the same, so buy the 5th edition since it's cheaper. I think there are a few kids in my class that are using the 4th edition without any problem, but I don't know for sure.

Programming is a hard thing to learn, so it would be unrealistic to think this book will magically teach you. However, I think it does a decent job with a very hard subject. The best way to learn is by trying to program, but if you get stuck, the book is probably not going to be much help.

It also teaches about classes before you learn about functions, which makes almost no sense to me. If you don't understand functions, classes are impossible to understand other than in theory. And learning things in theory does not help you!! (It does later when it all comes together, but if you don't understand the first steps, you will never get there!)

If you are buying this book to learn (and not for a class), get the 3rd edition because it teaches functions before classes. C++ has not changed significantly, so don't worry about it being old.

The CD that comes with the 6th edition has Visual Studio Express Edition, which is FREE software that you can download from Microsoft anyway. If you buy used, you do not need to make sure you get the CD.

I believe that previous editions actually had some content on them, like code samples, questions, answers, etc. (Again I don't know for absolute sure, because I don't have them.)

The 6th edition has a code on the inside cover, you scratch it off and it lets you set up an account for the "Cyber Classroom." The cyber classroom has the entire book online, along with audio samples of people explaining things. (I have never listened to them, so I don't know if it's good or not.) If you don't have the book or your code has already been used, a subscription to just the cyber classroom costs $60 all by itself.

Picked this book up two weeks ago and I've been reading several different sections.

Negatives:
1) Examples are too long.
2) Chapter on classes too early in book. Several basic chapters occur afterwards.
3) Structs aren't mentioned till almost page 1000
4) Bad need of chirp short points
5) Lacks harmony in layout - subjects appear somewhat disjointed.
6) I find the miscellaneous tips and points distracting.
7) Horrible index, if one word is listed in a table, there's a page number for it.

Positives:
Easy to read, the multi-color is awesome when reading the code and staying focused.
Good chapter on STL and templates
Full examples are sometimes useful for full understanding.
Explanations on subjects seems good, as long as the sample code is short.
Book seems to include everything on the subject of C++. And some more.
Lots of details on each point

This book is dying to become a standard, but it misses the mark. It can't decide weather to be a reference book or tutorial. It would be nice to see a split design on the chapters with some quick examples.

I think I rated it a little low, but I could not give it 4 stars. I have another Deitel book on C#, and while this one is a little cleaner, (and in color), they could cut 20% out of this book and still have a good product. However, with that said, if I could only buy one book on C++, this might be the one.

If you want to learn C++ and C++ in OOP, then this is not the right book for you. This book is written so badly that it is very hard to understand it. I suggest for any students or even programmers to pick up the C++ book that is written by Tony Gaddis and it is so well written that is #1 book among students, teachers and programmers. I have lost all my respect for Detiel books for any programming languages. I don't know why they even teach Detiel books in Colleges and Universities when all proffessors are saying is that this book is not well written.