C++ Programming in easy steps Fourth Edition

This is an excellent start to learn C++. The book takes you step by step into actual C++ programming without technical jargon or mumbo-jumbo. While the steps seem mundane, they provide a sound basis of this complicated language and will facilitate your use of the most extensively used contemporary computer language. A word of caution, you must complete all the exercises in the book (ie type them into your computer and watch them run!). You cannot learn any computer language without using it. It helps if you have a project in mind, because you can best learn the language by actually doing something with it.Here are some important adjuncts. An excellent C++ language (console edition, by Orwell) can be downloaded from the internet at no charge on the sourceforge site. There is a wonderful source on the internet called cplusplus which has an extensive reference base and a very active forum to answer questions and help with problems. This is particularly important with C++ because there are a zillion little quirks in the language (example: who knew that you can't load a file title from a saved string but have to add the suffix .c_str on the string?). You will find the participants in the forum are tolerant and patient for what may seem to be even the most stupid questions. Be very careful downloading material, many C++ sites contain spyware/computer viruses which are impossible to remove. The site recommended above seems to be free of these problems.Your reward: C++ is here to stay and is the basis for most new languages. I wondered why until completing the implementations of my previous applications. C++ is 20 times faster (I measured it) than my old compiled Pascal programs, is more facile, and works with many operating systems.Go for it!

I started years ago with Mike McGrath's "C Programming in Easy Steps" I picked up in London before I found them in the USA.As a hardware designer more and more of my designs have embedded processors. Today most processors are supplied with reference designs, eval boards, and sample code including C++ code that runs under a OS on a host.What I needed was a top level guide to understand the sample code sufficiently to tailor it to my specific application and a reference to decipher the error messages as a result of my tailoring. McGarth's book was perfect. I have long since graduated to a book shelf of "heavy" C reference books which I use. But McGarth's book is within close reach for the occasion when I haven't used a function for a while and need a quick peek to remember the correct syntax.C++ Programming in Easy Steps has proven to be as useful as the C version as I tackle C++ sample code for a host OS application. The book’s format is very clean and well organized. Each section has at least one complete example and avoids generalized snippets that only a CS major would appreciate. He includes useful Tips and “Beware” to avoid common pit-falls many people fall into when first writing code. His books are not full of what is supposed to be humor as some are. They are very clear and to the point.If you are a student, hobbyist, old Fortran coder, or a hardware designer and need to bang out some rudimentary C++ code for a project this book is highly recommended.

Pros: Short (~180 pages) in full color. Easy to follow, big font, SMALL coding samples. You won't die trying to get through this book. Easy to make notes, not to lose interest, and to cover basic concepts one at a time so you can go back to youtube or a larger book to see each concept more in-depth. Keeps you organized. I'd say this book is geared towards children with all the color, but it greatly helped me (I'm 24).Cons: Covers the basics (great for beginners!) thus good only if you're a super beginner to programming in general. Also doesn't cover the basics in depth- just code, straight to the point. What it is and how to use it, no theory behind it. Some examples redundant or useless, and some things (ie the use of this->) isn't encouraged in the c++ community the way its illustrated. But again, not a big deal, and much of it is personal preference.Suggestion: If you're new to programming and are trying to pick up these skills, get this book. Get CodeBlocks or NetBeans or a similar platform downloaded, and get a git account (free) to upload your code online to GitHub. Git will keep you motivated to continue (you can track your status, etc). Good luck!

I bought this book while trying to digest my textbook for class ("C++ Primer Plus" Fifth Edition by Stephen Prata), which is the highest rated textbook on the subject as of January 2012.Already versed in C and C#, I thought I'd take this class to finish my understanding of the C family.Not it is the most technical and diverse of them all, but also the most bulky and the most confusing.My textbook had a lot of words, like most textbooks, and not enough examples. I prefer to learn by being shown and being able to copy the programs and pick each bit apart. Needless to say without those types of examples aplenty, I was growing more and more confused and more and more behind in class.I pawed for a quick fix to my misunderstandings and low and behold, I find this quick guide.This book is amazing. The wording is easy, fast, and to the point. You can devour a chapter in less then ten minutes and have PLENTY of time to fool around with what you've learned after! This book told me in two pages how to write to and from a file where seven pages in my smaller-texted, bulky, wordy but yet five-stared textbook could not.BUY THIS BOOK! In a weekend you can easily become capable of comprehending and writing C++ programming and then just build on it while in class. If you are falling behind, you WILL catch up with this book to reference; Simple. Read it BEFORE getting into class and you'll be a mad-l33t coder.(McGrath = bestCodingAuthorEver)? cout << "Of course!": cout << "LIES!";