Looking for C++ book recommendations

[Carl Youngblood]

I own the 3rd edition of Stroustrup's THE C++ PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE and
have read most of it, but I find its style to be more suitable for
reference than for tutorial. I still have a lot to learn about
template programming and don't have any experience with 3rd party
libraries, such as Boost. I'm looking to buy two more books that I'm
hoping will help take my C++ programming to the next level. Here are
some of my choices:

Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost, Karlsson
C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices, Sutter
The C++ Standard Library Extensions: A Tutorial and Reference, Becker
The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference, Josuttis
C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from
Boost and Beyond, Abrahams
C++ Templates: The Complete Guide, Vandevoorde
Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs,
3rd Edition, Meyers
Effective STL, Meyers
Exceptional C++ Style: 40 New Engineering Puzzles, Programming
Problems, and Solutions, Sutter
Modern C++ Design, Alexandrescu

I can only afford to buy about two more books for the present. What
choices do you think would give me the most bang for my buck? Are
there others that I have overlooked that would be even more important
to read?

Thanks,
Carl Youngblood

 

[mlimber]

I own the 3rd edition of Stroustrup's THE C++ PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE and
have read most of it, but I find its style to be more suitable for
reference than for tutorial. I still have a lot to learn about
template programming and don't have any experience with 3rd party
libraries, such as Boost. I'm looking to buy two more books that I'm
hoping will help take my C++ programming to the next level. Here are
some of my choices:

Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost, Karlsson
C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices, Sutter
The C++ Standard Library Extensions: A Tutorial and Reference, Becker
The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference, Josuttis
C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from
Boost and Beyond, Abrahams
C++ Templates: The Complete Guide, Vandevoorde
Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs,
3rd Edition, Meyers
Effective STL, Meyers
Exceptional C++ Style: 40 New Engineering Puzzles, Programming
Problems, and Solutions, Sutter
Modern C++ Design, Alexandrescu

I can only afford to buy about two more books for the present. What
choices do you think would give me the most bang for my buck? Are
there others that I have overlooked that would be even more important
to read?

You can find many book recommendations at accu.org. As far as specific
advice, I'm not clear on where you stand now. Are you comfortable with
the STL's containers and algorithms? Do you understand RAII? Are you
good with OO in general? Etc.

See also the FAQ on books:

http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/how-to-learn-cpp.html#faq-28.4

Cheers! --M

 

[Victor Bazarov]

I own the 3rd edition of Stroustrup's THE C++ PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE and
have read most of it, but I find its style to be more suitable for
reference than for tutorial. I still have a lot to learn about
template programming and don't have any experience with 3rd party
libraries, such as Boost. I'm looking to buy two more books that I'm
hoping will help take my C++ programming to the next level. Here are
some of my choices:

Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost, Karlsson
C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices,
Sutter The C++ Standard Library Extensions: A Tutorial and Reference,
Becker The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference, Josuttis
C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from
Boost and Beyond, Abrahams
C++ Templates: The Complete Guide, Vandevoorde
Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs,
3rd Edition, Meyers
Effective STL, Meyers
Exceptional C++ Style: 40 New Engineering Puzzles, Programming
Problems, and Solutions, Sutter
Modern C++ Design, Alexandrescu

I can only afford to buy about two more books for the present. What
choices do you think would give me the most bang for my buck? Are
there others that I have overlooked that would be even more important
to read?

The C++ Standard Library by Josuttis and C++ Templates by Vandevoorde
and Josuttis are the sure bets, I'd start with those.

The next batch after that should IMO be Modern C++ Design and C++
Template Metaprogramming.

After that, C++ Coding Standards, Problems and Solutions, Effective
series, Exceptional C++, Beyond, whatever. Check out www.accu.org
for more book reviews.

When I was learning, getting proper OOA/OOD thinking was more important
to me than becoming "effective", so I often recommend "Advanced C++" by
Coplien before Scott Meyers' series, though it is dated. Take a look
at Coplien's "Multi-paradigm DESIGN for C++".

Concentrate on the field and learn the important aspects of that. C++
is a tool, don't force it, don't bite off more than you can chew, and
you'll learn to use it eventually. Being successful means efficiently
convert algorithms of the field into C++ programs, and knowledge of C++
in full is not required for that (most of the time, anyway).

Pay attention to writing manageable programs. That way you can come
back to them to improve them when you have more time and wisdom. In
the meantime, use the knowledge you already have to earn what you can
spend on good tools, books included. Fortunately C++ is so vast that
one can know a tiny bit of it and still be quite productive.

V

 

[arnuld]

I own the 3rd edition of Stroustrup's THE C++ PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE and
have read most of it, but I find its style to be more suitable for
reference than for tutorial. I still have a lot to learn about

[snip]

Thanks,
Carl Youngblood

if you can tell about your "programming experience" & also whether you
know "C" or not, folks here can give a better advice to suit your needs.