15 replies to this topic

[skuzzie]

Hi all

Im new to the programming scene and was wondering if there is a good book for the beginner. Im picking up "head first java" for java (obviously) and was going to get "c++ for dummies". Feel free to suggest any others or give your review of the book if you have read it.

[dcs]

http://forum.codecal...-resources.html

Generally to be avoided, from what I've heard, are the "for dummies" or "learn X in Y minutes/hours/days" type books.

[skuzzie]

I checked the books in the resources section, nothing seemed appealing and for a "beginner".

[dcs]

I'm not sure how recently this was updated:
ACCU - Reviews by subject: beginner's c++

But it may give you a few more ideas regarding books you may be considering.

[WingedPanther]

I generally recommend Thinking in C++, which is a free download.

[jackolantern]

dcs said:

http://forum.codecal...-resources.html

Generally to be avoided, from what I've heard, are the "for dummies" or "learn X in Y minutes/hours/days" type books.

Actually, many of the Sam's "Learn X in 24 Hours" and "Learn X in 21 Days" are quite good. I don't know why they get such low marks on Amazon, as I have learned the basics of VB.NET, VB6, Java and C# all from those books. I am also learning C++ from the 21 Days books. Don't let the titles confuse you, though. They are just regular books, and you cannot expect to be even an intermediate programmer within 24 hours or even 21 days. I just like the books because they are very straight forward, mostly well-written, clear and they have exercises at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge.

As far as the "For Dummies" books, I have not found a worthy one yet. I don't even think the Java for Dummies book explained inheritance.

[dcs]

jackolantern said:

Actually, many of the Sam's "Learn X in 24 Hours" and "Learn X in 21 Days" are quite good. I don't know why they get such low marks on Amazon, as I have learned the basics of VB.NET, VB6, Java and C# all from those books. I am also learning C++ from the 21 Days books. Don't let the titles confuse you, though. They are just regular books, and you cannot expect to be even an intermediate programmer within 24 hours or even 21 days. I just like the books because they are very straight forward, mostly well-written, clear and they have exercises at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge.

I don't know the particulars. I assume they might be like an old Schildt book: wonderfully written, easy to understand, and littered with errors and non-standard code. But that's just a guess.

The point being: sometimes a person thinks he's learning C++ and instead is learning a particular dialect such as Turbo C++ 3.0. It is very difficult for someone new to the language to make the distinction. Again, mere speculation.

[edit]I just thought of a recent item that might be related. A friend is in a C++ university class. His instructor assigned a Game of Life assignment. In the skeleton the instructor provided, VLAs were used. This is not standard C++; it is common GnuC++. I knew this he didn't -- what newcomer would?

That sort of thing, when it makes it into books or instruction, I find to be somewhat damaging. Because it seems that eventually the student paying for a book or instruction or both, it getting a ripped off in that some day on his own he will have to learn it's wrong, unlearn the wrong way, learn the right way, and then continue forward.

I believe it is better to present the standard language when learning the language. Later on 3rd party niceties can be added to the mix. Again, whether or not the books you mentioned do this I have no idea.

[GregGeig]

buy books for beginners and for dummies

[WingedPanther]

My experience has been that For Dummies books do a nice job of introducing you to a language, in the sense that you can decide if you like it. Unfortunately, I find they tend to gloss over technical details for the sake of keeping things gentle.

[Hignar]

I've been getting on well with C++ Primer Plus. Plenty of examples and exercises and concepts are well explained. It can be a little dry at times. The chapter on memory models and variable scope is hard going but it's still well explained.

The O'reilly pocket references make good companion texts as well and can be picked up for a pittance on Amazon's marketplace (in the UK at least). I've got 6 of them covering various languages and they all do their job brilliantly.

[WingedPanther]

h4x: what are you talking about? C++ is a perfectly good language for beginning programmers.