[.ca] Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days Complete Compiler Edition (ISBN 0672322072)

From Amazon.com:
With Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, author Jesse Liberty presents a rapid and well-organized program for getting up to speed in C++ programming. By making the seemingly complex world of C++ digestible in daily doses, Liberty delivers a tutorial that keeps you motivated and yields serious results. This book uses a chapter-a-day approach, with the course outline clearly presented inside the front cover so you'll know exactly where you're headed. Unlike many C++ tutorials, this book doesn't put you to sleep early on with object-oriented programming (OOP) theory. Instead, it quickly makes you productive with the basics of the C++ language and then reinforces your new knowledge with OOP as you move through the teaching program. The first week introduces you to the fundamentals: the anatomy of a C++ program, variables, expressions, functions, program flow, and the basics of classes. Week two introduces some of the more sophisticated elements of the language such as pointers, arrays, and function overloading in a clear and effective manner. The final week concludes your crash course with advanced topics: streams, advanced inheritance, the C++ pre-processor, templates, and error handling. One day is also devoted strictly to object-oriented analysis and design. Each chapter finishes with a daily summary, a Q & A section, a quiz, and a series of excellent coding exercises. This tutorial, which is designed to teach you to write industry standard ANSI C++ code, requires no previous programming expertise. If you want to get serious with C++ in a hurry, this book is an excellent way to go.

The "REAL GENIUS" of it is, the Logical Output Flow.:
I'm not overstating my opinion of this book, but the "REAL GENIUS" of it is, the logical Output flow. With plently of whitespace which surrounds each line of code in all the chapters, the reader can visual see and compare what the compiler does with each line of code from all the illustrations given. The summaries are generally short, stating only the key modifications for each code illustrated. The code has been well groomed, almost perfect, except it's the level of difficulty which uncovers the C++ language. The authors have made this clear, but the "REAL GENIUS" of it still remains. The book is one of the best C++ titles I've read so far, I can't empathize this enough, try it out, it's worth a look!!

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK TO START WITH.:
Given that 'teaching' one's self a computer programming language is a daunting task anyway, Jesse Liberty's book takes a clean and understandable approach to the subject, broken down in a way that is convenient and productive. I bought this book with no programming experience (except for BASIC in high school) and have been working my way through the excercises for a while now. Although, the idea of learning this stuff in 21 Days is a fantasy, those who are willing to actually take the time to understand each chapter (it's taken me over a year of part-time study to get past Week 1) it's fantastic. If you persevere, somewhere around the end of Week 1 you will begin to feel the awesome power that is possible with your newfound and fledgling skill. I am excited and encouraged to finish the book (even if it takes me a couple more years) because it is a solid foundation for any would-be programmer, and a low-cost alternative to the University setting. You can be sure that when I'm done with C++, I will look to Jesse Liberty for "Teach Yourself C# in 21 Days". I highly recommend this book!

Saved my Life:
This book literally saved my life and career. Unlike the rest of my Computer Science peers, I didn't pick up programming as fast as others. During my first C++ course, I struggled immensely using the textbooks (C++ Primer, etc). I picked this book up, and was able to use it to complete all of my assignments and understand it enough to read harder books as well as do well in the class. It saved my life, that's all I can say, and now I am a graduate student in Computer Science, I owe it all to this book.

Informative, but somewhat difficult:
The book covers all the bases well, but the examples given jump in difficulty very quickly when they could have been simplified more, which combined with actual c++ errors makes for a fair bit of confusion.

Amazing Introductory Text:
Ok, first of all, this is to all the negative reviewers: What code doesn't compile? Sure, maybe he forgets to put a using namespace somewhere, so the compiler complains that it doesn't know what cout is, but come on! If you can't fix that problem (and this problem occurs late in the book.. Chapter 9 I think?) Then you should really reconsider your hobby. And the person that said the program "Hello World" didn't compile, well, I don't think you should be programming. And it helps to use a C++ compiler, not Notepad. Ok, my rant is over. Positives: Teaches you the basics with ease Brings you into Classes and OOP Programming quickly Easy to read... except Chapter 11 :\s Gets you started on difficult programming tasks once you finish the book. Cons: At the end of some chapters he does use methods that haven't been taught yet... Which isn't a huge disadvantage. At the end of some chapters, some of the last examples (in code) are quite difficult to comprehend. Overall : 4.5 This book WILL get you up and runnin in C++ in approximately a month. After this, I recommend Accelerated C++ and Modern C++ Design, and of course, The C++ Programming Language by Stroustrup. Enjoy.