C Primer Plus Fourth Edition

I don't usually read technical books cover to cover (especially code books) but this is one of the few. Prata is an amazing teacher. The world would be much better off with teachers like him. What I like best is he doesn't dumb down the content which makes the book flow. I also appreciate the fact this book isn't too technical which is helpful when you don't fully understand a topic at first. If you have entry level programming experience and want to advance by leaps and bounds THIS is the book. I thought C was an outdated language but after learning C ALL other languages just "click".I have 20 or so programming books most of which turned out to just be reference books but this book can easily be read cover to cover and is a must have for ANY serious programmer.

I have gone through a little over half of this book so far, and I feel I needto write a review based on a few things I have seen.1. The book is very well organized. It starts from absolute basics, and buildson everything from there. This makes going from chapter to chapter very easy.2. Some of the examples are very easy, and others are not. You do not want abook that does everything for you. You might get stuck for hours, but in the endyou will learn something, which leads me to...3. The downside of this book (actually I noticed that could be debatable), isthe number of typos in the examples of code. You can tell that the editors didcatch all the copy-paste mistakes as they were made quite a bit. But sometimes Isat for hours wondering why my code wouldn't compile only to realize he made atypo mistake. One of them I remember is when he had done a 'switch' statement,he left out the integer expression... and being a newbie, it takes awhile tocatch. And he confuses his pointer names A LOT, naming one *pt then switchingto *pn. The up-side to this is you will be fixing people's code in the real world,debugging, etc... so that's how I look at it. But frustrating nonetheless.4. Sometimes it isn't quite clear how he is explaining a certain point, butafter thinking about it a bit, it starts to make sense later, usually in examplesor when he explains other ways of doing it. For the most part, the explanationsare pretty good.Bottom-line, the standard hasn't changed too much since this edition so unlessyou want to fish out top-dollar for the 6th edition that is out now, this onewill do fine; I got mine new for $10 shipped.I actually started with Java as my first language and classes, objects, etcdidn't make too much sense until I studied them in C++ from this book... Irecommend studying C++ as a first language rather than Java like most schoolsand universities do as Java is a more higher level language than C++, meaningit has a little more abstraction level, however in theory Java is 'easier' to C++.Just that C++ answered all my problems I had with Java.

This book is excellently written. It is written very clear and to the point.The book is able to explain the extremely abstract conceptof class templates. Of all the books I own thatattempt to explain class templates, this book wasthe only one that was able to do so without loosing me. C++ classtemplates are, in my opinion, an extremely abstract concept that requiresa very skillful author to describe it adequately and accurately.Stephen Prata has succeeded in doing that! Thank you so much for successfullyteaching me this topic that was once very intimidating and foreign.

Stephen Prata's C++ Primer Plus is a good book on learning C++.Pros:1) Large coverage of the language in 1 book2) Easily readable, but also can be used for a quick reference if needs be3) Logical progression of topics.4) Lots of code examples.5) Exercises and questions at the end of chapter with answers in back of bookCons:1) Errors. Lots of them. This is version 4 of the book and it is extremely obvious that this book is just barely tweaked and resold. There is no way the author is unaware of these errors. I confirmed they were also in the 3rd edition. When it is an easy topic, you can figure out what he meant if you aren't a new programmer. However, when it gets to complicated subjects, those errors can really waste a lot of time. If this were a first edition, I'd let it slide a little more. But for a 4th edition after all these years. No way. Just shows laziness/greed.2) Detail on certain topics. Yes I know this is a "primer," but I found explanations on Cplusplus.com sometimes covered more detail than the book on basic topics.Summary:The book is still a good book. Not great, but good. If you need to learn C++, grabbing a used copy for under $15 is a no brainer.

This book is simple enough for the beginning programmer and advanced enough to get you a very solid base in C. It is the best programming book I've read. I cant tell you how helpful it is. In my book all errors have been fixed. I bought it a few months ago so there shouldn't be any errors left anymore. The code for the book is easily attainable through Sams online website [...] too. Excellence!

I bought the book used, so expected it to be a little worn. It was in relatively good shape! Great book for anyone learning, or relearning (in my case) how to program in C++. Also a great reference book for any programmer to add to their library. Delivery took longer than it should have; I ordered boots from another company a day after I ordered this book and the boots arrived 3 days before the book.

This is a C++ book that is good enough to be a classic. It explains concepts simply, thoroughly and presents lots of code examples to drive the idea home. I learned C++ using the Deitel & Deitel book and bought this one in order to refresh my memory. I highly prefer this book over the D&D version. I even bought an extra copy for my co-worker!