Bought a C++ book today: C++ for beginners - Herb Schildt

[Corey]

Ok just got back from Chapters (book store) and I went through all their C++ books. Nothing good on Visual Studio except maybe the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Sams guide, but feh on Sams... Besides, . NET isn't important to me and I have 6.0 so the "2003" stuff doesn't seem to match up. Anyhoo as for the C++ Stuff I went through a bunch of them and ended up getting this one:

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...868106-4700852

Seems awesome so far, I'll keep everyone posted. But just a warning, some of those books were pretty bad. All things are definitely not created equal. Anyhow I've read through a bunch of it and I definitely reccomend this one to anyone starting off in C++. Herb Schildt is one of those teachers who has a knack for encapsulating each concept clearly in a sentence or two in an easy-to-grasp way. He also seems to be one of those writers who really understands the best methods of deploying learning material. I would say that, content aside, this is the best writing I've ever seen in a book of this nature, I'm very impressed and am stealing some of his ideas for future use in my own materials.

One note about the "7-in-1" C++ for dummies book which encapsulates all seven of the C++ for dummies book series in a single book. Definitely look through this one before you buy it unless you have a lot of spare time on your hands, I'm not sure it's very good having gone through it. Most of the books seemm to think that "listing the details of how C++ works" is the same as "teaching C++" so be very careful if you are buying any of these books. Obviously any book (Sams) which promises to teach you anything at all, let alone C++, in 15 days, is probably off its rocker.

If anyone has any personal reviews or comments on any C++ learning related books or mags let me know, I'm interested to see what else is out there.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Lorne]

Schildt's books are pretty good (I believe I have a couple of them at home) although watch out for technical inacuracies in the examples, IIRC.

The C++ for Dummies book isn't so bad, actually...it has one of the better explanations of inheritance (or was it pointer operators? I forget which...it's been like what, 8+ years?) for beginners that I have ever read.

[Corey]

Thanks, I'll do that. This is second edition so hopefully it fairly accurate but I'll go check if there's an online errata too. Yes, you're right about the dummies books, they did contain a bunch of good stuff but it was laid out oddly for a beginner and seemed to be awully long winded in spots. The main thing I like about Schildt is that he's not wasting my time, he stays right on topic all the time and seems to have a knack for communication, or at least I have some rapport with his writing style. So far...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Corey]

I also like that Schildt looks like Burton Cummings. For me that is a HUGE confidence builder. I wonder how Schildt's version of Star Baby sounds?

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[JimS]

Originally Posted by Corey

I also like that Schildt looks like Burton Cummings. For me that is a HUGE confidence builder. I wonder how Schildt's version of Star Baby sounds?

Let's hope he does a fair "You Make Me So Very Happy"

[Corey]

Ah yes, David Clayton Thomas. That guy is *underrated*, Go Down Gamblin', Lucretia McEvil, And When I Die (Laura Nyro), Spinning Wheel, God Bless The Child (Billy Holiday), are all classic performances. I'd like to see one of his critics sing Hi-De-Ho in front of a few thousand people.

Lesser known fact. One of the world top jazz guitarists and my personal "#1 guitarist in the universe", Mike Stern toured with Blood, Sweat, and Tears just before he joined Miles Davis. BST hired some of the best musicians on earth when they toured. Definitely one of the more skilled groups of musicians to grace the pop market.

Anyhoo I rant.

Back to the book. OK, I got through the first 60 pages of it last night after work and it is *exactly what the doctor ordered*. Finally I understand C++!!! And I understand the difference between C++ and WinAPI/Visual C++!!! Brett was right, this core language stuff is essentially identical to PHP, same operators, syntax, etc. because PHP is a C derivative. So that's pleasant. Also Brett's, "At the end of the day programming is programming." comment makes more sense now. This book focuses on code usage and console apps, no GUI stuff, so it frees you up to be really centered on the essence of C++ and Brett is right, it's pretty much the same game here at this beginning level as with PHP or actionscript. Variables, functions, data types, etc.

Anyhow suffice to say that Herb Schildt is the best technical author I've ever read. I'm going to buy the remainder of his C++ books ASAP. Anyone with a tiny bit of PHP under their belt should check out this book, it's a great read and it really simplifies the whole process of getting started with C++. This guy is the Wayne Gretzky of technical writing, can't say enough good things about this book, seeing it has permanently changed my own authoring habits. (Look for Herb's influence on my upcoming vid CDs)

The only thing I don't fully understand so far is what a literal is, how it differs from normal variables, and what the usage of literals is. But I suspect Herb will explain it later in the book. He has a knack for not bogging you down with a bunch of stuff all at once, he sets a really excellent pace and all the info seems to be there only once it needs to be. It's a very European type of formatting which is really refreshing. I've read a lot of technical books in my day, perhaps too many, but this one is the *most readable* I've ever come across.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[JimS]

Originally Posted by JimS

Let's hope he does a fair "You Make Me So Very Happy"

Well that certainly came out of left field. Somehow, I managed to mix up The Guess Who with Blood Sweat & Tears. More precisely, I mixed up These Eyes, with You Make Me So Very Happy. I’m not sure why, they don’t sound that much alike. A little research revealed that they peaked on the Top 40 chart about 5 weeks apart, back in Spring of 1969. That’s probably not why I mixed them up either, but a trivial side note.

In the category of Geezer Rock, I blew it. That’s just another reason I’d never make it on Jeopardy. That, and the fact that I’m terrified of Alex Trebek’s mustache.

As punishment: No Sugar Tonight in my tea.

Sounds to me like the perfect excuse for me to dust off some old vinyl, and spend the evening reviewing past lessons.

[Corey]

Yip. David Clayton Cumming's, "You Made These Eyes So Very Happy".

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Corey]

Update : Well, I'm a third of the way through this book and it just keeps getting better. Nothing difficult at all so far. I can't help anticipating some imminent doom given how smoothly it's going, but anyhow Herb Schildt is da bomb. I notice that about half way through the book you learn classes and their usage, so this book is not only a good boom on starting C++ but also on starting OOP.

I'm going to write a book on OOP someday called, "Chicken's OOP".

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[eric_darling]

Hey Corey, so when can we exepect a Speedy Training title on C++? I'd bet that would be one of the better resources out there... Herb Schildt notwithstanding.

[Intrigued]

Ironic, I am about a third the way through the Lua book I just received the other day. Here is something easy to use by all that I found out (to wet one's whistle):

Remember the following?

--[[
In here we
can put a
long block
of data and
it will be all
commented
out. Say
some text
code we
are working
with
]]

But, did you know that you can add one more hyphen (aka. minus sign) you can UNcomment the..well.. comment?

Just add that hyphen before the --[[ beginning commented line

---[[
In here we
can put a
long block
of data and
it will be all
commented
out. Say
some text
code we
are working
with
]]

Now you can pick back up where you left off before you commented out the code block!

[Corey]

Cool tip. Yes, you can "uncomment" the long comment with a single line comment in other languages too i.e. in PHP, C++:

/*
stuff here isn't executed
*/

///*
stuff here is executed
//*/

Please start some new threads here in the Developers Den with any LUA tips or even conversation points you may have, I'm hoping to get lots of LUA talk going in here. The more the better, I'm hoping to really get this Developer's Den section hopping.

I'm game for LUA talk anyday.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software