C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart

by Brian Overland

Learning C++ Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult! Have you ever wanted to learn programming? Have you ever wanted to learn the C++ language behind many of today’s hottest games, business programs, and even advanced spacecraft? C++ Without Fear, Third Edition, is the ideal way to get started. Now updated for the newest C++14 standard and the free Microsoft Visual C++ Community Edition, it will quickly make you productive with C++ even if you’ve never written a line of code! Brian Overland has earned rave reviews for this book’s approach to teaching C++. He starts with short, simple examples you can easily enter and run. Within a couple of chapters, you’ll be creating useful utilities, playing games, and solving puzzles. Everything’s simplified to its essentials, patiently explained, and clearly illustrated with practical examples and exercises that help you make progress quickly. Overland reveals the “whys” and “tricks” behind each C++ language feature. And you’ll never get bogged down in complex or pointless He keeps you 100% focused on learning what works and what matters―while having fun! This new and improved edition Whether you want to learn C++ programming for pleasure or you’re considering a career in programming, this book is an outstanding choice.

Genres: Programming, Nonfiction

624 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2004

Reviews

[Andrew Obrigewitsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent introduction to C++ programming for people that already know computer logic and how to program in another language.

[John Jaramillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

With programming, practice makes perfect, and this book is an excellent practice resource.

[Evander]

Revising the basics

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

C++ Without Fear by Brian Overland teaches programming in the language known as C++. Now, I never took a single course in programming, but this book assumes very little in what the reader knows. Basically, it starts out with a lot of hand-holding, but this is good for me. Although I have tried to learn to program, for some reason the basic ideas don’t lead me to have excellent advanced ideas. I can do it as a hobby since I don’t think that I will be able to be employed as a programmer.

The book starts with the most basic ideas of programming; the ideas of proper syntax. Computers are not magical machines that can do anything and everything you demand of them. As the old adage goes, Garbage in, Garbage out. To be more specific, the computer can only do the things that you tell it to do: no more, no less. In that sense, there has to be a lot of peculiar rules and systems in place so that the computer understands you. Computers all over the world speak the same language, that of binary digits or bits. The book begins by explaining this. C++ is much like the C programming language, but it allows you to use Object-Oriented Programming. The book is kind enough to explain what that is.

Once you are ready to make your first program, the book talks about different compilers and which ones to use. You get to make the basic print output program and so on. Now if you are sufficiently advanced in programming, you could certainly skip a few chapters. This is something the author wholeheartedly recommends. Then again, the book states that it is a book for beginners, so you know how that goes. While I say that, the book does cover up to Polymorphism, so I don’t really know if that is super advanced or not.

With plenty of examples and practice programs, this book is quite excellent. It even contains some explanations of the programs line by line. If you are starting out, this book is probably pretty good for you. It also covers C++0x and some of the new features included in there, but the book is copyright 2011 so I don’t know if there has been a massive paradigm shift in programming since then. Now this book lends itself better to people that participate in the activities, but I am not that kind of guy. This is mainly because my setup is a bit awkward, and I don’t like cracking the spine of the book for no reason. Also, I am not a perfect touch typist.

[Nelson Muntz]

So far so good!

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro into object-oriented programming through C++