943,708 Members | Top Members by Rank

Ad:
  • C++ Discussion Thread
  • Unsolved
  • Views: 862
  • C++ RSS
Oct 30th, 2008
0

Are my old books useful?

Expand Post »
I read a post earlier about C++ books and whatnot.

I have a few books from my yesteryears (10-13 years ago) on C++ mostly. How useful would these books be in terms of the language as it has progressed in the last 10 or so years. Are they even worth digging up or not.

Looking for an opinion, thanks.
Last edited by chococrack; Oct 30th, 2008 at 4:19 am.
Similar Threads
Reputation Points: 92
Solved Threads: 16
Junior Poster
chococrack is offline Offline
149 posts
since Oct 2008
Oct 30th, 2008
0

Re: Are my old books useful?

Ask Narue -- she told me awhile back that she collects old computer books.
Sponsor
Team Colleague
Featured Poster
Reputation Points: 5608
Solved Threads: 2282
Retired and Enjoying Life
Ancient Dragon is offline Offline
21,950 posts
since Aug 2005
Oct 30th, 2008
0

Re: Are my old books useful?

They can still be correct if they are for standard C++ (ANSI) which was finalised in about 1998. The syntax in older books is probably now depreceated.
Moderator
Featured Poster
Reputation Points: 1764
Solved Threads: 574
Moderator
jbennet is offline Offline
16,505 posts
since Apr 2005
Oct 30th, 2008
0

Re: Are my old books useful?

I have "THE C++ PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE" second edition by Bjarne Stroustrup.(1991) among others. The preface begins with a lovely quote :

"The road goes ever on and on" - Bilbo Baggins

I will never sell this book!
Reputation Points: 2023
Solved Threads: 644
Senior Poster
ddanbe is offline Offline
3,736 posts
since Oct 2008
Oct 30th, 2008
1

Re: Are my old books useful?

>How useful would these books be in terms of the
>language as it has progressed in the last 10 or so years.
Naturally they won't be useful if you need information on changes made since those books were written, but old books are still a wealth of knowledge. Just read them with the caveat that there may have been improvements over the years in terms of best practice as well as language evolution. The sample code often doesn't compile without tweaks when you get into the really old books, and especially with books that focus on object oriented programming, what was a good design ten years ago could very likely be bit bucket fodder today.

>Are they even worth digging up or not.
My collection is probably coming close to 500, the majority of them can be considered "old", and I consult many of them on a regular basis. They're worth looking at, if only to determine whether you want to sell them or not.
Administrator
Reputation Points: 6442
Solved Threads: 1393
Bad Cop
Narue is offline Offline
11,807 posts
since Sep 2004
Oct 30th, 2008
0

Re: Are my old books useful?

Well here's the deal. I got really interested in programming around 12 years old or so. I was unable to teach myself, but I still had a bunch of books. I get older, join the military, serve 6 years, and here I am finally 26 and just learning it for real.

I have just a few old books which I previously thought would be worthless due to changes that have made it so. But on the other hand, I kind of feel like a lot is being left out by the way that they are presenting the language now. So I went ahead and started poking around at the boxes in my attic and pulled out the following:

C++ In Plain English - Brian Overland 1996
Rescued By C++ Second Edition - Kris Jamsa 1996
Teach Yourself Visual C++ 4 in 21 Days 1996
Visual C++ Tutorials, Development System for Windows 95 and Windows NT 1995

Pretty neat thing was the multicolored markers I used to write my name in a couple of them ;D
Reputation Points: 92
Solved Threads: 16
Junior Poster
chococrack is offline Offline
149 posts
since Oct 2008
Oct 30th, 2008
0

Re: Are my old books useful?

Visual c++ 4.0 is probably useless now
Moderator
Featured Poster
Reputation Points: 1764
Solved Threads: 574
Moderator
jbennet is offline Offline
16,505 posts
since Apr 2005
Oct 30th, 2008
1

Re: Are my old books useful?

That is fairly obvious.
Reputation Points: 92
Solved Threads: 16
Junior Poster
chococrack is offline Offline
149 posts
since Oct 2008
Oct 31st, 2008
0

Re: Are my old books useful?

MSVC++ 6 is still common though.
Last edited by jbennet; Oct 31st, 2008 at 7:40 am.
Moderator
Featured Poster
Reputation Points: 1764
Solved Threads: 574
Moderator
jbennet is offline Offline
16,505 posts
since Apr 2005

This thread is more than three months old

No one has posted to this discussion for at least three months. Please let old threads die and do not reply to them unless you feel you have something new and valuable to contribute that absolutely must be added to make the discussion complete. Otherwise, please start a new thread in this forum instead.
Message:
Previous Thread in C++ Forum Timeline: Hiding the consol window in VC++ W32 consol app
Next Thread in C++ Forum Timeline: cin/cout error: no match for operator





About Us | Contact Us | Advertise | Acceptable Use Policy
Forum Index | Build Custom RSS Feed


Follow us on Twitter


© 2011 DaniWeb® LLC