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Member Avatar for silvercats

and what is the difference between C++ primer and c++ primer plus?

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Quick answer: C++ Primer, 5th Edition.Text Here

why is that? why not the newer version(primer plus 6th edition?

Member Avatar for deceptikon

what is the best boook?

The one you have the easiest time understanding. All books will get you started. Some are better from an experts view, but may not be suitable for all beginners because everyone learns differently and understands different explanations of the same concept. It's actually more important that you get a book you can follow than getting the "best" book.

All of the ones you listed are good.

and what is the difference between C++ primer and c++ primer plus?

I think the question should be what's not different? And the answer would be that "C++ Primer" is in both names. Otherwise they're different books written by different authors. Both are suitable, of course, and cover the necessary material to learn C++.

why not the newer version(primer plus 6th edition?

That's a different book. The 5th edition is the most recent for "C++ Primer".

Edited by deceptikon
Member Avatar for silvercats

Can someone tell me what the best from, Primer 5th edition and accelerated c++. primer is new.

Member Avatar for deceptikon

Define "best". Because you're asking for something subjective that is totally irrelevant to your situation. Take a look at both in a bookstore and pick the one that you can follow more easily.

Member Avatar for silvercats

I mean, something that explains theroes very well to the bottom (in short) and cover needed areas in and updated with good questions and answers to them.

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I don't think Aceelerated c++ covers C++11? is that a problem?

Member Avatar for deceptikon

I mean, something that explains theroes very well to the bottom (in short) and cover needed areas in and updated with good questions and answers to them.

That describes just about any recommended book, and all of the ones you listed. I'm dead serious when I say just take a look at all of them in the bookstore and pick the one that feels most comfortable to you.

I don't think Aceelerated c++ covers C++11? is that a problem?

It's not a problem. As far as I'm aware, there aren't any good books out that cover C++11 in any meaningful way. Most of the significant features are what I would consider to be advanced anyway, and have no business being covered in a beginner book.

Member Avatar for yxBen

I have the Primer Plus, and I am in the process of reading it (up to chapter 8 now). I think it is an excellent and well written book. Some people dislike it a lot because of a couple things:
1. The author dives in very deep in each topic, many times unnecessarily too deep. (e.g. Chapter 3 not only mentions and teaches you the basics of data types (primitives & etc). It goes in depth also to the point of irrelevant to talk about Unicode and the different types of chars.) Both a blessing and a curse, and some thing to bear with if your a absolute beginner.
2. Some people say its C reapplied into C++ (or C++ rewritten/taught in a C like way). The book does not formally teaches you OOP until chapter 9, but instead choose to go over the basics and fundamentals first such as primitive/compound data types, loops, branching statements, logic operators and etc which is very C like. Personally i think the Author has taken an ingenious approach to teaching C++. Overtime, he progressively introduces new ideas and things from the OOP world to show you the "++" side of C++.
3. This isn’t one of those "Here's x and y function or method and what it does and here's some code to show you how it works" book. This book dives in a bit more(sometimes too much) and teaches you why it works like that and how to write good code (chapter 8 where it talks about reference variable is a good example of this).

There are many good things about this book, but many of them seem to come down to personal preference. Personally I think this book might not the best book for the absolute beginners. Some programming experience (especially in C) is recommended. I had this book a couple months before uni started for me this year and started reading it since, but stopped when uni started. I have to say I understand and appreciate this book a lot more now after I've done a couple units in different programming languages (C, Java, Python etc) during the year.

Regarding the C++11 stuff, i dont think it matters much at this stage. The changes arnt evolutionary and incremental AFAIK but i could be wrong. And there isn't one compiler that's close to having most new C++11 features implemented.

I would also recommend the OP to look into the headfirst series of books. I have the C version and it's written in a manner thats well suited to beginners, and guaranteed not to be dry and boring. It was my C unit's recommended text and I liked it alot.

BenH

Edited by yxBen
Member Avatar for silvercats

Do these boooks cover windows programming(system, not GUI specifically)?

Member Avatar for yxBen

Do these boooks cover windows programming(system, not GUI specifically)?

Nope.

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