A First Book of Visual C++

The author seems to be aware what beginning students in the world of programming get bogged down by and how to take care of it. For ex. the author explains in the appendix the concept of using namespaces and how this can be accounted for in the more recent form of header file inclusion. To give an instance, he clearly says that if we use the recent form which does not include the .h extension for instance in case of the header file - stdio , then it has to be accompanied by the statement: 'using namespace std' (in this case) or we have precede all identifiers defined inside the library with the keyword 'std' followed by :: or else the compiler would give an error. This is because all recent header files are members of a namespace 'std'. This was just an example that shows that the author has made VC++ accessible to people from a non programming background and I appreciate the effort that he has taken.

Ever wonder why there is so much CRAPPY software available in the MS Windows universe? It's because most people don't take the time to learn what they need to know before writing and releasing software. This book will help avoid that trap.This book received a bit of a bumb wrap from another reviewer due to the title. The fact is that this book really isn't much about "Visual C++" programming (i.e. creating MS Windows applications), but instead teaches you IN DETAIL how to program in C++. This book makes full use of the Visual C++ IDE from Microsoft, hence the book's title. Most of the examples in this book teach you how to program in C++ using the Console window. You'll learn how to thoroughly understand the C++ language and perform a lot of fundamental programming tasks before needing to worry about Graphical User Interfaces.In this book you'll learn:-- core data types (int, char, and more)-- decision, looping, and program flow-- functions and classes-- reading and writing files using iostreams-- string handling-- arrays and pointers-- memory managementYou MUST have in-depth knowledge of all of these topics BEFORE writing applications that utilize a GUI in the Windows' environment. Failure to grasp all of these subjects will result in you writing buggy crash-prone applications. This book will help you master most of what you need about C++.All of the examples in this book are clear and easy to comprehend. Everything is laid out in a consistent manner that successively builds from one chapter to the next. All of the programs are presented in an easy to read format that facilitates typing the programs into the MS Visual C++ Integrated Development Environment. At the end of each chapter are a series of excercises designed to ensure that you have comprehended subjects presented in the chapter. Do the excercises! You'll learn everything better and quicker! If you get stuck, don't worry, just turn to the back of the book where you'll find the answers to the odd numbered excercises.Do youself a favor and purchase this book and work through it BEFORE you buy any other book on programming applicaitions for MS Windows. This book covers 90% of what other Windows programming books assume you already know, and that's the fundamentals of programming in C++.