C++ for Dummies [With CDROM]

Very well written for those who are on top of their game. You will definitely not be a "dummy" after reading this one!

I'm guessing this is something that most of the reviewers who were critical of this book, didn't do before purchasing it. Yes you need to know C for this book and that is clearly stated in the prerequisites. But any book that tries to teach you C++ without prior knowledge of C is only lying to you (It's called C++ not D as in it's an addition onto C). If you try to learn C++ first you will only end up with a VERY superficial understanding of the language, which is something I know from experience. Personally I hate reading, and I'm always looking for shortcuts, but trying to learn C++ before C isn't a shortcut and you'll have to retrace you steps back to the start as soon as you figure that out. One more point, I always find many of the people who say you should not or not have to learn C first are people who did exactly that when they were starting out and are now experienced programmers. A hill never seems as high after you have climbed it.Now that I have dispelled some of the myths previously presented it's time for the facts about the book...Getting back on track, if you have a good knowledge of C before reading this book, you will love it. This book is very fast and manages to teach you the basics and then many quite advanced features of the C++ language; such as operator overloading, without getting you confused.The one bad thing about the book that others have mentioned is that there are very boring and pretty long examples at the end of the first few chapters and if you read them, you will find yourself re-learning things that you already know from previous chapters. Solution: After you have gone through the first example, you should only skim the others.Summary - Learn C well (Yes, pointers too! -- the best pointer explanation on the net: http://www.howstuffworks.com/c9.htm), next get this book, then forever praise the book as it will expand your knowledge into Object-Orientated C++ in about a tenth of the time it took you to learn C. Try and learn C++ first and just like me (and many of my friends) you will waste your time, until the day you finally decide it isn't working and go back and start on C. For those who need more convincing, read on...Apart from the logical reasons for learning C first, there is also the fact that C is so much more fun to learn than C++. In C++ everything interesting is already done for you which makes it great for business where you want to build applications fast, but that takes out all the fun. Sort of like how making a pizza from scratch is more fun than pulling it out of the box and sticking it in the microwave. Home made pizza usually tastes a lot better too and it's the same with programming in C (and I'm not exaggerating).Hope that helps you all find what you are looking for. =)-- Gerry

Ok first off forget the negative reviews, this book is quite understandable. Secondly, forget the reviews about this being a book that u need to know c to understand. In this issue, the 4th edition, u do not need to know c, that was in the previous editions. The author states that in this book. So if ur a new-b go pick it up. Im 13, although and honor student, and it was quite easy to understand. I have made a few small programs already and im currently learning how to make video games.

Ok, i bought some book on Visual C++, but realized i needed to know C++ first. So i bought this book, and wasnt disappointed. The author overall does a very good job of explaining C++. The author even says at the start of the book, previous editions off C++ for Dummies requried knowing C, but this one DOESNT. I dont know what the hell the people who said he states u must know C were on. And he backs those words up... I didnt know a thing about C and was able to understand this book. I dunno how some people who actually knew C said this book [...]...

This is one of the best C++ for beginners books I have ever read. It is for technical people who have programmed in other languages but want to get their feet wet with C++ and object-oriented programming. It does assume some level of C language knowledge. Most C++ books I've found dive right into the hard-core stuff but this book was well-paced and didn't try to go too fast. This is definitely not for a non-technical person.