More Effective C++

Just as well written as the original Effective C++, More Effective C++ contains a fine collection of C++ techniques. It is quite a bit more advanced than the original so it will be most useful to software architectures and hardcore C++ developers. The items on efficiency are excellent and many of them apply to languages other than C++. His discussion on requiring heap-based objects for objects that "delete this" is thought provoking. I actually ran into a related bug soon after reading the item. Like usual, Meyers does an excellent job of building each item from the ground up. This is particularly true in the item on Reference Counting, where he keeps the String class example as simple as possible until more details are needed. Anyone who has a solid grasp on C++ and wants to bring their skills to the next level should check out this book.

After being a very satisfied reader of the first volume, I bought this second as well. And I'm even more satisfied with this book. There are fewer items than the first volume, but I found they are exactly those items you're looking for after reading a C++ big manual and the first Meyers' book.The section on exceptions is a very appreciable collection on exceptions topics, difficult to find elsewhere, unless you're a constant reader of C++ Report (where they held a monthly column on the subject).The section on efficiency is a niece and useful read that let you meet some important consideration as the famous 80-20 rule (a.k.a. 90-10 rule, the "make the common case faster" pattern, and so on) or the Lazy Evaluation tecnique (I've used it extensively since I'm involved on big proportions projects that need this kind of savings).A special mention goes on the item about the costs of virtual functions, polymorphism and RTTI features. This is about the best account I've found on the subject. The only other one I can think about is Dattatri's in "C++: Effective Object-Oriented Software Construction". You won't believe it, but I've red Dattatri's just a week before I've been specifically asked for this very same topic during an important job interview. Luckily.The section on Techniques is a source of pure gems: item after item I've discovered how well and widely these topics can be treated. Some will find they are taken from Coplien's book. And that's true. But here they are expanded and more clearly explained.The last section also will bring some knowledge that will prove to be useful whenever you'll be involved in software design. They well add to those on the first volume.A very worth buying, and a very worth read, on my opinion.

While Meyers' first book, _Effective C++_, described fundamental concepts of C++, this book covers substantially more advanced techniques. These are not the heavily-designed strategies described in _Design Patterns_ or _Advanced C++: Programming Styles and Idioms_, but more lightweight and fundamental C++ features, including the specifics of memory allocation, exception handling, stack-based classes, and operator overloading. These are features of C++ which can be ignored at first but soon become key everday programming elements and important design considerations once well understood.The material covered here separates the casual or novice C++ hobbyist from the true programmer.

...this book is for you. Both "50 Specific Ways" and his second book "35 New Ways" have helped me bring my C++ programming up to the next level of understanding. After using C for more than 10 years and C++ for all but the first few of those years, there were still many small things that used to bug me. Problems with some of my constructors, strange constructs I'd discovered over the years but never 100% understood... Scott's books have not only cleared the field, but have brought to my attention many new things about objects and C++ I'd never previously considered.One warning: I found that some items were too far above me when I first read through the books -- especially this second book, "35 New Ways..." However, once I'd finished reading the book, I started again right back at page 1, and my second (and 3rd, 4th...) reading made much more sense. There is a *lot* of helpful information packed into Scott's 85 items.I recommend picking up both books at once, or, I believe a special edition is available with both books condensed into 1 volume.

If you have a fundamental knowledge of C++ and the objectOrientation and want to know more of the language from the efficiency point of view, than this is the book for you. The book is very well written and presented in a precise way with clear examples. The features covered in this book are certainly not available in other C++ language books. If you preparing for any C++ interviews read these books first. Start with the Effective C++ and go on to MoreEffective C++. Every serious C++ developers should have these books.