Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ames!amdahl!rtech!cpsc6a!cpsc6b!crs
From: crs@cpsc6b.cpsc6a.att.com (Chris (HA!! I *KILL* me!!) Seaman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: C++ textbooks (was: C++ design)
Keywords: information
Message-ID: <550@cpsc6b.cpsc6a.att.com>
Date: 21 Jun 89 19:14:53 GMT
References: <9474@alice.UUCP> <916@tukki.jyu.fi> <137@ssp1.idca.tds.philips.nl>
Organization: AT&T (CPSC), Oakland, CA
Lines: 53

roelof@idca.tds.PHILIPS.nl (R. Vuurboom) writes:
< markku@jytko.jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen) writes:
< >...
< >>Wiener, Richard S., Pinson, Lewis J.: "An Introduction to Object-Oriented
< >>	Programming and C++," Addison-Wesley, 1988.
< >...
< >Sorry, but I would not recommend this book.
< 
< I would. When I started along the C++ track I first started reading 
< Stroustrups book and got confused. Backtracked to Wiener and Pierson
< and found this easier going. I then returned to Stroustrup.

I *don't* mean to start a war, and while I agree that Stroustrup's book is
much too confusing to the C++ novice, I think it only fair to point out
that it isn't really intended as a tutorial.  As a reference, it is
very good (when is the edition covering 2.0 coming out?? :-) ).  Since
I haven't read Wiener & Pinson, I don't want to sound at all as if I
am knocking their book.  It may very well be an excellent tutorial.

[ Discussion of confusing example 'cout << "Hello world\n";' ... ]

[ Quote from BS ]
< The operator << ("put to"+) [Huh? put to what? Let me put this to you
< Stroustrup thats a damned left shift] writes its second argument 
< [I don't see any arguments] onto its first [??? how do you write an 
< argument _onto_ another argument?] ...

Actually, referring to the '<<' as a left shift might have served to
make the example even MORE confusing :-).  I say this because it alludes
to the 'C' use of the '<<' operator, which has no bearing on its function
here.  Once an operator has been overloaded for a class, identifying it
by its 'standard' meaning does little or nothing to explain its overloaded
usage.

< When I went back to bs after reading W&P and knowing the answers to the
< questions I wanted answering I could concentrate on the language _details_
< which bs so well describes and not the language _issues_ to which bs does
< too little justice.

This is probably the best approach to 'self-teaching' C++.

< Roelof Vuurboom  SSP/V3   Philips TDS Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

By the way, what are peoples' opinions of Stephen Dewhurst & Kathy Stark's
new book, 'Programming in C++', from Prentice Hall?  I just picked up a
copy (at the Usenix conference in Baltimore), and it looks pretty good,
so far.

-- 
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