Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!jima
From: jima@hplsla.HP.COM (Jim Adcock)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Book reports
Message-ID: <6590180@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 5 Jul 89 17:24:52 GMT
References: <3117@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 19

>I am not finished (it contains 451 pages) but I have read enough to be able
>to say that it is my favorite.  I feel that this book may be the Harbison
>and Steele of C++ (I believe that is high praise).  The book is based on
>2.0 and is very current, especially if you tape a hardcopy of article 
>3587 to the back (A Lippman update).  The appendix has a good deal of useful
>information on things like the I/O library, MI and other 1.2/2.0 
>compatibility issues.  I have found clear, unambiguous text, and useful
>examples and exercises.  A definite 'thumbs up'.

Yes, except if one has C and C++ experience, and is mainly interested in
the fine details of C++, and 2.0 changes -- then ignore the author's
recommendations and skip over chapters 1-5.  Lippman recommends scanning
over these chapters even if one has C/C++ experience -- and I almost threw
the book away before getting to chapters 6+....  I'm a little concerned that
-- In the nature of a primer -- Lippman is not too rigorous about what he
says in chapters 1-5 -- I kept finding myself saying "that's not quite right!"
I hope the following chapters are more rigorous, otherwise I'll be learning
a lot of the fine details of the C++ language wrong.  What I really need
is a rigorous, complete reference manual for the 2.0 version of the language.