Language Books

The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference

Nicolai M. Josuttis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

If you use the STL, you need this book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Still the best book on the STL. Buy this and Josuttis' templates book and you'll be set to learn the intricacies of C++ programming. There are very few genuinely useful C++ books; Josuttis' books are certainly among them... to the point where I almost never bother consulting any others. If I can't understand it from reading Josuttis, I delve into the header files themselves.

Editorial Review:

The C++ Standard Library provides a set of common classes and interfaces that greatly extend the core C++ language. Josuttis' book not only provides comprehensive documentation of each library component, it also offers clearly written explanations of complex concepts, describes the practical programming details needed for effective use, and gives example after example of working code. This thoroughly up-to-date book reflects the newest elements of the C++ standard library incorporated into the full ANSI/ISO C++ language standard. In particular, the text focuses on the Standard Template Library (STL), examining containers, iterators, function objects, and STL algorithms.

Regular Expression Pocket Reference: Regular Expressions for Perl, Ruby, PHP, Python, C, Java and .NET (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

Tony Stubblebine

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This handy little book offers programmers a complete overview of the syntax and semantics of regular expressions that are at the heart of every text-processing application. Ideal as a quick reference, Regular Expression Pocket Reference covers the regular expression APIs for Perl 5.8, Ruby (including some upcoming 1.9 features), Java, PHP, .NET and C#, Python, vi, JavaScript, and the PCRE regular expression libraries.

This concise and easy-to-use reference puts a very powerful tool for manipulating text and data right at your fingertips. Composed of a mixture of symbols and text, regular expressions can be an outlet for creativity, for brilliant programming, and for the elegant solution. Regular Expression Pocket Reference offers an introduction to regular expressions, pattern matching, metacharacters, modes and constructs, and then provides separate sections for each of the language APIs, with complete regex listings including:

• Supported metacharacters for each language API
• Regular expression classes and interfaces for Ruby, Java, .NET, and C#
• Regular expression operators for Perl 5.8
• Regular expression module objects and functions for Python
• Pattern-matching functions for PHP and the vi editor
• Pattern-matching methods and objects for JavaScript
• Unicode Support for each of the languages

With plenty of examples and other resources, Regular Expression Pocket Reference summarizes the complex rules for performing this critical text-processing function, and presents this often-confusing topic in a friendly and well-organized format. This guide makes an ideal on-the-job companion.

Objective-C Pocket Reference

Andrew Duncan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Objective-C is an exciting and dynamic approach to ibased object-oriented programming; it's the approach adopted by Apple as the foundation for programming under Mac OS X, a Unix-based operating system gaining wide acceptance among programmers and other technologists. Objective-C is easy to learn and has a simple elegance that is a welcome breath of fresh air after the abstruse and confusing C++. To help you master the fundamentals of this language, you'll want to keep the "Objective-C Pocket Reference" close at hand. This small book contains a wealth of valuable information to speed you over the learning curve.

In this pocket reference, author Andrew Duncan provides a quick and concise introduction to Objective-C for the experienced programmer. In addition to covering the essentials of Objective-C syntax, Andrew also covers important faces of the language such as memory management, the Objective-C runtime, dynamic loading, distributed objects, and exception handling.

O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among programmers everywhere. By providing important details in a succinct, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the new "Objective-C Pocket Reference" is the book you'll want to have.

C: A Reference Manual (5th Edition)

Samuel P. Harbison, Guy L. Steele

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Simply Indespensible 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Compiler writers know a language the best, and H & S are compiler guys.

This book is within reach every time I work with C. It treats you like an adult - you can find the terms "scope", "visibility", and "extent" in the index - and the better you are with language theory, the better the book gets.

I have taught C at in-house classes at work and I gave the students copies of H & S, telling them that giving them this book was the best thing I was going to do for them during the entire course.

Exactly what it was advertised 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is an excellent reference for us C programmers who need a book on the shelf. It's not a learning book. I definitely recommend it.

The Best 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is the best reference on C out there. Yes, it is better than K&R, despite what others say. It is better organized, and has very concise examples on everything that may need explaining.

Editorial Review:

A new and improved revision of the bestselling C language reference. This essential manual introduces the notion of "Clean C," writing C code that can be compiled as a C++ program, and incorporates the ISO C Amendment 1 (1994) which specifies new facilities for writing portable, international programs in C.

C++: The Complete Reference, 4th Edition

Herbert Schildt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Didn't answer the question I bought the book for 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

My older references are in storage and I thought it would be neat to have a c++ ref on my kindle. It says reference and the reviews are good, so I bought it.

I wanted to be reminded of how to use variable numbers of parameters for macro defines. Forget whether this is a good idea. It's a language feature and I want to know how it works.

#define with parameters is handled in one paragraph which doesn't even include the possibility of multiple parameters, let alone any details. Given this, I was curious to see if there was any discussion of the continuation-line functionality in the preprocessor. Nope. Not there.

I'm sure this is a wonderful c++ primer as the other reviews indicate. My spot check demonstrates that this is in no way a complete reference.

Even if you don't like a coding style, completeness allows you to read the code of others.

So I'm out $28 bucks and my question isn't answered. oh well.

Editorial Review:

Best-selling genius Herb Schildt covers everything from keywords, syntax, and libraries, to advanced features such as overloading, inheritance, virtual functions, namespaces, templates, and RTTI--plus, a complete description of the Standard Template Library (STL).

C++ Pocket Reference

Kyle Loudon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

C++ is a complex language with many subtle facets. This is especially true when it comes to object-oriented and template programming. The C++ Pocket Reference is a memory aid for C++ programmers, enabling them to quickly look up usage and syntax for unfamiliar and infrequently used aspects of the language. The book's small size makes it easy to carry about, ensuring that it will always be at-hand when needed. Programmers will also appreciate the book's brevity; as much information as possible has been crammed into its small pages. C++ Pocket Reference is useful to Java and C programmers making the transition to C++, or who find themselves occasionally programming in C++. The three languages are often confusingly similar. This book enables programmers familiar with C or Java to quickly come up to speed on how a particular construct or concept is implemented in C++. Together with its companion STL Pocket Reference, the C++ Pocket Reference forms one of the most concise, easily-carried, quick-references to the C++ language available.

C++ All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies

Jeff Cogswell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

There are almost as many programming languages these days as there are dialects at a Washington cocktail party. Among them all, however, C++ remains a favorite, especially for beginners. C++ is fast, powerful, fully compiled, and portable. If you’ve thought about learning programming, it’s a great place to start. And if you’re already experienced with C++, you probably know a well-organized reference guide makes a programmer’s life a lot easier.

C++ All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies is a guide that grows with you. It’s organized into seven convenient minibooks, each devoted to a particular aspect of C++. So whether you’re a beginner just learning the lingo, or a veteran who wants to find out how to write a Web service in C++ .NET by using the Managed Extension to C++ (and who actually knows what that means!) you can find the answers quickly and easily.

If you’re about to venture into C++ programming for the first time, Minibook I begins at the beginning and covers all the basic stuff you need to know. You’ll be ready to join the big kids when you reach the subsequent minibooks, which cover

• Understanding objects and classes, including UML and design patterns
• Fixing problems, debugging your code, and choosing a good debugger
• Advanced C++ programming
• Reading and writing files, with coverage of stream programming
• C++ .NET, which shows you how to program for Microsoft’s latest product, create Web services, build assemblies, and more
• Visual Studio 6.0 and MFC, featuring a discussion of writing software for Windows with Microsoft Foundation classes

No matter how accomplished a C++ programmer you are – or aren’t – there will always be times when you need a reference guide. C++ All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies gets you started with C++ programming, takes you as far as you want to go, and makes it easy to find out more whenever you want.

C All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies

Dan Gookin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great book On C 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book teaches all about C in a fun and easy to learn way. Great for someone that has some experience programming in either C, C++, Java, Perl, or Python. And also great if you read C For Dummies the first one that offers great introductory information on C and the idealogy of programming. Dan Gookin is one of the best authors of his time.

Editorial Review:

* Covers everything users need to get up to speed on C programming, including advanced topics to take their programming skill to the next level
* Walks C programmers through the entire development cycle of a C program-designing and developing the program, writing source code, compiling the code, linking the code to create the executable programs, debugging, and deployment
* Provides thorough coverage of keywords, program flow, conditional statements, constants and variables, numeric values, arrays, strings, functions, pointers, debugging, prototyping, and much more
* Addresses some advanced programming topics such as graphics and game programming as well as Windows and Linux programming
* Includes dozens of sample programs that readers can adapt and modify for their own uses
* Written by the author of the first-ever For Dummies book-a man known for his ability to take complex material and present it in a way that makes it simple and fun

C Pocket Reference

Peter Prinz, Ulla Kirch-Prinz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Concise and easy to use, this handy guide to C is a must-have quick reference for any C programmer. It's the only C reference that fits in your pocket and is an excellent companion to O'Reilly's other C books. Ideal as an introduction for beginners and a quick reference for advanced programmers, the C Pocket Reference consists of two parts: a compact description of the C language and a thematically structured reference to the standard library. The representation of the language is based on the ANSI standard and includes extensions introduced in 1999. An index is included to help you quickly find the information you need. This small book covers the following:

• C language fundamentals
• Data types
• Expressions and operators
• C statements
• Declarations
• Functions
• Preprocessor directives
• The standard library

When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the new C Pocket Reference is the book you'll want to have.

C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed.

Herbert Schildt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Stay away from Gerry S. Hayes 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

[Helpful? Not? Please vote.] :: Mr. Hayes is undoubtedly a competent C programmer. This book isn't intended for him, nor anyone else who patently needs no introduction to the basics. For example: If you know and understand and can recognize fundamental differences between compilers (perhaps you've written a compiler or two yourself?) ... you likely don't need this book. If you know and understand different program extensions or have a nuts-n-bolts understanding of portability issues ... you likely don't need this book. If you're porting code across platforms in the first place ... I digress. I just hated to see the first review of this book rate it so poorly by being so obviously slanted or geared to the competent and experienced programmer ... Similarly, "Green Eggs and Ham" isn't really a Comparative Literature text either.

This book is for new-ish programmers. I think it's specifically for undergrads who don't want to memorize the minutia of every single string function in C. Plain, vanilla C-code is all about syntax, order of operation and algorithms of the native functions. Most students understand how to solve labs on paper, but can't translate it to the infernal foreign language that is C-code. C is no mystery, and it's about exactness and handling every single possible input. It's also about reserved words, declaring and using data types and structures, and basically completing lab assignments, for the first 3 years or so. After that, C, C++, JAVA, whatever ... you know programming, and can find out what you need to complete any program in any language once you have the basics well in hand. Having taught at the University level, I find Schildt to be very good at making Sophomores out of Freshmen, and Juniors out of Sophomores. Beyond that, it's only a once-in-a-while grab to look up some small thing or another ...

I used this book for undergrad and grad CS studies. It is THE preeminent reference for plain, vanilla C-language coding. It has data types, quirky ways compliers and loaders treat certain operations, and lots of "details" that you just can't and probably shouldn't remember unless you use them every day. This is the encyclopedia of C-language details, in a reference format; something lacking from K&R's books, which can have you searching and reading on a topic for some time, only to find an answer of limited utility. I do LOVE K&R's book(s), but it took a couple of years before I was fluent enough to really absorb their prose, which is no doubt, a more advanced treatment of what you can do with C. This "Schildt manual", as we called it in school, is more about HOW to do something, once you know WHAT you want to do ... This will not solve algorithm problems for you, per se, but if you're looking for the string operation that will make what your algorithm calls for easiest, they're all in here, explained with syntax and order of operations in plain English. I would hate to think what my undergrad years would have been like without this book. Worth the $$ at twice the price. (of course, people have found intermittent instances where this book was no help, or even outright wrong ... welcome to computer science and math ... ain't it grand?!?!? ... "Hilbert, meet Godel" :-)

After an MS in CS, multiple applications and system level programming projects, several years in industry, and having taught introductory C-programming for 7 semesters, if I could have ONE and only ONE reference book on the C-language, this would be it. The "class time" instruction is available on any online C-coding tutorial ... the unforgiving nature of code/logic makes "correctness" imperative. Correctness is in the details. The details are in Schildt's C Reference, and they're easy to find ... thus, you can finish your lab, take a shower and make it to the party with all your friends, instead of sitting in the lab, sweating whether to use strtok() or strstr(), while your youth and "fun years in college" are ever more fleeting. Believe me, you have better things to do than try to solve a second year lab assignment using Kernighan & Ritchie ... ( K&R = "the authors", so reverently mentioned in several prior reviews, JIC that isn't common knowledge). Their books, and afrementioned reviews of this book, though correct in probably every way, are sort of like Microsoft Help Topic answers (Seebach's page contains rants from other would-be authors who seem to wish that they'd not only had the idea to write this book before Schildt, but also employed their many computer-geek buddies to help them edit it better as well. Neither happened.). To put K&R's work, as relates to the beginner, into the MS Help Page perspective:

[ A helicopter was lost in the fog near SeaTac airport, radar was down, and they were flying blind. Suddenly, from the mist, appeared a large building. As people gathered by the windows to gaze at the helicopter, the passengers scrawled a sign for the onlookers, "Help! Where are we?". A few disappeared into the cubicle farm and returned with a sign reading, "You're in a helicopter!" The pilot promptly turned the chopper around, and said that's Microsoft headquarters, SeaTac is this way. "How can you know that?" they inquired. He replied, "I know it was Microsoft b/c that was a technically correct, but totally useless answer." ] That was the feeling I got early on while reading K&R. They now occupy a place of high importance in my library, but I could've held off on that purchase for some time ... just my opinion. Use Schildt until you get your parchment, then go off and organize a maverick and superior disposition of your own, like Schildt's detractors. The problems with the book are piddling compared to what it has to offer, and are unlikely to be an issue for it's intended audience.

Editorial Review:

Another gem from Herb Schildt--best-selling programming author with more than 2.5 million books sold! C: The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition gives you full details on C99, the New ANSI/ISO Standard for C. You'll get in-depth coverage of the C language and function libraries as well as all the newest C features, including restricted pointers, inline functions, variable-length arrays, and complex math. This jam-packed resource includes hundreds of examples and sample applications.