- #1
Of Mike and Men
- 54
- 3
Hey everyone,
I've been looking to get another C++ book. I'm currently using Gaddis Control Structures through Objects (required at my university). However, I find sometimes their explanations are poor or their examples are too long to really illustrate the point they're trying to make (e.g. a near 300 line program to explain polymorphism -- something that could be done in probably 30 lines of code).
I have I have a semester's worth of C++ under my belt, and a semester's worth of Python under my belt. I've been doing some research on additional books to read, and it seems like Primer or Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ are the kind of go-to books for beginner programmers. I'm torn. I've heard PPP is more useful if you've never programmed before, while Primer is better if you have. My debate is that I've heard Stoustrup goes into more detail (since he is the creator of C++, which is why I'm leaning towards this book) than Primer -- while Primer teaches better practice on how to actually code (which I'm not sure if this would be more useful for me at this point). I plan on getting both at some point, but what do you recommend for someone in my position with my experience?
If it matters: both semesters I received an 'A' in the course. In Python I felt more confident in my abilities. Whereas in C++ I felt like even though I earned an 'A', I left the course with more questions than answers since C++ is so massive. In the book we used, we covered basics like functions, classes, arrays, pointers, etc. and then covered some more advanced topics like OOP, polymorphism, inheritance, c-strings, and advanced file i/o topics. This latter topics, while I did well on the test, I felt overwhelmed and lost on all of them. I think my book did good explaining the more elementary topics, but these last few chapters were horrendous. Reading the book actually took the fun out of programming through these chapters, and I often resorted to videos just to get the big picture.
Anyways, thanks for any advice.
I've been looking to get another C++ book. I'm currently using Gaddis Control Structures through Objects (required at my university). However, I find sometimes their explanations are poor or their examples are too long to really illustrate the point they're trying to make (e.g. a near 300 line program to explain polymorphism -- something that could be done in probably 30 lines of code).
I have I have a semester's worth of C++ under my belt, and a semester's worth of Python under my belt. I've been doing some research on additional books to read, and it seems like Primer or Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ are the kind of go-to books for beginner programmers. I'm torn. I've heard PPP is more useful if you've never programmed before, while Primer is better if you have. My debate is that I've heard Stoustrup goes into more detail (since he is the creator of C++, which is why I'm leaning towards this book) than Primer -- while Primer teaches better practice on how to actually code (which I'm not sure if this would be more useful for me at this point). I plan on getting both at some point, but what do you recommend for someone in my position with my experience?
If it matters: both semesters I received an 'A' in the course. In Python I felt more confident in my abilities. Whereas in C++ I felt like even though I earned an 'A', I left the course with more questions than answers since C++ is so massive. In the book we used, we covered basics like functions, classes, arrays, pointers, etc. and then covered some more advanced topics like OOP, polymorphism, inheritance, c-strings, and advanced file i/o topics. This latter topics, while I did well on the test, I felt overwhelmed and lost on all of them. I think my book did good explaining the more elementary topics, but these last few chapters were horrendous. Reading the book actually took the fun out of programming through these chapters, and I often resorted to videos just to get the big picture.
Anyways, thanks for any advice.