jtbell said:
I have a copy of "Design and Evolution of C++", from the days when I was learning everything I could about C++ so I could teach it. I enjoyed reading it, but it's definitely not a "how to program" book. It's more of a historical memoir, with lots of technical details and discussion about decisions that Stroustrup made when designing C++, and changes from one version to another.
In my experience, book from the person that invent the subject is more likely much harder for learning than other books. I remember self studying the most famous analog IC design book by Gray and Mayer. Gray was a professor in US Berkley, it's a very hard book to read. In the company, they put videos of his lectures during lunch time everyday those days, it was sooooooo boring, I sat there all the time...NOT to listen, but to snooze! His voice just made me fall asleep right away!
Of all the books I have in C++, the best book for self study is Gaddis bar none. The book does not assume you know anything about programming and it actually explain things in much simpler ways. Not that the other books are more advanced, after I studied Gaddis and read through the other books again, I got NOTHING more, they are just hard to read.
Problem with reading books from the one that invented the subject, they must be very bright. I spent more than 15 years working in an environment that my colleagues are at least 50% PhDs. We have a chief scientist that developed ALL the different mass spectrometers for semi-conductor testing like in KLA Tencor or Apply Matterials(they are really a scaled down version of the Standford linear accelerator type of stuff). I had a hell of a time listening to him. He skip words! He think he explain thing, but he really doesn't. When we had meetings, people really need to concentrate, it's going so fast you wander off a little, you miss the whole thing!
I bought a few C++ books, it's very difficult to understand. Finally I asked my grandson what book he used in his C++ class in community college, he introduced me Gaddis, that's
the book! The book is written for lesser student and it take the time to explain.
I avoid getting books from people that is on top of the field if I try to learn anything from ground scratch. Hell, even in my field of electronics, I have even more books on RF and electromagnetics than Standford U book store. I still find it's better to get books that are easier to read over books by the pioneers of the topics.( believe me, I have a lot of books and studied a lot of books from all the years. I never stop studying all these years.).