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Title: Who's Afraid of C++? (Who's Afraid Of....) by Steve Heller ISBN: 0-12-339097-4 Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $41.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (77 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: It's the best introduction to C++ for the novice I've seen.
Comment: This book explains the sometimes forbidding topic of C++ programming, step by step, sometimes retracing steps as necessary for especially difficult concepts. We are provided with instant feedback for the questions that arise, in the person of Susan who challenges the author to make his presentation clear, sometimes to re-present it in different terms if necessary. It's entertaining, thorough, and (maybe the best part) it comes with a dandy full-featured 32-bit C++ compiler on a CD-ROM, not some punitive stripped- down, "it does everything but allow you to save your work" version as I've seen in other introductory books on C. In spite of its readability, it's not shallow - we are taken, albeit gently, into the very bits and bytes of machine code, registers, assembly, etc., very early on, to acquire an understanding beyond, in the author's words, that of the "Sunday driver" of C++. My only qualm with this book is that it seems to stop somewhere in the middle, leaving several (more advanced, I guess) topics uncovered. However, like all good stories these days, we are promised a sequel at the end. .

Rating: 5
Summary: The BEST programming book I've ever read !!!
Comment: Finally !! An author who gets it. An author who had to address the material through the eyes of a novice. A brilliant concept and one that's carried out like a Mission Impossible plot. Everything fits together. Over the last three years, I've read 13 books on programming. This has given me some idea of what else is out there and how other authors think. And write. When an author is very familiar with a subject, he can present the material in a way that makes sense to him but not necessarily the reader. The problem is, the author ALREADY knows the material. The reader doesn't. It's probably been a long time since the author read a book and scratched his head, thinking "I don't get it". Steve Heller doesn't get off that easy. He's got someone over his shoulder, asking the kind of questions I'd be asking when I'm reading the text. "Hey, where did that come from?" or "I didn't understand that. Explain it another way." This element of teacher/student interaction is provided by the thoughts of a complete novice who read each chapter of the book as it was being written. This forces Steve to not only approach each topic in a stepwise fashion, but to make it clear to ANYONE who reads it, not just the rocket scientists. Who's Afraid of C++ surveys the land, digs the foundation, and carefully stacks each cement block, providing a solid foundation. The house is framed by a master carpenter, while he explains every detail to his apprentice, knowing the apprentice will someday carry on the craft. For the novice, this is a MUST read book. For the programmer who has experience with languages like C, Fortran, Pascal, etc., it's a MUST read. There is no glory in an author who's work is difficult to understand. It seems to me, some authors wear this like a badge of honor. This author isn't one of them. Steve provides insightful, thoughtful, unassuming explanations to each aspect that's covered. He will NOT leave you in a haze of mental fatigue after a lengthy session of intellectual gymnastics. This book is IT. Buy it. Read it. Then you will see how other authors should be explaining things. On the other hand, we could just clone Steve Heller and let him write books on every topic known to man.

Rating: 2
Summary: Useful, but very limited.
Comment: Heller makes the typical mistake that experienced practicioners in any field make when trying to teach the novice.

That mistake is teaching the theoretical underpinnings of the field before supplying any significant amount of practical information on how to excute the basic tasks involved in that field.

An understanding of theory is, of course, critical to the expert practitioner in any field. But a novice must learn what and how before why, or he is liable to become frustrated and lose interest. The whys and wherefores only make sense once they explain the reasoning behind practices that one is familiar with.

Couple this with the fact that the compiler supplied with the book is obscure and difficult for the novice to operate, and you've got a course in C++ theory rather than something a beginner can practice and learn off of.

In fact, Heller only provides instruction in using makefiles to compile his sample programs in the book...a novice user who wished to practice by writing his own would probably have no idea how to get them compiled and linked.

While this book is not badly written or obscure, I could not recommend it as a primary learning text. Mr. Heller has simply forgotten what it is like to be a beginner, and is teaching the things that he, from the standpoint of already knowing the material, considers most important, rather than what will move a beginner from confusion to basic competence and ability to persue further knowledge with relative ease.

Theory only makes sense when it explains something you have already been doing. Leave it for the intermediate student.

I would recommend this book as a supplemental text, but not as a primary one.

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