C++ Primer, Fifth Edition

Why Read This Book?

Modern C++ can be thought of as comprising three parts:

• The low-level language, much of which is inherited from C

• More advanced language features that allow us to define our own types and to organize large-scale programs and systems

• The standard library, which uses these advanced features to provide useful data structures and algorithms

Most texts present C++ in the order in which it evolved. They teach the C subset of C++ first, and present the more abstract features of C++ as advanced topics at the end of the book. There are two problems with this approach: Readers can get bogged down in the details inherent in low-level programming and give up in frustration. Those who do press on learn bad habits that they must ...