Takes deciphering

I am about half-way through the book and I am frustrated with its incomplete references, errors, and ambiguities.

One of the problems I have encountered was getting the recommended C+ compiler to work. That problem is discussed both here and on the WROX website. The book fails to give a simple explanation of how to configure the computer to make it run. Thankfully, I had enough independent knowledge to prepare the required configuration files and to restate the path, but that may not be so trivial for a complete tyro.

There are ambiguities that arise from unqualified uses of "it" and "this." For example, on pages 141-42, there is a suggestion that a very basic block of code be prepared in an editor and saved. The discussion then shifts to compiling the code, but the example provided confusingly shifts to a different file (test.cpp) and then shifts back to the file that started the discussion (template.cpp). The references are imprecise.

There are careless comments such as the one appearing on page 153: "To make the others run, you put all of them in the code." That statement would be clearer if the word "code" was replaced by "in the code for the main function."

There are troubling typographical errors such as the block highlighting on page 164 which should be limited to the first four "cout" and "cin" lines and should exclude the last "cout" line.

Other matters that bug are mismatches between code and the output illustrations. Precise copying of the code on pages 176-177 does not produce the output in the accompanying illustration. The same comment can be made for the material on page 180.

My impression is that this book was not carefully proofed, and precision is essential in any book that purports to be a fundamental, introductory text.

Other Reviews

• Good book for intro to programming
• Programming entry level
• My Opinion - "Beginning Programming"
• Takes deciphering
• Buggier than a porch light. Novice beware!