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The Waite Group's C++ How-To (How-to Series) Review by Eric M.
A useful resource, but weakened by some buggy examples
Overall, I'm very happy with this book. If you are looking for an introduction to C++, skip this book for now, it is not intended for beginners. The skill level is rated intermediate to expert.
However, if you have a rudimentary understanding of C and C++, such as operators, looping constructs, structures, classes, function and operator overloading, etc., but feel like you could use a bit more experience and reinforcement of how and when to apply the aforementioned concepts, then this book is for you.
I really like the way the material is organized. Each section begins with a summary of what will be covered, and each point (HOW-TO) is presented in a question and answer format, along with a skill rating of the content of that HOW-TO, such as beginning, intermediate, and complex. Some of the content covered in this book that I found useful is listed below:
What are namespaces and how are they used?
How can I use operator overloading with an object, X, such that an expression like 10.3 + X will yield a meaningful result?
How can I use C++'s powerful encapsulation features to safely implement a linked list?
When should I use structures and when should I use classes?
How can I use exception handling to catch runtime errors?
How can I use the Standard C Library to a) sort an array, b) find an element in an array, c) locate an element in non-sorted array, d) choose between _lfind and _lsearch, e) generate a sequence of random numbers?
What are the differences between using C's malloc() and free() functions and C++'s new and delete operators for memory management?
How do I make a simple class to automatically clean up dynamically allocated memory?
The aforementioned are just a few of the many great tips in this book. Be forwarned, I have found a significant number of bugs in the examples, but they are typically of a nature where they don't interfere with the concept being presented.
If you feel comfortable with statements such as: for(int i=1; i<100; ++i) cout << i; but you want to move on to the next level of programming expertise, then this book is for you.