Regarding the book "The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup"

Development Programming & Scripting C++
1

Hello everyone…

This question is not directly related to UE4 programming but I have a question regarding the book “The C++ Programming Language (English) 4th Edition” so I figured out this would be best place to ask.
I want to refine my C++ skills so that I can learn to code more efficiently and learn parts of C++ which I had not learned in college. Will this book be good for what I am looking for?

Secondly, the price of 4th edition of this book is pretty high compared to the 3rd edition in my country(Around 8 times more to be exact). So I am considering buying the 3rd edition of this book. I don’t think UE4 uses a lot of C++11 features; correct me if I am wrong on this. I will buy the 4th edition as soon as it is published by a local publisher.

2

Hi Envenger,

UE4 actually uses quite a lot of C++11 features! Things like auto, the new for loop, lambada’s are all quite useful in UE4.

Visual studio doesn’t support all C++11 features yet (for example constexr is sadly missing) but 2015 will support most of them.

I have this book myself and it’s very useful as a reference and technical guide. It’s not really a style guide or even a best practices guide. Stroustrup does put a lot of recommendations as far as these things go in there but it’s only his option on things, which obviously is worth more than most peoples! But his way of doing thing certainly isn’t the only way.

I would highly recommend it as a technical language guide if that’s what you’re looking for.

3

“The C++ Programming Language (English) 4th Edition” is a very good book but not for beginners in my opinion.
I think this book is good for skilled C++ programer who wants to know “How is the C++ language works?” or “Why the C++ language designed to work this way?”.
If you are a beginner, I would recommend this book - “C++ Primer, 5th Edition by Barbara E. Moo”.

4

It’s a great book, but I’d only recommend it if you are already intermediate/advanced level with C++.

Most of the book is discussing strange minutia in the language that will probably confuse or scare away beginners.

C++ Primer, and C++ Primer Plus (no relation) may be better places to start looking.

If you’re interested, you can also find a review of this book on my blog: Review: The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup – cybereality

5

I have read books similar to C++ Primer Plus in college and I have been working on ue4 programming for the past 1 year. I want to increase my understanding of c++ so I think I am in a good state to read this.

6

It is a great book for a mid-level programmer, very interesting stuff there. Though I must aggree, there are some things that I probably wouldn’t want to know, but hey, there is no such thing as too much knowledge. :slight_smile:

7

$60 (US) was a lot of money for me to spend on the 4th edition of this book but I’m glad I did. I bought quite a few older, more general, programming books off eBay for next to nothing, but I like having an up-to-date C++ reference. Although I mostly bought it for a reference, I’ve been slowly working my way through it as I read through other programming books more quickly.

8

The book is too big. I agree, but some book must cover essentially all of C++, and this is that book. If you can make do with less, please do, but I feel obliged to aim for completeness. This book is close to complete from a programmer’s point of view. Language laywers need the standard, but this book is a good place to start even for those. Like the standard, this book covers the C++ language and the ISO C++ standard library.