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C+C++: Program with Objects in C & C++ by Allen I Holub Recommended

ISBN: 0-07-029662-6       Publisher: McGraw-Hill       Pages: 427pp       Price: £19-95

Categories:   object oriented     beginner's c++

Reviewed by Graham Patterson in C Vu 5-2 (Jan 1993)

This is a book which assumes that the reader is comfortable with C. It also helps to have some knowledge of C++ syntax as the Chapter on the differences between the languages only runs to 40 pages. The approach is unusual in that it starts with implementing objects in C, building on the knowledge the reader has of the earlier language. The work done in the first Chapter is referred to in later Chapters as the facilities of C++ are introduced and dissected.

On occasion the author 'peeks under the hood' of the compiler to demonstrate the way certain language constructs work. I found these insights very useful in understanding how the compiler makes sense of the run-time configuration required by C++.

It is clear reading this book that the author is not blind to the limitations and constraints of C++ as a language with facilities for handling objects. Most C++ books would have you believe that C++ is without flaw, and Object Orientated Programming (OOP) is the only way to work.

I have read several C++ tutorials without much of it sinking in. After reading this book they are going to make much more sense.

Oh yes, Willy Loman is the main character in the play Death of a Salesman!

Comment: Thanks, Graham, I wondered who he was. I too liked this book very much for the insights and programming ideas that it hands out in passing. - Francis Glassborow.