Problem Solving with C++: The Object of Programming, 5th Edition (International Edition) [Paperback]

I learnt the C part of the C++ in an university course before reading this book. I went through the first few chapters, those are what I learnt, fairly quickly. The later chapters talk about object-oriented programming, which were new to me, but it didn't change my reading speed. Everything is first given a precise definition or explanation followed by examples and illustrations.

I will be studying in a mathematical finance program soon, this book gave a good foundation for me to further reading books focusing finance application and programming designs, like Duffy and Joshi.

I spent 20 days to cover the whole book. The self-test exercises are very helpful, since most of the time you won't have enough time to spend on programming projects(included in the book). These tests help clarify what you have learnt and more importantly, it makes you feel really learnt something and get prepared to the next chapter (chapters are linked).

This book only serves as an introduction, like how to write a class (base and derived), template, telling you what are constructors, destructors, etc. and covering all the key basic concepts, encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism. If you are experienced, you shouldn't spend time and money on this book.

I was recommended this book by a college tutor who had just offered me a place on a 'conversion' course in computing meant for those coming from other disciplines or, as in my case, those wanting to sure up their IT knowledge. As a reasonably experienced and entirely self-taught programmer, I was hesitant about buying the book as the contents suggested a very pedestrian pace - I was used to the excellent and authoritative 'The C++ Programming Language' by Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++. So this begs the questions:

1) Why did I buy Savitch's book?
2) Have I found it of any use given that I am not in the target audience (novice programmers)?

I read Stroustrup's book some years back and I was left with a good understanding of the C++ language - the syntax, C++'s object oriented features, and thinking in a way which suits the methodology of programming in C++. The presentation is succinct and thorough. While I have not used C++ for a major project thus far, and indeed not looked at it for some time, I was sure that a quick reread of Stroustrup's book would adequately prepare me for the course.

But I decided to buy Savitch's book after all partly because of the recommendation. Also the fact that I found the book for the more sensible price of £31.47 including delivery on Amazon Marketplace - there was no way I was going to pay the full asking price for an introductory book!

However the main reason for my purchase was because of Savitch's emphasis on 'problem solving' - I wanted to put the theory into practise. Stroustrup's book does have a number of exercises but these tend to be about solving harder abstract problems - good for stretching the mind but would surely leave some novices behind. On the other hand Savitch's 'programming projects' at the end of each chapter never go beyond the material in the chapter and are dressed up as 'real-world' problems (eg 'Write a program to compute the interest due... for a revolving credit account...').

Make no mistake! This really is a book '...meant to be used in a first course in programming and computer science using the C++ language. It assumes no previous programming experience...' (from the preface).

As such it is largely fit for purpose. The very slow pace that concepts are introduced is appropriate for beginners but can occasionally be irritating - some points are restated several times in ways which add nothing to their original descriptions. The many code examples, self-test exercises (with answers), and pitfalls to watch out for, are good at drumming in topics covered. Again though the emphasis is on drumming in!

The main thing I found to be particularly annoying was the frequently woolly (and sometimes inaccurate) definitions of concepts. For example in chapter 4 about functions, in Savitch's description of the call-by-value mechanism, he states that 'When an argument is plugged in for a formal parameter... the argument is plugged in for ALL instances of the formal parameter that occur in the function body...' This is highly misleading and indeed, later in the chapter, he corrects this by pointing out that formal parameters are in fact local variables whose values can be changed by the body of the function.

I concede that it is tricky to balance being strictly accurate about the C++ language (which is after all pretty complicated and subtle) while at the same time not overwhelming people with little or no programming experience. And Savitch has done a pretty good job at achieving this balance - the reason why I have given it 4 stars. As for me, as someone not in the intended target audience, this book has just about proved worth it as a means of getting back into the frame of mind for academic study. But only just! At full price it would have been a waste of money.

Note that the material in Savitch's book (1048 pages excluding index) is covered in the first half of Stroustrup's book (868 pages) and in more depth. There is more text on each page in Stroustrup's book though.

CAVEAT - So far I have read a third of Savitch's book but, having skimmed through later chapters, there is probably nothing in them that will alter my opinions above.

This book starts with very basic programming and describes everything in depth. There are very many self-test exercise to test your understanding and programming exercises to carry out.

This is a large book that provides a compreshensive coverage of the language.