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Who's Afraid Of C++?
The Scoop Breaking with traditional lecture-on-paper format, Heller demystifies computers, programming, and C++ for absolute beginners. That's right -- he recruited a full-fledged novice user, capable of little more than e-mail and word processing, and turned her into a decent programmer while reviewing this book. (She became Mrs. Heller shortly after that.) Any computer owner with time, the ability to follow directions, and the willingness to learn could also become a programmer.
The resulting text is more of a collaboration, or a commentary. Steve, the author, presents his information and then Susan, the novice, interrupts to ask questions. The big gamble is that her questions are the same that the average reader would ask. It largely pays off, only occasionally belaboring a point. (To be fair, it could also be called 'reinforcing a point.')
What's to Like? Heller's writing is informal, but precise. Some might find it chatty, but beginners will find it more comforting than raw technical prose. His flow of topics makes sense (and does not copy the "Chapter two is everything to know about types, and chapter three is all about flow control" scheme other introductory teaching books steal from K&R). Little prior knowledge is necessary. Before actually programming, the book explores raw hardware, answering such questions as "What happens when you execute a program?", "What's a register and why is cache important?", and "How does source code turn into a running program?"Chapters tend to explain only one issue in detail -- how to use functions, for example, or the basics of a class. Heller states his objectives up front, and sticks closely to them. Each chapter has two sets of exercises, one in the middle and the other at the end. Answers follow, along with more dialogue. It's not enough simply having one correct bit of code, without someone to explain why it is correct, and why some common answers aren't complete. This decision pays off.
Though discussing weighty technical matters, there's a sense of general friendliness. With well-chosen metaphors (datatypes are kinda like odometers), occasionally goofy examples (a pumpkin-weighing-contest control program), and plenty of conversations when things get heavy, C++ isn't so scary after all. Credit Susan for much of this. If you find yourself thinking along the same lines as you study, you'll make it.
What's to Consider? The book covers about half of a reasonably paced introductory Computer Science course. It also predates the ANSI standard and the STL, though a fair treatment of the latter would easily double the size. Readers who finish the book and the exercises will be fully capable of producing their own useful programs, but will need additional information on common libraries, algorithms, and more object-oriented programming. They'll also have avoided some of the traps awaiting the unwary novice, as Heller practices a fairly tight methodology.
More technical readers already familiar with programming and at least one C-based language might find the pace slow and the extra explanations unnecessary. Heller's target audience is definitely the neophyte, not the experienced developer. The latter might question the subject matter covered. Why build a vector class instead of using C-style arrays? Why not C-style strings? I suspect the author is more concerned with helping his students avoid the kind of pitfalls C++ was designed to work around. It may not be the traditional approach, but it's valid and it will produce decent programmers, who can learn C++ on its own merits.
The Summary Steve Heller's pulled off quite a feat -- producing a book that assumes very little, yet produces people who understand programming. There's not as much information presented as in a "Learn the Language in X days/weeks/hours" book, but it's more accessible and better geared to a true beginner. For a gentle and effective introduction to programming and C++, give this book a try.
The CD-ROM contains complete source code of all program listings, as well as the excellent DJGPP compiler (yes, it's for DOS).
Read this book online at www.steveheller.com or purchase it at Fatbrain.
Table of Contents- Prologue
- Hardware Fundamentals
- Basics of Programming
- More Basics
- Functional Literacy
- Taking Inventory
- Stringing Along
- Down the Garden Path
- Tying Up Loose Ends
- Who's afraid of Unix?
- Who's afraid of Relativity?
- Who's afraid of Motorcycle Maintanence?
- Who's afraid of Sex?
Yes, let the money roll!IMHO, it doesn't matter what language you program in(I progam in several, including C++), the important point is that you understand the basic tenets of programming, and can use these concepts to program in any language! If this book can help people learn that, more power to them!
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! We have assumed control! - Neil Peart
I know what you're thinking: there's no way I can learn C++ in five (count 'em) five minutes. Well stop being such a doubting loser. Here's what you do:
Step One: On the qualifications section of your resume, write, "I know C++." Feel free to put other things, such as "I speak thirteen different languages," "I've slept with Pamela Lee Anderson", and of course, "I am omnipotent."
Step Two: Get Hired!
Step Three: When your manager approaches you to actually work on a C++ project, immediately run to your nearest Asian immigrant and pay him 50 cents an hour to do the project for you! Don't feel bad, your manager did the same thing to get in his position!
Step Four: Watch as the money, women and strange magic powers are bestowed upon you.
It's just that simple!
-Bgs006
LostBrain
That phrase always bugs me. The obvious first take would be to graph the independent variable (time) on the X axis, and learning on the Y. But then that would give any "hard" subject a shallow learning curve. Someone once tried to explain it to me by using a Z axis, muddling everything up even more. Is there an official interpretation, or did an economist invent this graph?
It's so horrible, in fact, that I can't even think of a worse one. You've got all the worst features of bad languages rolled into one -- a massive amount of confusing syntax, (extremely!) complicated semantics, almost always utterly unhelpful error behavior, and an extremely high barrier to entry even to get programs to compile, much less run, to say nothing of them actually working correctly.
While it is certainly an extremely powerful tool, it is also a gigantic hodgepodge of different programming paradigms. You can be object-oriented, you can be procedural, you can have it look like assembly code; this is flexibility, but only with a corresponding reduction in accessibility.
Now, I don't really know if there is a perfect language for introductions to programming. The much-maligned Pascal is a good language for learning structured programming, which makes it a good step towards C and then C++. Functional programming is easier to pick up but requires a certain amount of intellect to grasp the ideas of abstraction that it relies upon. (I happen to think that since understanding abstraction is critical to being a good programmer, everyone should do some functional programming.) For that I would choose Scheme in one of its reduced flavors. Scheme also has the advantage of having simple syntax, though it seems a bit unnatural to non-engineering types. For object-oriented instruction, I think Java is a good choice, for a bunch of reasons, which I won't enumerate since they will be obvious and I'm tired of typing.
It makes me cringe when I see a new "Learn C++ in 24 hours" title on the bookshelf, because I know those texts will screw people up. Learning to program is a challenge enough without having to learn C++ at the same time.
-m
Why on earth would anyone try and teach a newcommer to programming something like C++? It's my view that any langage based on the C syntax is not suitable for beginners.
Pascal, Python, maybe Java are all great languages for a beginning programmer.
I'm sure that it is possible to teach some people C++ as their first language. I'd argue that they could have learnt something like Pascal in less time, and have a better understanding of it. C/C++ syntax is too weird for a beginner, and you need to understand too much about memory & pointer to do anything useful. I mean... no native string type in C? How stupid is that when you think about it?
The syntax is very intuitive: blocks are denoted by indentation, nothing has to be declared. It is very easy to just start hacking on an idea without knowing much Python, learning from the docs while proceeding.
Although not a 'real' compiled language, I'd recommend it as the introduction to ideas of programming. After that, learning other languages is more or less a matter of syntax only. Plus, it great for all kinds of scripting.. :-)
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Heller demystifies computers, programming, and C++ for absolute beginners. That's right -- he
recruited a full-fledged novice user, capable of little more than e-mail and word processing, and turned her into a decent programmer while reviewing this book. (She became Mrs. Heller shortly after that.)
So that's what I've been doing wrong! No more singles bars for me, from now on I'm teaching programming to cute female newbies until I find Ms. Right.
Does this