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C++ In Plain English, Second Edition, by Brian Overland, takes on the thankless task of explaining C++ to someone who doesn't even know C, someone who doesn't want to be told he is going to learn C as a prelude, and wants his C++ right now, because that's where the jobs are. In short, C++ In Plain English is rather a good book within its limitations.
C++ In Plain English is a bit of a misnomer. It's more like "C++ in International Technical English" -- that specialized literary idiom used everywhere Usenet is accessed. Overland writes this stylized language well. NonU.S. engineers with limited colloquial American will be reasonably comfortable with this text.
On the other hand, the flagrant literatus, the programming language artist, and the aesthete will find this book a tad appalling. It starts in the author credits:
Brian Overland worked for Microsoft...[and] achieved the highest rank possible on the technical ladder for programmer/writer.
What rank? Is programmer/writer a job description in Redmond? Etcetera. This is not a book for people who prefer propositions unified with ground.
Then, along with the author, we start our first C++ program.
#include <stdio.h>
void main() {
printf("Can you C++ now?");
}
A Jewish folksaying determines that a person can make "seven mistakes spelling 'Noah'" (a two-letter word in Hebrew). I see at least three flaws in this ostensibly beginner example:
In short, a lot of this book is half-baked, hurried, but tolerably accurate. The truth is, if you are attempting to explain C++ to an individual of limited formal exposure and pressing professional need, there is no rational way to approach the task. So, if Overland seems to babble on occasion, it's because he has to satisfy readers' curiosity without fully answering their questions. There's a lot to cover and there's simply not enough paper handy.
Which brings us to the use of this inexpensive book. C++ in Plain English is eminently suited for a lightweight intro to C++ for high-school or adult-education classes. The instructor need not make a lesson plan, it's inherent in the simplistic text: Just follow Overland linearly and occasionally pause to point out the depth of the ocean of that which the text glosses over.
-- Jack J. Woehr
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Explanation of ERCB rating scale: No stars = unacceptable, 1 Star = marginal, 2 Stars = average, 3 Stars = above average, 4 Stars = exceptional.