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There's nothing hideously wrong with Visual C++ Templates, by William H. Murray and Chris H. Pappas, except that it's all wrong somehow. It's a reasonably good soup with a few dead flies in it to spoil the overall effect.
Dead fly number one: the title. Doesn't anyone speak plain computerese anymore? This book's title ought to be "Standard Template Library Programming for Visual C++ Programmers."
Dead fly number two is kin to the first. Its aroma is pervasive, wafting aloft from passages such as the following on page 71:
An application accesses Microsoft's Standard C++ Library facilities by using appropriate include files and associated static and dynamic libraries.
No. An application accesses the standard C++ library facilities by using appropriate include files and associated static and dynamic libraries. It has nothing to do with Microsoft at this point in the discussion. There is virtually nothing in this book specific to Visual C++ or Microsoft, just as there is virtually nothing in the Standard Template Library that should require more than a quick look at the compiler documentation as regards platform specificity.
Visual C++ Templates is a passable introduction for junior programmers to the C++ Standard Template Library, but it's a book in which the authors and their editors are beating us over the head with the tradename. In the Middle Ages, authors only kissed up to their patron in the dedication. In the present instance, I don't find modern practice an improvement.
Politics and advertising obtrude in a technical book, especially on the subject of a standard to the theory of which Microsoft has added so little, if anything. It's hard to believe that Murray and Pappas, who are experienced authors and intelligent fellows, are not blushing. But then, maybe I am just personally too allergic to infomercials.
For a straight book on the C++ Standard Libraries at the same price, without the commercials, and a better written book as well, see Josuttis's The C++ Standard Library (reviewed on Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books at http://www.ercb.com/brief/brief.0157.html).
-- Jack 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.