Description
Product Description
The puzzles and problems in Exceptional C++ not only entertain, they will help you hone your skills to become the sharpest C++ programmer you can be. Many of these problems are culled from the famous Guru of the Week feature of the Internet newsgroup comp.lang.c++, moderated, expanded and updated to conform to the official ISO/ANSI C++ Standard.
Try your skills against the C++ masters and come away with the insight and experience to create more efficient, effective, robust, and portable C++ code.
Amazon.com Review
Aimed at the experienced C++ programmer, Herb Sutter's
Exceptional C++ tests the reader's knowledge of advanced C++ language features and idioms with several dozen programming puzzles and explanations. This book can definitely help raise your C++ class design skills to the next level.
Based on the author's Guru of the Week Web column, this book poses a series of challenging questions on the inner workings of C++, centering around generic programming with the Standard Template Library (STL), exception handling, memory management, and class design. Even if you think you know C++ well, most of these problems will teach you something more about the language and how to write more robust classes that are "exception safe" (meaning they don't throw any handled exceptions or leak resources). Don't think this is just "language lawyering," though. The author's explanations stress sound programming principles (favoring simplicity) and idioms (such as the Pimpl idiom for class design that promotes faster compile times and better maintainability, or using "smart" auto_ptrs with STL.) Judging from the range and depth of these examples, Sutter's command of the inner workings of C++ is impressive, and he does an excellent job of conveying this expertise without jargon or a lot of theory.
After reading this book, C++ designers will learn several "best practices" of how to write robust, efficient classes that are "exception safe." Chances are you'll gain a better understanding of memory management techniques and working with STL too. For the experienced developer seeking leading-edge knowledge of some of the best ways to use C++, Exceptional C++ is both a challenging and truly worthwhile source of information. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Advanced C++ programming tutorial, generic programming, tips for string classes, containers and STL, temporary objects, exception-safe code tutorial, virtual functions, class inheritance, the Pimpl idiom, namespaces, memory management, C++ memory areas, overloading new and delete, using smart pointer with auto_ptr, using const, casts, and hints for better performance and code maintainability.
From the Inside Flap
Exceptional C++ shows by example how to go about solid software engineering. Along with a lot of other material, this book includes expanded versions of the first 30 issues of the popular Internet C++ feature Guru of the Week (or, in its short form, GotW), a series of self-contained C++ engineering problems and solutions that illustrate specific design and coding techniques.
This book isn't a random grab-bag of code puzzles; it's primarily a guide to sound real-world enterprise software design in C++. It uses a problem/solution format because that's the most effective way I know to involve you, gentle reader, in the ideas behind the problems and the reasons behind the guidelines. Although the Items cover a variety of topics, you'll notice recurring themes that focus on enterprise development issues, particularly exception safety, sound class and module design, appropriate optimization, and writing portable standards-conforming code.
I hope you find this material useful in your daily work. But I also hope you find at least a few nifty thoughts and elegant techniques, and that from time to time, as you're reading through these pages, you'll suddenly have an "Aha! Gnarly!" moment. After all, who says software engineering has to be du