Product Review

The C++11 standard allows programmers to express ideas more clearly, simply, and directly, and to write faster, more efficient code. Bjarne Stroustrup, the designer and original implementer of C++, thoroughly covers the details of this language and its use in his definitive reference, The C++ Programming Language, Fourth Edition.

 

In A Tour of C++ , Stroustrup excerpts the overview chapters from that complete reference, expanding and enhancing them to give an experienced programmer€“in just a few hours€“a clear idea of what constitutes modern C++. In this concise, self-contained guide, Stroustrup covers most major language features and the major standard-library components€“not, of course, in great depth, but to a level that gives programmers a meaningful overview of the language, some key examples, and practical help in getting started.

 

Stroustrup presents the C++ features in the context of the programming styles they support, such as object-oriented and generic programming. His tour is remarkably comprehensive. Coverage begins with the basics, then ranges widely through more advanced topics, including many that are new in C++11, such as move semantics, uniform initialization, lambda expressions, improved containers, random numbers, and concurrency. The tour ends with a discussion of the design and evolution of C++ and the extensions added for C++11.

 

This guide does not aim to teach you how to program (see Stroustrup€s Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ for that); nor will it be the only resource you€ll need for C++ mastery (see Stroustrup€s The C++ Programming Language, Fourth Edition, for that). If, however, you are a C or C++ programmer wanting greater familiarity with the current C++ language, or a programmer versed in another language wishing to gain an accurate picture of the nature and benefits of modern C++, you can€t find a shorter or simpler introduction than this tour provides.