C++ BOOKS FOR BEGINNERS
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These books are sorted in order of difficulty for beginners,
the easiest first [1 very easy, 2 easy, 3 moderate].


1   Stevens [EASE RATING 1]

Teach Yourself C++ (2nd Ed), Stevens, MIS Press 1990, ISBN
1-558-28027-8

A beginner should be able to breeze through this text and
example software quickly.  A 'really simple' introduction.  It
may be 'too simple'.  Good to learn the fundamentals.

Prata [EASE RATING 1.5]

C++ Primer Plus, S. Prata, Waite Group, 1991, ISBN 1-878739-02-6

This book is straight forward.  It assumes no knowledge of C.
It is even easier LaFore!  Some of the early examples
are trite and the commentary condescending.  But, if you want the
basics of C++ put thoroughly, this is your book.  Its advantage over
LaFore is that it is implementation independent.


LaFore [EASE RATING 2]

Object-Oriented Programming in TURBO C++, Robert LaFore, Waite
Group, 1991, ISBN 1-878-739-06-9

A very lucid introduction to object-oriented design and to
C++.  Does not assume a knowledge of C.  It introduces basics
of the OOP and OOD, the fundamentals of the language then
object-oriented features.  It does not touch pointers until
chapter 12.  An excellent teach-yourself book (my favourite).


Swan [EASE RATING 2]

Tom Swan's C++ Primer, Tom Swan, Sams Pub., 1992, ISBN 0-672-30188-1

Another beginner's book aimed at the same market as Prata and LaFore.
It comes with a disk.  It's another for people who do not necessarily
know C.  Implementation-independent.  Teaches classes etc by example.
I purchased this one. (I borrowed Prata and LaFore).

If I had my choice I would chose Prata's simplicity with LaFore's clarit
y and Swan's larger examples, with a disk, in an implementation-independ
ent version.


Graham [EASE RATING 3]

Learning C++.  Neill Graham, McGraw-Hill, 1991, ISBN 0-07-
023983-5

This book assumes knowledge of a language (Pascal?), but not
a knowledge of C.  It is a good book for a first exposure to
C++ for people who do not already know C.  Good for undergrad course.
(This is one of the texts adopted for our program design course).


Lippman [EASE RATING 3.5]

(This was the most popular beginner's book from the survey).

C++ Primer  (2nd Ed), Stanley Lippman, Addison-Wesley 1991,
0-201-54848-8

Historically, the most common text to learn C++ from.
Contains very good information on templates and streams.
Great coverage of multiple inheritance.  Great coverage of
templates.  A harder book to understand than the previous books.
Doesn't assume C experience, but gets too complicated
too quickly for non-C programmers.  Good for a first formal
undergraduate course.