In mid 2000s I was super obsessed with C and C++ programming languages. At one point I decided to become a C++ language lawyer. That's a person who knows ins and outs of the standard and also the history of the language. I spent half a year reading this book. A chapter or two every month until I finished it. I took many pages of notes, memorized every single most important detail. This is how my notes look. I can now quickly review the entire book in half an hour.

But then I decided that being a language lawyer would be too boring and didn't fit my mindset and lifestyle and I dropped the whole idea of becoming a C++ language lawyer.

Overall this is a great book by Bjarne Stroustroup, the creator of C++ language. He tells the history of C++ since day one. Get this book if you want to know why C++ is the way it is, how it's historically connected with C, and how it's made.

I've placed this book #32 in my all time 100 most favorite programming books. Google for >>catonmat favorite programming books<< to find my list and other reviews. My reviews have no affiliate links or garbage. Just awesome books that I truly enjoy.

I was looking for a book on the philosophy of C++ to give me an kind of starting place for creative uses of the language. This book was not quite what I was looking for. However I am glad I read it due to the description of the development of the C++ language and the various people who were involved to large or less extent in its design and its evolution.

This is an older book (1994) and the last two decades of C++ evolution are not described. If you want to know about the early history of C++ and to see how something is shaped by multiple technical and political and commercial forces, then this book is a good read. It was interesting to read about how innovation within a programming language happens through the interactions of people who are given the time and resources.

Stroustrup did a good job on the writing of this book and the narration is quite good. It is interesting to read of the various discussions that came up during the years of when C++ moved from a lab experiment to a commercial product with a standard and compiler vendors delivering into the eager hands of programmers good compilers for C++. It is also interesting to read about the large number of people who through discussions with Stroustrup helped to shape the C++ language.

There is some discussion about the standards process and of how a standard is created and evolved. Some of the discussions and conflicts and how conflicts were resolved are interesting. The history of C++ from the first C++ compilers which generated C source from the C++ so that any computer with a C compiler could also use the C++ compiler was interesting. The discussion about the evolution plans versus the evolution reality is interesting. And in some places Stroustrup points out mistakes as well as times when something was done for political expediency rather than technical need.

This book is not really about C++ programming language though there is discussion of particular C++ language constructs. It is really about how the C++ language grew from a lab experiment by someone who wanted a better programming language and wanted other people to use that language because it was a better language.

I had heard of C++ as being a better C and I had always assumed that the goal of C++ was to be a better C. However what I took away from this book was that C++ was intended to be a better programming language period. The use of C programming language constructs was due to Stroustrup's idea that the C programming language was the language to replace and in order to do that C++ must be as good as C in the ways that C was good (primarily performance), to be compatible with much of the C programming infrastructure such as linkers and existing libraries, and to also provide the language constructs that would move as much of the source checking onto the compiler as possible so that people working on large, complex software systems would have a better safety net.

Now nearly an historical work, it describes in detail the process experienced by the author in the lengthy process of realizing a nearly life-long struggle to actualize his view of an ideal general purpose programming language. It illustrates the important process of collaboration, and the nearly accidental integration of complementing efforts by a few of the giants in computational design methodologies.

If you are interested in things like "Why did they do that?", this is one of the documents you should read. It is also a first class lesson on how to accomplish your interests, when you likely will not do that single-handedly, the primary common component of all great achievement.

Great book if you are interested in the history of C++. I enjoy the writing style of Bjarne Stroustrup, and his insight in to the C++ language. This book gives insight into the design philosophies that influenced the evolution of C++. Many interesting stories and anecdotes.

I've programmed in several languages, and use programming regularly in my research (mostly artificial life simuations, statistical programming, and the like). I resisted learning C++ because (a) the implementations have been really awful, as compare with Visual Basic and Delphi, and (b) it's a complicated language. But this summer I bit the bullet, and I've started using C++ in my work. What changed my mind was the Borland C++ Builder compiler, which makes it easy to write applications. I found that C++ was as complex as I expected, but quite fast and versatile. This book really helped me understand the design philosophy of C++, so I feel much more at home with the language than I did just a few days ago. I can't imagine that this book would be good for a beginner at programming, though, since it throws around computer science terminology quite freely (early binding, late binding, for instance), and without much explanation.

It is an excellent book written by the designer of C++. It presents and discusses the ideas and aspects that drove the development of C++. The book is well written and very informative. A "must have" for C++ developers who want to know the history, the fundamentals and important decisions about this specific language. The author also provides interests hints.

First of all, this isn't a book for those who are unfamiliar with the C++ language. This book aims for the experienced C++ developers. It's pretty well written and even exciting to read, unlike 'tutorial style' books.

This is a must read for all those who are already experienced with C++ and want to better understand the language.

Note: This book won't improve your development skills, it will just give you a better insight on the C++ language.