I have a stack of at least a dozen textbooks on C++ or C#, from O'Reilly's C++ Core Language, Keogh & Gray's C++ Programmer's Notebook, the Osbourne McGrawHill C++ Complete Reference, several niche books catering to C++ coding specific to gaming, several Deitel & Deitel C++ Programming books (which are generally very good), to starters like SAMS Teach Yourself C++ and probably an old copy of C++ for Dummies. I've also got a full version of Visual Studio 2005 & 2008 (available in express editions for free from http://www.microsoft.com/express, and several Borland IDE releases, along with seven or eight books purporting to explain everything there is to know about each IDE.

I recently bought Walter Savichs' Problem Solving with C++, 7th Ed. It's unusual in my experience to find myself reading textbooks as though they are the next sci-fi/fantasy hit but this book really caught my attention. I love the straight forward, common sense manner in which the author writes, and the fact that he doesn't preach from the pulpit of the ultimate know-it-all. In this book, the essentials of the C++ language are laid out in a manner that I believe anyone familiar with most any scripting language or another high-level language can pick up quite rapidly.

The author does the very difficult task of reaching out in a way that ensures the majority of readers understand regardless of their level of familiarity. I'm not sure how he does it but each page leaves you understanding--and wanting more. There are a number of code examples that have practical application and the author has done a very good job of making them understandable. More importantly however, he presents the C++ coding samples in a way that allow you to easily imagine the use of the same or similar code to solve different problems than were shown in the text. I believe it should be used in most every college programming class. It is certainly a worthy addition to any programmer's library.

Lastly, the book comes with Borland's Turbo C++ IDE and all the source code on cd, as well as online videos and other resources. I rarely comment on the many items I purchase on Amazon, so please realize that it takes a remarkable product to cause me to take my limited time to write a review. I hope anyone purchasing the book finds it as interesting and helpful as I.

This was my first foray into C++, and I used this text for both the Intro and Advanced courses at my school. It's a good text because he explains the concepts, shows examples, warns against "gotchas," and gives stepping-stone assignments to build skills. I don't recall any pap or filler material to waste time over. It's solid without feeling like it was written by a robot.

Now that I've completed the book, I'm going to work back through it on my own and do more of the assignments to keep my skills sharp. Any book that helps one understand the concepts well enough to be kept for a reference is a good one.

If you are an absolute beginner, I wouldn't recommend starting with C++. Otherwise, this book should be a good start for you, too.