Any recommendations for a good beginner's book on C++?

[Stuart Dootson]

I'll recommend [this Pluralsight course by Kate Gregory](https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/learn-program-cplusplus) - more because I've seen extracts of this course and the philosophy behind it (teach C++, not 'C with a bit of ++'). And as Pluralsight do a free trial, your daughter can try it for nothing.

Course FAQ

• Who is this course for? This course is aimed at those who have never programmed before.
• What will I learn in this course? Learn how to get the tools to develop in C++ and basics like building and running an application, then discover how to use classes from the C++ Standard Library and how to write and use your own functions and classes.
• What prerequisites do I need? Before beginning the course, you should be familiar with editing text files on your operating system and that's it.
• What software is required? There are text editors that come with your operating system, and then you need a compiler and a linker, and they very often come together.

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

[Rob Bachrach]

My favorite has always been "Thinking in C++" by Bruce Eckel. He's a journalist first and a software developer second. This makes the books very easy to read, even for non-programmers.

[JeffL45]

Thumbs up for Kate Gregory. She is an effective teacher. Easy to follow and understand.

[SeattleC]

I wrote a book with two other authors called The C++ Workbench, which teaches C++. It doesn't teach all of C++, but focuses on the fundamentals. One feature is that it uses online C++ compilers that run in your browser so learning is as frictionless as possible. I'd actually be interested to learn if people like the approach in this book.

[matblue25]

If you're saying she's taking a course where she needs to KNOW C++ but it isn't being taught in the course, then I would recommend taking a different course, or taking a C++ course first. Trying to learn C++ at the same time you're supposed to be using it in a course is a losing proposition, especially if she has no experience programming.

[NightPen]

Not a book but it's free... W3 schools C++ Tutorial[^] takes you though the basics and lets you interactively try things out.

[Rusty Bullet]

I read the list of reccomendations and did not see this one. "C++ How To Program: Introducing Object-Oriented Design with the UML" by Deitel & Deitel. Easy to read, well organized and covers the things likely to be used in basic object oriented C++ programming. Others mentioned that I would second are "Effective C++", PluralSight training and "Thinking in C++", although the last one is rather basic.

[Gary R Wheeler]

Given my daughter's experience with such courses, their 'textbook' is usually a class guide written as a master's thesis project by the graduate assistant teaching the class. These are uniformly awful, poorly written, and of low technical quality.

Software Zen: delete this;

[Gary R Wheeler]

Thumbs up! I took a C++ programming class from Bruce a loooooong time ago, and his writing was very, very good.

Software Zen: delete this;

[hpcoder2]

Having learned it this way, I always recommend Stroustrup's "C++ Programming Language". Read it cover to cover. Yes it will take a while, but its worth it. Then after perhaps a year of C++ experience, pick up Scott Meyer's "Effective C++", both editions. And/or his more recent variants of the same thing. C++ takes a long time to learn to use properly. I've been coding in C++ nearly 30 years now, and I'm still learning stuff. Though I'd like to think I'm and effective C++ coder :-D