Rating:  - A new way of teaching. And how good it is!
This book doesn't do thing traditionally like normal tutorials you find on the World Wide Web. The people who have written this text CLEARLY know both c++ and pedagogics.
When their experience in pedagogics is shining through this book you really learn what you want to learn...
Anyone who is a beginner or a semi-beginner should pick up this book.
Rating: - This is the ONLY BOOK you MUST READ
I do not understand how some people can give negative reviews for this book. This book is MUST have in case if you want to get basic to intermediate level of C++ programming.
I wish they publish something for advanced level programming.
A+
Rating:  - Mostly disappointed with the book.
First of all, I'll say what's good with the book. The author's way of writing demands that you learn C++ terminology quickly. This, infact, annoyed me because the terminology does not interest me, and I was more interested in the concepts, but by forcing me to follow the wankish terms, I am better able to understand other programmers. The book is also good at not dwelling on the same subject endlessly for the most part. However, I think some of the concepts should have been explained more while others were needlessly over explained, but that may not be the case for a different reader with different strengths and weaknesses.
Now comes the bad. The student grading project, which is changed throughout many of the chapters is horribly boring. It is harder to focus on what you're reading when what's being explained is so incredibly trivial and unimpressive. The biggest beef I have with the book is the exercises. Ofiten times the hardest part with the exercise is figuring out what the exercise actually wants you to do. Also, some of the exercises require knowledge not yet covered in the book, and sometimes even things never covered in the book at all. To top it all, the authors provide no answer sheet to the exercises to even check your solutions. The exercises are simply not thought out and are poorly explained.
I got the book to learn from, and if the exercises demand I learn stuff outside it then it's not being useful. The book is the first in its series, and the first few chapters of the book are aimed at complete beginners, so the expectation of prior knowledge is a little absurd.
As far as the criticism from some of these surprisinginly positive reviews go about not knowing what input to give the student grading program: By the time you enter all the code, you were explained how all of it worked part by boring part. If you truly knew how it worked then you should know what input it expects. Pretty obvious, really.
Rating:  - Great for introducing pointers, templates and iterators
This is a great place to start. Iterators, templates, then pointers... That's a different approach. Each topic is explained well, though the author gets bogged down in the details of his ever expanding example. Never-the-less, templates are my friend. I can build my own with the power of pointers and convenience of iterators.
You'll inevitably need authoritative books on C++, OOP, and MFC to do anything useful in Windows. But this is a great intro to the C++ language and STL.
Cheers!
Rating: - One of the best....
They have got magic lamp to capture C++ gene in a very small book. You need to have some programming experience before you start since it goes from 0 to 80 mph in 7 seconds (chapters) like a sports car. And surprisingly you catch every thing on your way. They read your mind and explain it before you draw wrong conclusions.
They do not spend useless time on "Primer" details though it starts from basic programming constructs. Try it...
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