Rating:  - Much easier than exceptional/effective book series
I really recommend this vook insstead of exceptional/effective book series. After reading some book about the C++ syntax (where Storstroup is an excellent election), you can take a look to this one in order to avoid common mistakes in C++.
It is easy to read and all the information is useful in the day to day programming.
Rating: - A must have for any C++ programmers desk
I was looking for a good C++ book to dive back in when I found this book and it was by miles the best book out there. The book covers a wide breath of C++ idioms and best practices in a succinct manner and with very skillful use of example code. The layout of the book makes it useful for programmers of all skill levels. It is approachable enough for a beginner to come away with solid practices that will serve them for a long time and yet it packs enough advanced material that it is a great reference for experienced developers. I felt that it covered the advanced topics in a way that even novice programmers could get a lot out of them, whereas most books on advanced C++ topics are practically arcane tomes for anyone without solid experience, "Modern C++ Design" (otherwise an excellent book) being the worst in that category.
After finishing "C++ Common Knowledge" going back to the old standards such as "Exception C++, "Effective C++" etc... was pretty painful and made me wonder why it took so long for such an elegant and intuitive book on C++ to be written.
Rating:  - Very good book to review some important topics in C++
This book like effective C++ gives very important pointers.I found that some topics are worth reading like function objects because this kind of information is something you gain only with good experience.
Lot of optics are covered. There are couple of design issues like factory method discussed.The topics are well explained but I felt some topics are too short like for example, the items on smart pointers and auto_ptr.More explanation could have been given for better conceptual understanding (I don't think he explained why auto_ptrs can't be used in containers properly).No item on reference counting unfortunately.
But in general this is a very good book, good for interviews(should be complemented with other books like that of Meyers) and to improve one's understanding of certain topics like, funtion objects, function pointers, how to prevent heap allocation, how to make concrete classes act like ABCs etc.
Rating: - could this be the best intermediate C++ book?
Yep, this is perilously close to supplanting Scott Meyers and Herb Sutter as the definitive book for propelling a neophyte C++ programmer towards competence.
On the face of it, this is yet another book on 'intermediate' C++, of which there have been many since the early 1990s. The book consists of a few dozen short pieces on how wrestle some complexity of C++ into behaving itself, such as the use of const, how to implement copy constructors and the assignment operator. Do we really need yet another one of these?
But this manages to stand out from the crowd. It covers more basic material such as references and the new cast operators. There's a very nice section on pointers to members. It's also very handy for people coming from other languages, such as Java, particularly as it highlights areas where C++ differs from Java, e.g. name lookup and hiding rules. However, some material assumes knowledge of the handle/pimpl idiom which is normally covered in other intermediate books.
There's also an emphasis on higher level abstractions, general object oriented design principles, like the Hollywood principle, and separate items on design patterns (command, template, prototype).
And nearly half the book is on templates. And it's a very thorough and systematic coverage, including traits, policies and some metaprogramming (e.g. SFINAE). I was very impressed with this part of the book, it is very effective at demystifying a part of the language that even the better introductory books can fail to enlighten fully.
The only negative of this book is that, subjectwise, there is a fair amount of overlap with the author's previous book, C++ Gotchas. If you've already got that, you may find yourself skimming the first half of this one (and it's not a huge book). However, the excellent template section is all new. Nonetheless, you might want to knock a star and a half off my rating.
In short, this is an excellent, well-organised book with clear coverage of beginners topics all the way up to OO principles like those found in Robert C. Martin's Agile Software Development.
Rating: - Succinct and parsimonious
I was already a very productive C++ programmer when I first saw this book, so I didn't think it would be of much help. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by the wealth of information that this little book contains. Any casual or professional C++ programmer should have this book as a reference. It is not encyclopedic, but that is its main strength: it tells you exactly what you need to know and no more. After reading it I found myself structuring my code better and reusing more code (especially by utilizing templates more appropriately). Additionally, the book is very clear about the terminology of the C++ language so my communication with other developers improved. A must-have.
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