A giant list of resources for C++ programmers

[Stephen Tyndall]

I'm not sure whether this counts as off-topic, but here's a huge list of
books about C++ that I've found highly recommended (kind of slanted towards
game programming because that's what I'm looking into). You should be able
to find all of these on Amazon (except for the Barnes & Noble one). Many of
these are quite expensive. After the books list is a list of magazines and
a handy web resource list. After that is a list of a few games that are
available open-source (meaning you can look through the game's code and
alter it if you want).

**BOOKS FOR BEGINNERS** - you'll be fine with either of these
Accelerated C++ (Koenig & Moo - use if you know a language already)
C++ Primer Plus: Fourth Edition (Stephen Prata)
C++ Programming in Easy Steps (Mike McGrath, Barnes & Noble)

**BOOKS FOR ALL C++ PROGRAMMERS** - many are advanced
AI Game Programming Wisdom/2 (Steven Rabin)
Algorithms in C++: Parts 1-5: Third Edition (Robert Sedgewick)
C and C++ Code Capsules (Chuck Allison)
C++ for Game Programmers (Noel Llopis)
C++ Gems (Stan Lippman, editor)
C++ Pointers and Dynamic Memory Management (Michael C. Daconta)
C++ Strategies and Tactics (Robert B. Murray)
C++ Templates: The Complete Guide (Vandevoorde, Josuttis)
Code Complete: 2nd Edition (Steve McConnell)
Collision Detection in Interactive 3D Environments (Gino van den Bergen)
Design Patterns (Erich Gamma, et al.)
Effective C++: 2nd Edition (Scott Meyers)
Effective STL (Scott Meyers)
Efficient C++: Performance Programming Techniques (Bulka & Mayhew)
Exceptional C++ (Herb Sutter)
Game Coding Complete (Mike McShaffry)
Game Programming Gems (Mark DeLoura, editor)
Game Programming Gems II (Mark DeLoura, editor)
Game Programming Gems 3 (Mark DeLoura, editor)
Game Programming Gems 4 (Andrew Kirmse, editor)
Generic Programming and the STL (Matthew H. Austern)
Graphics Gems IV (Paul S. Heckbert)
Graphics Gems V (Paul S. Heckbert)
Industrial Strength C++ Rules and Recommendations (Henricson & Nyquist)
Interactive Computer Graphics: ...OpenGL: 3rd Edition (Edward Angel)
Large Scale C++ Software Design (John Lakos)
Modern C++ Design (Andrei Alexandrescu)
More C++ Gems (Robert C. Martin)
More Effective C++ (Scott Meyers)
More Exceptional C++ (Herb Sutter)
Multi-Paradigm Design for C++ (James Coplien)
No Bugs! Delivering Error Free Code in C and C++ (David Thielen)
Object-Oriented Multithreading using C++ (Hughes & Hughes)
Practical Debugging in C++ (Ford & Teorey)
Programming Pearls: 2nd Edition (Jon Bentley)
Real-time 3D Character Animation with Visual C++ (Nik Lever)
Real-time 3D Terrain Engines using C++ and DirectX 9 (Gregory Snook)
Reusability & Software Construction with C and C++ (Jerry D. Smith)
Ruminations on C++ (Koenig & Moo)
Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX (Mason McCuskey)
Standard C++ IOStreams and Locales (Langer & Kreft)
The Annotated C++ Reference Manual (Ellis & Stroustrup)
The C++ Programming Language: Special 3rd Edition (Bjarne Stroustrup)
The C++ Standard: Incorporating Technical Corrigendum No. 1 (important!)
The C++ Standard Library" A Tutorial and Reference (Nicolai M. Josuttis)
The Design and Evolution of C++ (Bjarne Stroustrup) - might be outdated
The Practice of Programming (Kernighan & Pike)
Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus (Andre LaMothe)

**MAGAZINES** - Visual Studio seems to lean toward VB.NET
C/C++ User's Journal
Visual Studio Magazine

**WEB RESOURCES** - some of these are for tutorials
About.com (C/C++/C# tutorials) - cplus.about.com
ACCU - www.accu.org
Bjarne Stroustrup's website - www.research.att.com/~bs/homepage.html
Boost C++ Libraries - www.boost.org
C/C++ User's Journal - www.cuj.com
CodeGuru - www.codeguru.com
comp.lang.c++ FAQ - www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/
cplusplus.com - www.cplusplus.com
flipCode - www.flipcode.com
Free books - www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html
Games++ - www.gamespp.com
MSDN (Visual C++) - msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/
Programmers' Heaven - www.programmersheaven.com
The Code Project - www.codeproject.com
Ultimate Game Programming - www.ultimategameprogramming.com

**OPEN-SOURCE GAMES** - Google "open source" "game-name"
Allegiance (500+ MB, but comes with the entire engine!)
Homeworld
Quake
Quake II
Quake III Arena
Unreal

Hope all of this helps. There is some stuff in this list that I've never
found mentioned anywhere on this newsgroup. If you're interested, I also
have a smaller list of useful C books (I haven't learned C yet, even though
it's more a matter of "forgetting" than learning), a list of game design
books, and a list of a few books for modelers and texturers.

 

[John Harrison]

I'm not sure whether this counts as off-topic, but here's a huge list of
books about C++ that I've found highly recommended (kind of slanted
towards
game programming because that's what I'm looking into).

If you cut out the game specific stuff then I think this would a useful
list to post regularly to the group, say once a month. We certainly get
'can you recommend any books?' type questions fairly often. There's
already a similar 'available C++ libraries' message that gets posted
regularly.

But don't regard my opinion as counting for much, what do other regulars
think?

john

 

[Karl Heinz Buchegger]

If you cut out the game specific stuff then I think this would a useful
list to post regularly to the group, say once a month. We certainly get
'can you recommend any books?' type questions fairly often. There's
already a similar 'available C++ libraries' message that gets posted
regularly.

But don't regard my opinion as counting for much, what do other regulars
think?

To John: Excellent idea. Let's convice the OP to do it
To the OP: Great list. Please post it regularily. Maybe you could give
permission to include it into Shivas regular Welcome message?

 

[Peter van Merkerk]

If you cut out the game specific stuff then I think this would a useful
list to post regularly to the group, say once a month. We certainly get
'can you recommend any books?' type questions fairly often. There's
already a similar 'available C++ libraries' message that gets posted
regularly.

But don't regard my opinion as counting for much, what do other
regulars think?

A recommended reading list could be included in the FAQ. This list
should not be too long (shorter than the one in the original message)
otherwise you might as direct them to www.accu.org.

 

[Ioannis Vranos]

I'm not sure whether this counts as off-topic, but here's a huge list of
books about C++ that I've found highly recommended (kind of slanted towards
game programming because that's what I'm looking into). You should be able
to find all of these on Amazon (except for the Barnes & Noble one). Many of
these are quite expensive. After the books list is a list of magazines and
a handy web resource list. After that is a list of a few games that are
available open-source (meaning you can look through the game's code and
alter it if you want).

**BOOKS FOR BEGINNERS** - you'll be fine with either of these
Accelerated C++ (Koenig & Moo - use if you know a language already)
C++ Primer Plus: Fourth Edition (Stephen Prata)
C++ Programming in Easy Steps (Mike McGrath, Barnes & Noble)

I have heard good things for "You Can Do It! : A Beginners Introduction
to Computer Programming" by Francis Glassborow.






Regards,

Ioannis Vranos

 

[Sharad Kala]

If you cut out the game specific stuff then I think this would a useful
list to post regularly to the group, say once a month. We certainly get
'can you recommend any books?' type questions fairly often. There's
already a similar 'available C++ libraries' message that gets posted
regularly.

But don't regard my opinion as counting for much, what do other regulars
think?

Yes, the list id pretty good. It covers most of the usually recommended C++
books. Has anyone read "You can do it" by Francis Glasborow? I believe it's
on the lines of Accelarated C++. Since it's a fairly new book so it could
have been missed out in this list.

-Sharad

 

[Sharad Kala]

Stephen Tyndall wrote:

I have heard good things for "You Can Do It! : A Beginners Introduction
to Computer Programming" by Francis Glassborow.

Same here, but somehow I don't see it's review on http://www.accu.org .

 

[Peter Koch Larsen]

If you cut out the game specific stuff then I think this would a useful
list to post regularly to the group, say once a month. We certainly get
'can you recommend any books?' type questions fairly often. There's
already a similar 'available C++ libraries' message that gets posted
regularly.

But don't regard my opinion as counting for much, what do other regulars
think?

john

Excellent! As the other Peter mentioned, this list should be application
neutral and not too long. There could instead be a list of recommended web
sites (accu.org for book-reviews, Dewhursts and Sutters and Stroustrups for
general C++ info and so on).

Kind regards
Peter Koch Larsen

 

[Ioannis Vranos]

Excellent! As the other Peter mentioned, this list should be application
neutral and not too long. There could instead be a list of recommended web
sites (accu.org for book-reviews, Dewhursts and Sutters and Stroustrups for
general C++ info and so on).

Actually, strictly speaking, this list is partial. For example in
http://www.accu.org there is a greater list of recommended and highly
recommended C++ titles, so a reference to that list is better I guess.
The only exception is if someone has a particular book in mind, that he
has read and considers good.






Regards,

Ioannis Vranos

 

[Peter Koch Larsen]

Actually, strictly speaking, this list is partial. For example in
http://www.accu.org there is a greater list of recommended and highly
recommended C++ titles, so a reference to that list is better I guess.
The only exception is if someone has a particular book in mind, that he
has read and considers good.

I would consider the recommended entry to consist of only a few of the best
"application neutral" books (and probably also the C++ standard). That would
be - perhaps - one Stroustrup book, the Koenig book, the Josuttis template
book and no doubt some few other.
The rest should be available via links (accu.org - there might be other out
there)

Regards,

Ioannis Vranos

/Peter

 

[Chris Dearlove]

Sharad Kala ([email protected]) wrote:

: : > Stephen Tyndall wrote:
: >
: > I have heard good things for "You Can Do It! : A Beginners Introduction
: > to Computer Programming" by Francis Glassborow.

I've looked at it. It looks good, but it starts from a lower level than
AC++ - it is assuming a target of someone who has no programming background
at all. It however follows the same approach of teaching the new bits of
C++ rather than the legacy C stuff. It looks to go quite far however.
As for why C++ for a beginner, that's discussed in the introduction.
Two advantages are first it has a CD with a "sandbox" environment with
graphics added to standard C++ to provide a safe but usable environment
(so it claims, I haven't seen it) and second it's a lot cheaper than
AC++.

: Same here, but somehow I don't see it's review on http://www.accu.org .

Now that's a no win proposition. Say the book is great and it looks like
a good review for one of the ACCU's own. Say the book isn't great and you
might be overcompensating or something. Perhaps they should list it with
a non-review review.

 

[Stephen Tyndall]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm glad the list was useful. If you want, I'll
post a shorter list next month and remove the game-specific stuff (maybe it
would go better on alt.games.programming?). I'll also add "You Can Do It!"
to the list next time. I noticed the author sometimes posts on this
newsgroup.

Do you guys think I should remove any of the web links? The fact that there
are several "tutorial" sites seems kind of redundant, but I figured that if
someone couldn't find an answer on one, they could find it on another.
Maybe I could separate it into "Tutorial" and "General" sites or something?

I'm kind of new to C++ and I only own one or two of the books listed. If
you think some should be removed, I'd appreciate any replies saying so
(preferably with a reason given). Also, should I divide up the list some
more (say into "Algorithms," "STL," etc.)? Should I make a list of the ones
that are generally regarded as being necessities for a C++ programmer
(Effective C++, The C++ Standard, The C++ Programming Language, etc.)?
Thanks for the input!

 

[Gabe Flores]

I'm not sure whether this counts as off-topic, but here's a huge list of
books about C++ that I've found highly recommended (kind of slanted towards
game programming because that's what I'm looking into). You should be able
to find all of these on Amazon (except for the Barnes & Noble one). Many of
these are quite expensive. After the books list is a list of magazines and
a handy web resource list. After that is a list of a few games that are
available open-source (meaning you can look through the game's code and
alter it if you want).

I'm new here and would just like to say thank you for such a great
list. I really appreciate the online resources. I'll be sure to check
them out! Thanks.