The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List

This question attempts to collect the few pearls among the dozens of bad C++ books that are published every year.

Unlike many other programming languages, which are often picked up on the go from tutorials found on the Internet, few are able to quickly pick up C++ without studying a well-written C++ book. It is way too big and complex for doing this. In fact, it is so big and complex, that there are very many very bad C++ books out there. And we are not talking about bad style, but things like sporting glaringly obvious factual errors and promoting abysmally bad programming styles.

Please edit the accepted answer to provide quality books and an approximate skill level — preferably after discussing your addition in the C++ chat room. (The regulars might mercilessly undo your work if they disagree with a recommendation.) Add a short blurb/description about each book that you have personally read/benefited from. Feel free to debate quality, headings, etc. Books that meet the criteria will be added to the list. Books that have reviews by the Association of C and C++ Users (ACCU) have links to the review.

Related Posts:

  1. The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List
  2. What are the differences between a pointer variable and a reference variable in C++?
  3. What is an undefined reference/unresolved external symbol error and how do I fix it?
  4. Why is “using namespace std;” considered bad practice?
  5. What is a lambda expression in C++11?
  6. What is an undefined reference/unresolved external symbol error and how do I fix it?
  7. What does the explicit keyword mean?
  8. What is a smart pointer and when should I use one?
  9. What is the proper declaration of main in C++?
  10. What does the explicit keyword mean?
  11. Why is enum class preferred over plain enum?
  12. What is the difference between const int*, const int * const, and int const *?
  13. What does T&& (double ampersand) mean in C++11?
  14. What is the difference between const int*, const int * const, and int const *?
  15. What is move semantics?
  16. Is the practice of returning a C++ reference variable evil?
  17. How to write C++ getters and setters
  18. What are the differences between struct and class in C++?
  19. What is std::move(), and when should it be used?
  20. gcc/g++: “No such file or directory”
  21. Resolve build errors due to circular dependency amongst classes
  22. std::wstring VS std::string
  23. What is object slicing?
  24. Why should I use a pointer rather than the object itself?
  25. Pause Console in C++ program
  26. Why the switch statement cannot be applied on strings?
  27. Iterate through a C++ Vector using a ‘for’ loop
  28. ‘was not declared in this scope’ error
  29. Simple dictionary in C++
  30. Good input validation loop using cin – C++
  31. Are the C++ & and * operators inverses in all contexts?
  32. C++ for each, pulling from vector elements
  33. How do I erase an element from std::vector<> by index?
  34. What’s the C++ version of Java’s ArrayList
  35. Incomplete Type Is Not Allowed
  36. When to use extern in C++
  37. how to implement quick sort algorithm in C++
  38. Undefined Symbols for architecture x86_64: Compiling problems
  39. “No viable overloaded ‘=’ ” why?
  40. Is C++ an Object Oriented language?
  41. Initializing a two dimensional std::vector
  42. What does “<<" and ">>” mean in C++ for cout/cin?
  43. C ++ error: a expected initializer before [function name]
  44. invalid new-expression of abstract class type
  45. std::string to char*
  46. ‘do…while’ vs. ‘while’
  47. Does the ‘mutable’ keyword have any purpose other than allowing the variable to be modified by a const function?
  48. no default constructor exists for class
  49. Press Enter to Continue
  50. How to trim a std::string?
  51. How to find if a given key exists in a C++ std::map
  52. Parsing a comma-delimited std::string
  53. Correct way of looping through C++ arrays
  54. C++ how to read a line with delimiter until the end of each line?
  55. Random number c++ in some range
  56. What’s the equivalent of new/delete of C++ in C?
  57. Fatal error: ‘stdafx.h’ file not found
  58. How do I add the MinGW bin directory to my system path?
  59. What’s the syntax for declaring an array of function pointers without using a separate typedef?
  60. C++ cannot open source file
  61. What is the difference between const_iterator and non-const iterator in the C++ STL?
  62. Sorting Linked List C++ with pointers
  63. Get Unix timestamp with C++
  64. Class prototyping
  65. 8 queens puzzle with user input c++
  66. How to dynamically allocate an array of pointers in C++?
  67. How do I compile C++ to JavaScript in a browser?
  68. Reading from .txt file into two dimensional array in c++
  69. C++ Error ‘nullptr was not declared in this scope’ in Eclipse IDE
  70. C++ Simple hangman game
  71. “The system cannot find the file specified” when running C++ program
  72. Remove First and Last Character C++
  73. C++ Convert string (or char*) to wstring (or wchar_t*)
  74. Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
  75. Integer to hex string in C++
  76. Comparison of C++ unit test frameworks
  77. What is the difference between .cc and .cpp file suffix?
  78. C++ error: object of abstract class type is not allowed: pure virtual function has no overrider
  79. Reading data from file into an array
  80. LINK : fatal error LNK1561: entry point must be defined ERROR IN VC++
  81. Trying to use int in getline
  82. What is the difference between an Abstract Data Type(ADT) and a Data Structure?
  83. What does the term “empty loop” refer to exactly in C and C++?
  84. c++ error c2015: too many characters in constant
  85. Splitting a C++ std::string using tokens, e.g. “;”
  86. What is the job of autogen.sh when building a c++ package on Linux
  87. Using G++ to compile multiple .cpp and .h files
  88. LPCSTR, LPCTSTR and LPTSTR
  89. How to do std::string indexof in C++ that returns index of matching string?
  90. variable or field declared void
  91. Invalid conversion from ‘char’ to ‘const char *’
  92. How do I deal with “signed/unsigned mismatch” warnings (C4018)?
  93. Creating folders in C++
  94. What does “-Wall” in “g++ -Wall test.cpp -o test” do?
  95. What does ‘return *this’ mean in C++?
  96. C++ equivalent of StringBuffer/StringBuilder?
  97. heap corruption detected | C++
  98. Update g++ but still old version
  99. module unsafe for SAFESEH image C++
  100. Why are there two different getline() functions (if indeed there are)?

Leave a Comment