Question

I recently forced myself to study C++ and I just finished reading the book C++: The Complete Reference, by Herbert Schildt. I liked the book and think I got more or less the big picture. I noticed though that when I try to check with other people the things I code using the material I learned, they are usually considered non-idiomatic and superseded by an STL way to do it that is safer and easier (well, the book doesn’t cover STL and Boost libraries).

So I’d like to ask: what are good sources to learn the patterns of a good C++ program? Where can I learn basic patterns from the “C++ way” to do things and not just repeating C patterns in C++?

I’d be particularly interested in sources that included STL and Boost stuff.

Answer 1

You might wnat to check out The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List

For your purposes I would especially recommend:

• C++ Coding Standards
• Effective STL
• Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost
• Code Complete
• Clean Code (Examples in Java, still valid though.)

They are not in particular order, also you might want to read and code something in between them.

(Note: As noted by @John Dibling the Boost book might be a bit out of date, I do not have experience with that one myself)