Best C++ Books for Beginners: There are plenty of books on C++, so picking the right book without having knowledge of them is quite complex. This article discusses the 5 best books on C++ for beginners or people having little programming experience to help them consolidate their learning.
Best Online Courses on Data Structures and Algorithm
Table of Contents
What is C++? – Best C++ Books for Beginners
C++ is an object-oriented and general-purpose language, originally developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979 as an extension to the C language. This language has a wide and versatile range of applications, including game and app development.
It is a cross-platform language that is used to create high-perform applications as this language gives users a high level of security and control over system memory and various system resources. This language has been updated 3 major times to C++11, C++14, and C++17 in 2011, 2014, and 2017, respectively.
Best C++ Books for Beginners
Now, for a beginner, it might be a little difficult to select the perfect book to start their programming learning journey of C++ because choosing the right and perfect book in the starting is crucial as it can guide your learning. So, below are the best-recommended books that you can use for learning C++.
1. Best C++ Book for Serious Learners: A Tour of C++
This book is a complete guide for absolute beginners who aspires to learn the C++ programming language as it provides a complete and simple overview of C++ along with some key examples and practical exercises.
Features:
- This book starts with an easy-to-understand tone and simple concepts for the readers.
- Following the simple concepts, it starts with advanced topics, containing many which are new in C++17, such as lambda expressions, move semantics, random numbers, concurrency, improved containers, and uniform initialization.
- This book also consists of many practical-based exercises which help the readers in having a strong grip over all the basic and advanced concepts.
Topics Covered:
- Basics on how to get started
- User-defined types
- Modularity
- Classes
- Essential Operations
- Templates
- Concepts and Generic Programming
- Library Overview
- Strings and Regular Expressions
- Input and Output
- Containers
- Algorithms
- Utilities
- Numerics
- Concurrency
- History and Compatibility
Author: Bjarne Stroustrup
Latest Edition: Second
Publisher: Bjarne Stroustrup
Format: Paperback
Available on: Amazon
2. Beginning C++ 17: From Novice to Professional
By the name of the book, it’s clear that this book provides an overview of the updated C++ 17 language. If you have no prior knowledge of programming language, then this book is a must-pick for you as it will start with the basics and then reach a higher level through step-by-step examples.
Features:
- This book consists of standard libraries for the updated C++ 17 language, along with a sufficient collection of examples and exercises.
- This book focuses on making the readers familiar with and understands the advanced topics and features of C++ 17 efficiently.
Topics Covered:
- Basic Ideas
- Fundamental Types of Data
- Working with Fundamental Data Types
- Making Decisions
- Arrays and Loops
- Pointers and References
- Working with Strings
- Defining Functions
- Function Templates
- Program Files and Preprocessing Directives
- Defining your Data Types
- Operator Overloading
- Inheritance
- Polymorphism
- Runtime Errors and Exceptions
- Class Templates
- Move Semantics
- First-Class Functions
- Containers and Algorithms
Author: Ivor Horton and Peter Van
Latest Edition: Fifth
Publisher: Horton, Peter, Van Weert
Format: Paperback
Available on: Amazon
3. Let us C++
This book is a must and a perfect pick for programmers, students, software developers, and researchers who aspire to learn the C++ programming language from absolute scratch.
Features:
- This book provides a deep and in-depth explanation of complex topics.
- It lists down all the important topics that the readers need to know in an organized manner, along with several other helpful learning tips.
- This book focuses more on the logical part and consists of problems that require deep logical thinking.
- It consists of a detailed explanation of various programming language concepts and hence strengthens the foundation.
- This book highlights the cores features of the C++ programming language like inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, data abstraction, exception handling, and virtual functions.
Topics Covered:
- Introduction to OOP
- Graduating to C++
- Functions
- Classes and Objects
- Class Intricacies
- Inheritance
- Polymorphism
- Input/Output in C++
- Advanced Features of C++
- Templates
- Exception Handling
- Standard Template Library
Author: Yashavant Kanetkar
Latest Edition: Seventeenth
Publisher: BPB Publications
Format: Paperback
Available on: Amazon
4. Starting Out with C++ from Control Structures to Objects
If you really looking towards having a piece of complete and in-deep knowledge in C++ programming language, then this book is a must-pick for you.
Features:
- This book uses the step-by-step approach that helps beginners in thoroughly understanding all the important concepts of the C++ programming language.
- It consists of simple, clear, concise, and easy-to-read codes as examples for the readers and many exercises as well.
- The best part about this book is it has covered all the changes that have happened in the technical world recently.
Topics Covered:
- Introduction to Computers and Programming
- Introduction to C++
- Expressions and Interactivity
- Making Decisions
- Loops and Files
- Functions
- Arrays and Vectors
- Searching and Sorting Arrays
- Pointers
- Characters, C-Strings, and More about the Sting Class
- Structured Data
- Advanced File Operations
- Introduction to Classes
- More about Classes
- Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Virtual Functions
- Exceptions and Templates
- The Standard Template Library (STP)
- Linked Lists
- Stacks and Queues
- Recursion
- Binary Trees
Author: Tony Gaddis
Latest Edition: Ninth
Publisher: Tony Gaddis
Format: Paperback
Available on: Amazon
5. Beginning C++ Programming
This book is perfect for complete beginners as it focuses on forming a strong yet basic foundation of programming by covering core concepts of programming language such as data structures.
Features:
- This book follows a straightforward approach that helps in developing strong skills in the C++ programming language.
- It helps and allows you to write C++ codes using standard libraries which use memory safely and efficiently.
- It also consists of plenty of practical-based exercises and examples which gradually help the readers in their learning process.
Topics Covered:
- Starting with C++
- Understanding Language Features
- Exploring C++ Types
- Working with Memory Arrays and Pointers
- Using Functions
- Classes
- Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
- Using the Standard Library Containers
- Using Strings
- Diagnostics and Debugging
Author: Richard Grimes
Latest Edition: First
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd.
Format: Paperback
Available on: Amazon
Considering the current needs of the technical world, one should definitely learn the C++ programming language as it is a good language to dive into the programming world and invest your time in. Learning C++ will teach and help you in understanding the technicalities and underlying principles of computer architecture.
Why Learn C++? – Best C++ Books for Beginners
The important part about the C++ programming language is that its syntax is almost the same as that of the C language. The thing which makes C++ different from the C programming language is that it consists of object-oriented features that allow the programmers to create objects within the code itself. C++ is a beginner-friendly language so once you get a good grip on this language you will not find any difficulty in learning other programming languages.
Conclusion
C++ is widely known for being very efficient for general purposes and useful for low-level programming languages. It includes concepts like polymorphism, inheritance, encapsulation, data abstraction, and classes which makes the program very maintainable and allows code reusability.