EntBlog
Code, 3D, Games, Linux and much more...

Exceptional C++ Style

Exceptional C++ Style
Author: Herb Sutter
Pages: 325
Published: 2005

I have been programming C++ for more than 15 years following the evolution of one of the more mature languages still in use today. There have been lot of changes since the beginning, and more of them are to come. Yes, may be it is time for change to other more modern language but I still enjoy learning new things about C++. And if those things are taught by Herb Sutter the reading becomes almost obligatory.

Exceptional C++ Style continues where Exceptional C++ and More Exceptional C++ left off. With the same philosophy than the previous books (topics classified by category and with a associated difficulty rating) the author cover topics previously described in other publications: C/C++ User Journal, Dr. Dobb’s Journal, Guru of the Week, etc.

The book is divided into seven parts: Generic Programming and the C++ Standard Library, Exception Safety Issues and Techniques, Class Design – Inheritance and Polymorphism, Memory and Resource Management, Optimization and Efficiency, Traps – Pitfalls and Puzzlers (really funny) and Style Case Studies (where the author himself dissects real-world published code finishing with a depth analysis of std::string and why its monolith design was really a bad decision)

I really enjoyed the book while learning more things about the language: why you should overload template functions instead of specialize, the current status of the export keyword, what the distinct levels of exception safety are, what the Nonvirtual Interface pattern is, why you should make destructors for a base class public virtual or protected nonvirtual, a precise description of the implications of the inline keyword, etc, etc…

In conclusion, if C++ is your main programming language and you really like it, you should read this book.

Rating: 8 / 10