Once again we have the problem of academia being years behind the real world. This book carries a 1999 copyright date, yet it is largely about the C++ as presented in the C++ Programming Language (Second Edition) . namespace is hidden away in Appendix F. The STL is covered in less than a page of the same appendix. The authors completely ignore the existence of the C++ string types and rolls his own.

If this book had been written and published five years ago it would have been worth looking at. All the minor niggles that should have been removed at technical review stage would only have detracted from a reasonable student text. However programming in general and C++ in particular has moved on over those five years. I am not surprised that some areas of academia are so in favour of shifting to using Java for their programming courses if they think that the alternative is teaching this kind of C++.

Publishers really must stop publishing new books that are already five years out of date before the ink hits the page.