Author(s): Stanley B. Lippman Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Date : 1996 Pages : 304 Format : CHM OCR : äÚã Quality : ISBN-10: 0201834545 ISBN-13:
Description:
Amazon.com Review
Bestselling author Stanley B. Lippman's Inside the C++ Model provides valuable insight into some of the internal workings of the C++ language. This book is a product of a decade of research at Bell Labs (where Lippman worked with C++ inventor Bjarne Stroustrup) and Lippman's considerable C++ expertise. Written with the experienced C++ programmer in mind, this book looks at how key language features are implemented underneath the hood and provides some guidelines when designing C++ classes.
This title first examines how C++ objects work--showing the differences between C++ structures and classes. The author looks carefully at the varieties of C++ constructors, including default and copy constructors, data members, and initialization.
Subsequent sections cover inheritance, including virtual inheritance, and the inner details that will help you create effective and robust data types. The author frequently points out inefficiencies (and efficiencies) that can occur when instantiating objects. The book closes with a tour of more advanced C++ language features, such as templates, exception handling, and run-time type information. This book can help make you the resident C++ language expert at your programming shop.
Reviews
Summary: Good but not a bible
Rating: 4
What I like about this book:
+ It is well-written and to the point with easy to grasp examples.
+ It is the only book I know that treats the object model specifically and it really goes in depth with things.
+ Even if it's on an "advanced" level it's a pretty fun read - it doesn't make your head hurt.
What I don't like so much about it:
- It's old and some of the examples in the book are hardly valid for current-day compilers. I know that the point the book tries to make is that you have to measure and look at the generated assembly code yourself to be sure. But still in the end the examples may leave people with wrong ideas.
- It's not 100% proofread, especially figures and code contain errors that may be a little confusing.
If you're interested in this stuff it's definitely a good read, even if it's not up there with the real C++ bibles.
Summary: Essential Reading for Real Time C++ Programmers
Rating: 5
If you use C++ in real time environments, you need this book. Real time programmers need to understand "what is going on under the covers." This is really the only book I've found that explains it in depth.
Reading this book is important if you are trying to decide whether to code in C or C++. You need to understand the overhead of C++, where it comes from and, at times, how to avoid it.
When debugging an understanding of how the compiler translates C++ code into machine language is essential. Lippmans book does not delve into code generation but it does provide a framework for understanding how the C++ object model is represented in machine language.
I'll be the first to admit that Lippman can go off on to some arcane tangents. He can spend a few pages discussing details that really have minimal effect on code execution. But I'm willing to forgive these diversions because so much of his book has contributed to my understanding of C++ and how it works.
Summary: 5 stars not enough...
Rating: 5
I have thought that I had enough knowledge of C++, but after reading this book, I know I was wrong. Detailed discussion of constructor, data member, virtual table, multiple inheritance etc, there are a lot of mysterious details in C++ covered in this book. Yet this book is only 280 pages, which means there are very few redundant words seen in a lot of other tech books.
Recommend reading it with a compiler. I use Visual C to compile sample code and generate the asm file to see the real code compiler generates. It is rewarding.
Summary: Great for any serious C++ user
Rating: 5
If you have been using C++ for a while now, and you REALLY want to know what is going on under the hood, read this book - and gain and again until you have memorized it. As a software architect, I use this book almost on a daily basis - most of the time to prove my case and to show what is really going on behind my design decisions.
The benchmarks are useful as they really show you what the difference between C, C++ is with various compilers. I have referred to those benchmarks more times than I can remember.
Summary: Amazing book on the internals of C++
Rating: 5
If you a series C++ programmer, you need this book. It's one level of abtraction above knowing how compilers work, and one level of abstraction below any advanced C++ book. It tells you what the compiler generates, and how much will is cost. Speed comparisons, and all. Object models of Inheritance, multiple inheritance, virtual inheritance, and the underlaying structure of how these things work. Great C++ book...
