Programmer Musings

Review of Exceptional C++

Exceptional C++
Herb Sutter
Addison-Wesley, 2000

I had been working with the C++ programming language for a number of years before I read this book and I thought I knew the language.

This book provides 47 problems with included solutions. Trying to solve the problems is very important. Each one tests an area of C++ that some people find unclear. In some cases, I didn't realize that I was unclear on the topic until I solved the problem and finished reading the explanation. These problems will stretch your C++ skills and solidify your understanding of the language.

The second section of the book covers exception safety. In some ways, this may be the most important part of the book. Sutter really does a great job of converting gut-level intuition about exceptions into logical, useful knowledge. In this section, he covers different levels of exception safety and what each level guarantees. He then uses these levels and their guarantees to analyze and construct exception-safe code.

In addition to explaining why some things that work actually work, this book did a great job of showing when and where other good ideas will blow up in your face.

Exceptionally highly recommended.