Programmer Musings

Review of Exceptional C++ Style

Exceptional C++ Style
Herb Sutter
Addison-Wesley, 2005.

Once again, Herb Sutter provides us with a set of problems that teach important lessons about the C++ programming language. Each problem in the book covers some problem that a C++ programmer might see in a particular program or design. As Sutter solves each problem, he gives insight into the concepts surrounding the problem and the pitfalls that may trip up an unwary programmer.

As usual for one of his Exceptional C++ books, Sutter spends time covering some areas of C++, like exceptions, memory management, and templates, where programmers often have problems. But, unlike many books that teach the syntax of the language, he goes deeper to improve your understanding of how various features work and why. His explanation of exception specifications and why you should not use them is extremely well done. Sutter also explains why the standard streams could be considered a step backward from printf, but that there is hope on the horizon for solutions that support the best of both worlds.

Sutter ends the book with a critique of the std::string class, showing how it could have been better designed based on what we now know of C++. For many programmers, this section alone should be worth the price of the book. The author goes through many of the design tradeoffs with an eye towards simplifying the interface without loss of functionality or efficiency. It is rare that you get a chance to sit with an expert programmer and get him to explain the design of a non-trivial class.

In addition to hard-core technical information, there is a fair amount of style advice and fun examples (how many '+' characters can you write in a row in a legal C++ program). All of which give you more insight into this powerful language. And throughout the whole book, Sutter's interesting humor lightens what could otherwise be a very heavy read.

If you are trying to improve your understanding of C++, this book will explain parts of the language that were never quite clear. Although I would not recommend this book for a novice C++ programmer, I think any intermediate to senior C++ programmer would be well-served by reading it. I plan to recommend it to the C++ programmers I know.