Olivier Langlois's blog

Yes it is outdated as it does not cover the latest features added to the standard. However it does describe in great details the core language and it is still the most detailed book about C++ to my knowledge after the C++ standard document text itself. Even the latest edition of 'The C++ programming language' book does not provide as much details about the language itself.

I have red this book for the first time 4 years ago. What I remember is that, at that time, I got few interesting informations here and there but overall the reading was more tedious than enjoyable. For some reasons, I have reread this book for a second time and perhaps because I could now relate my C++ programming experience with what the book explains, I have found it much more enjoyable to read this time. So my opinion is that to really get the maximum out of this book, you really need intimate knowledge and experience with the C++ programming language. I would not recommend this book for someone that has just started to use C++. Also, you have to know what the book is about. Do not expect to get practical knowledge to improve your C++ skills because you will not get much. The only exception is that this book made me curious about the "intersection" rule from Andrew Koenig about overloaded functions and made me look into the Annotated C++ reference manual to know more about it. This book is more about the C++ history and how and why certain design decisions have been taken about the language. If this is what you are expecting, you will like the book.

I have learned a lot with this book. I would not qualify the book an introduction book because unless you have some background knowledge and practice, you are going to find the last chapters hard to digest. What the book does is to covers the essential principles of COM with great details. This will make the first reading very interesting and it will make you come back from time to time to seek back specific detail.

I want to set the expectations straight. This is not the best Winsock programming book. This book address higher level issues with network programming and it does a very good job at it. It is going to presents the different options for writing a server such as concurrent vs iterative or single thread vs multithread and explains carefully the tradeoff of each option. In my opinion that is the strength and the originality of the book. Another favorite part of the book is the presentation of the complete implementation of a telnet client where the author leads you through all the design and implementation process by explaining you the reasoning behind each decision.

What I did not like about the book is that like the volume 1, too many topics are covered so in many chapters the author barely touch the topic without going in depth into it and I am questioning the value of these chapters as reference.

This is the Windows version but there is also a Linux/Posix Sockets and a BSD sockets versions.

This book goes in depth in how TCP/IP works by showing an actual working TCP/IP stack ANSI C code source. I am a believer that in order to fully understand and effectively use a piece of software, the best way to achieve this goal is to actually study at least once its source code. You will certainly get many insights in how TCP/IP works by reading this book. Unfortunately, for most readers, this will remain a theoretical exercise. I got the opportunity to work with the source code of an embedded TCP/IP stack when I was working at Nortel Networks and actually found a bug with the help of this book. That was at that moment that I truly realized the value of this volume.

This book describe the TCP/IP family protocols. Of course, there is so much to say that in the limited space that a book can offer that I would say that the book presents only a quick overview of the protocols. Fortunately, at the end of each chapter, there are pointers on the relevant RFCs for the discussed topic in that chapter. My next statement is an impression and not a proven fact but by having read the first edition a long time ago, I have the impression that some details have been removed in this edition in favor of a better coverage of more new protocols. That being said, the information contained in the book is extremely accurate and the book is very useful when analyzing the output of a packet sniffer such as WireShark (previously known as Ethereal).

This book is probably the best COM introduction book for C++ programmers. It walks you through the basics such as the IUnknown and the IDispatch interfaces, the different types of COM servers and the threading models. Everything is explained in clear writing style.