C++ for C# Developers with "C++ Succinctly"

Today's topic comes via a suggestion via Andy Dunn. I've been following and blogging about these eBooks on my personal blog, but this one I skipped. I mean, I wasn't a C++ dev, and so why would I care about a C++ book? sigh... Sometimes I hate being stupid.

When Andy's email came in I took another look at this book and quickly realized what a mistake I'd made in ignoring it. Why? Well if you're like me you've been seeing a good deal of C++ chatter coming out of Microsoft (and I admit, this blog too).

So what's a C# dev to do in this C++ resurgence? For starters get this free, (reg-ware) eBook!

C++ Succinctly now available!

Over the summer I worked with SyncFusion to create an eBook based off of my C# to C++ guide for their free Succinctly Series of eBooks. Today the result, C++ Succinctly, was published for download. It is a free (registration required; they make tools and libraries for .NET development so you might get an occasional email from them – I’ve been signed up for a few months and have had maybe 3 emails total so it’s not horrible super spam or anything ) and you can download it as a PDF or a Kindle .MOBI file (or both).

I’m excited with how it turned out and enjoyed working with the people at SyncFusion. The book contains a total of 20 code samples, which you can download from BitBucket (there’s a link very early in the book). Almost all of the code is also inline in the book itself so that you don’t need to worry about flipping back and forth between your dev machine and your eReader (but if you want to try to understand a concept better, you can easily download the code, open it up in VS 2012, and play around with it to see what happens when you tinker with things).

The code does require Visual Studio 2012 because of its expanded support for C++11 features and since I wrote all of the samples as Console programs for clarity and compactness, you will need a version that supports C++ desktop development (currently VS 2012 Pro, Premium, or Ultimate). Sometime this Fall, Microsoft will be releasing Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Desktop which should provide a free way to use the samples.

That said, I tested all of the samples with MinGW and only the StorageDurationSample will not compile with it due to the thread-local storage code...

C++ Succinctly

C++ for C# Developers.

C++ Succinctly was written to help professional C# developers learn modern C++ programming. The aim of this book is to leverage your existing C# knowledge in order to expand your skills. Whether you need to use C++ in an upcoming project, or simply want to learn a new language (or reacquaint yourself with it), this book will help you learn all of the fundamental pieces of C++ so you can begin writing your own C++ programs.

Table of Contents

1. Types
2. Namespaces
3. Functions and Classes
4. Storage Duration
5. Constructors, Destructors, and Operators
6. Resource Acquisition is Initialization
7. Pointers, References, and Const-Correctness
8. Casting in C++
9. Strings
10. C++ Language Usages and Idioms
11. Templates
12. Lambda Expressions
13. C++ Standard Library
14. Visual Studio and C++

As you can kind of see in this snap of the page thumbnails, this isn't some kind marketing brochure.

123 pages of help for the C# dev in what looks like could be a new C++ world...

While you're there you HAVE to check out the other awesome Succinctly books SyncFusion is offering. Head over to their Technology Resource Portal and get your Succinctly fix fixed!

Here's the Succinctly list as it stands today;

• Knockout.js Succinctly
• C++ Succinctly
• ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Websites Succinctly
• LightSwitch Succinctly
• JavaScript Succinctly
• HTTP Succinctly
• PDF Succinctly
• Git Succinctly
• jQuery Succinctly

That should be enough to keep you busy for a few days at least.