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If no one minds too much I would like to get something off my chest and state my least favorite programming text i.e. Stroustrup's C++ Reference. Supposedly it was written in English but I couldn't tell. I wish I still had the copy to quote a particular paragraph I have in mind which I found particularly indecipherable but in general my complaints are he speaks at length about a particular topic but does not inform the reader what that topic is until late in the paragraph and does so in a vague abstract manner which leaves my head spinning as I am dumbfounded by both the vague manner and as yet undisclosed vague topic. It's only computer programming not the mysteries of the cosmos as revealed by advanced science and mathematics. It shouldn't be that hard to learn to print "Hello World" onto the screen. Thanks for tolerating my diatribe Best Wishes Cheerios
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PaltryProgrammer wrote: Thanks for tolerating my diatribe
No problem.
(I "bleep"ed over the boring bits)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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PaltryProgrammer wrote: speaks at length about a particular topic but does not inform the reader what that topic is until late in the paragraph and does so in a vague abstract manner
Sounds like my wife wrote it.
Be glad that he didn't adapt another of her techniques - changing the subject without letting me in on it until the story's half told (possible because of the first technique, above).
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Wonder if that's universal?
I guess me zoning out, when I haven't got a clue who or what she talks about at the moment, doesn't help either.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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Alas (?), I don't zone out.
Maybe it's one of those things that enable a 45+ year marriage that keeps it going - I haven't stopped listening.
Some might consider that a masochistic streak.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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An anonymous email with a link to this post has just been sent to your wife. 
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Yes ... she starts in on "that thing" ... and you have to guess what that thing is.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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I get that from my wife, but she's got it worse. She has to put up with me! 
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
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*hands you a modestly sized copy of Accelerated C++ that's written in plain English*
Real programmers use butterflies
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PaltryProgrammer wrote: I wish I still had the copy to quote a particular paragraph I have in mind which I found particularly indecipherable but in general my complaints are he speaks at length about a particular topic but does not inform the reader what that topic is until late in the paragraph and does so in a vague abstract manner which leaves my head spinning as I am dumbfounded by both the vague manner and as yet undisclosed vague topic.
I'm pretty sure I have that book somewhere (or something from Stroustrup), but I don't recall him using run-on sentences with no punctuation.
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That was exactly my thought too!
Cheers,
विक्रम
"We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread 
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PaltryProgrammer wrote: my least favorite programming text i.e. Stroustrup's C++ Reference
Really? I loved that book! It was my reference for years.
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The one that says: "And all the samples are copyright and you can't use them in your own program."
(A couple of 2D and 3D WPF Graphics books by the same author)
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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My least favorite programming book is
Learn C++ in X days, where even after 21 days, classes were very briefly told, and pointers were not mentioned. This was sometime in 1994 / 1995. Not sure what number X was.
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the dragon book. it is a good book, but hard to finish all pages...
diligent hands rule....
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I never read any of his book but there are quite a handful on Amazon with relative good reviews for each.
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I've never read any book on C++ that made a bit of sense, but the worst ever was the Microsoft MFC manual - all three volumes of it. 
Will Rogers never met me.
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Open the Pod bay doors please, HAL ...
modified 27-Oct-20 13:52pm.
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RedDk wrote: Open the Pod bay doors please, HAL ...
Years ago, I read a book which I believe was called "VAX/VMS Internals". Each chapter started with a quote. This was the quote for the chapter on device drivers.
Note: This wasn't my least favorite programming book, I actually enjoyed reading it.
modified 12-Nov-20 9:47am.
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Reference, yes ... I had this interesting C/C++ book called "Jamsa's C/C++ Programmer's Bible" (The Ultimate Guide to C/C++ Programming) ... "Klander&Jamsa" as the professor says when he want's you do some reading ... the only problem was that it is apparently a computer compilation of some sort where the organization of text of the 2"-thick hardcopy is laced with graphic inclusions like flags and icon representations; all the printed pages have background graphic image banners (of god-knows what origin symbolically). Ultimately, while making simple distinctions between C and C++ ... this was 1998 mind you ... comprehensible, the repeated jargonization of the "message" lead the reader into quickly abandoning it's use except for repeated lookup of terms.
It became for me hardcopy where I'd go to find something in short explanation when Barne became too convoluted to understand or his examples, like his calculator, seemed too broad in scope. Like the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 volume (6x) only condensed into the one doorstop.
Obviously written by a HAL 9000 ...
[o]
modified 28-Oct-20 14:36pm.
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In addition to Stroustrup's C++ reference I'd also go with K&R C Programming language as a 100% useless book.
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Why ?
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I loved both of those at the time, but that was very long ago. K&R was my intro to C in about 1985/6 and Stroustrup followed as soon as I could get hold of it, having started C++ in 1986 with the Glockenspiel C++ translator (Cfront 1.1).
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Couldn't disagree more. But then, I learned C with K&R's ANSI edition in 1990, did every exercise in the book, came out with excellent grasp of C. Maybe you came to the game later than that, when K&R really wouldn't apply anymore. But I thought it was good.
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