Amazon.com (ISBN 0672315157, Paperback)

With Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, author Jesse Liberty presents a rapid and well-organized program for getting up to speed in C++ programming. By making the seemingly complex world of C++ digestible in daily doses, Liberty delivers a tutorial that keeps you motivated and yields serious results.

This book uses a chapter-a-day approach, with the course outline clearly presented inside the front cover so you'll know exactly where you're headed. Unlike many C++ tutorials, this book doesn't put you to sleep early on with object-oriented programming (OOP) theory. Instead, it quickly makes you productive with the basics of the C++ language and then reinforces your new knowledge with OOP as you move through the teaching program.

The first week introduces you to the fundamentals: the anatomy of a C++ program, variables, expressions, functions, program flow, and the basics of classes. Week two introduces some of the more sophisticated elements of the language such as pointers, arrays, and function overloading in a clear and effective manner. The final week concludes your crash course with advanced topics: streams, advanced inheritance, the C++ pre-processor, templates, and error handling. One day is also devoted strictly to object-oriented analysis and design. Each chapter finishes with a daily summary, a Q&A section, a quiz, and a series of excellent coding exercises.

This tutorial, which is designed to teach you to write industry standard ANSI C++ code, requires no previous programming expertise. If you want to get serious with C++ in a hurry, this book is an excellent way to go.