Which Stroustrup book should I use?

Posted by Chris Simmons on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Chris Simmons
Published on 2010-03-22T20:04:47Z Indexed on 2010/03/22 20:31 UTC
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I'm a C# programmer that is looking to branch out. I'm bored of writing business software and want to start getting into graphics programming and games/simulators. So I figured, although writing that stuff isn't impossible in managed code, the "right" way to do that would be to look to C++, of course focussing on the language first, then getting into OpenGL or DirectX (or whatever).

Way way back ('98? '99?) I had tried and failed to really grasp Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language. I know that this book is often not recommended for the beginner. Anyway, I picked it back up (in a much more recent printing) and I'm actually getting it and enjoying it. I also have a copy of his textbook, Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++, which, as I understand it, is really geared toward teaching programming, not necessarily C++. I'm certainly not arrogant enough to claim I don't have anything more to learn about programming, data structures, algoriths, etc., however I'm not a novice there either.

So my question is, with the goal of gaining the broader and more real-world-useful understanding of C++ and given my background, on which should I focus? The denser (as I perceive it) TCPPPL or the gentler Programming?

EDIT: I thank everyone for the responses. However, I've got a personal choice here to make between these two books. Granted there are other very good books out there, but I'm already a good length into both of the books I mention and I'd like to finish one. So, can anyone respond on which would be the better and why? Time is not an issue; I'm not looking (at this point) at an "accelerated" read.

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