I agree with this completely :)

I would also like to add that it helps to read "The Design and Evolution of C++".

I found that I plateaued early in my C++ journey. However, I was always reading from the experts and it really helped to read material from Dr. Stroustrup. Once I began to see the common thread behind what he was saying and understood why some things were the way they were, it helped understand when it's a good time to use/not-use certain things. This helped break past that barrier and to improve my skill further.

Also, it helped to write a _lot_ of c++ code and think about how that could be better.

I'm afraid I didn't read a tonne of good C++ code in that period but somehow, I managed to keep growing and at some point, it became my "go to" language and I really started to like it.

Long story, short: Read books from the experts, esp. Dr. Stroustrup.

> I would also like to add that it helps to read "The Design and Evolution of C++".

I think that book is worth reading even to people who have no intention of going anywhere near C++, as long as they are interested in programming language design and evolution. I wish there were more books like this one to explain the kind of thinking that went into the design of a language and to tell its history.

Agreed.

I had commented on the book on HN about a month ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16275341

Excerpt from it:

"I found that book very interesting in many regards. I had bought and read it several years ago (out of interest, though I have not worked on C++ professionally).

Stroustrup goes into a lot of details about the reasons for many design decisions in the language."

That's one of the reasons that make the book interesting. He even goes into human and cultural aspects of programming.

Agreed on D&E, but I think it really does need an update now.

I would love a book similar to C# In Depth but for C++. The book takes you on an evolutionary tour of C#s features, version-by-version. One of my favorite programming books of all time and a good read even for someone who doesn't program in C#.

I have been using C# at work for a little while now, and I am starting to like it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Yes, it is quite some years since it was written.

I'd add the CppCoreGuidelines to the list: https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/CppC...

It's a lot of the content in the above but crowdsourced, open for PRs, searchable, and readable from the browser.

Abseil C++ Tips of the Week are also really good: https://abseil.io/tips/

Are these tips mostly "Google-style" C++?

As for "Stop Teaching C" video one should also consider this book https://www.amazon.com/Accelerated-C-Practical-Programming-E... Alas, it is c++03. On the other hand it's relatively thin and it begins with the standard library (std::vectors, std::sort, std::string) from the first chapters. So I guess it was the first good book that didn't begin with C language from the start.

Good to see that three decades later, C++ still has a massive inferiority complex about its older brother, C.

It is not an inferiority complex, rather to stop people learning about writing bad code, open to security exploits by default, something that C is pretty good at.

I'd like to recommend Jean Parents talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGcVXgEVMJg&list=PLiWEEi8ezR...

They are truly great.

Sean Parent, that is.

Would not recommend Principles and Practice Using C++, it is a fluff loaded book seemingly made to sell to university students.

I think it's a great introduction to Programming, but if you already know some other language, it tends to be verbose - but Stroustrup always tends to be verbose. I, for one, really like his style.

I used to like Bjarne's style when I was just starting, but nowadays it seems way too verbose. Even talks, you can "compress" his 1+ hour talks to 15 minutes, lossless :)

Is there a progression to this one might follow?