Programming with the C++ Standard Library can certainly be difficult, but Nicolai Josuttis's The C++ Standard Library provides one of the best available guides to using the built-in features of C++ effectively.

The C++ Standard Library provides plenty of default functionality in the form of the Standard Template Library (STL) for containers (like vectors and linked lists), as well as generic algorithms (which allow you to sort, search, and manipulate elements inside containers). The best thing about The C++ Standard Library is that it gives the reader a concise guide to working with these basic containers (from lists to sets and maps, with everything in between). Each container type is explained along with short code excerpts. Moreover, in a reference section, the author explores the connections between each container type, showing how they share similar methods. (Learn just a few methods and you can pretty much work with them all.)

Three good reasons to learn C++: It's available for DOS, Windows, OS/2, Mac OS, and nearly every other operating system out there, making it one of the most portable languages around. C++ is very powerful. It's used to create products such as Excel and Access, and it's used in MIS departments and consultants to create mission critical applications for business and government. And, it's one of the most popular languages in the world. But, before you master C++, you need to get a handle on Visual C++, a set of powerful development tools for writing C++ programs.

Visual C++ For Dummies is your complete guide to the Visual C++ environment and C++ programming. It gets you up and running with the code, confidence and cunning you need to start programming powerful utilities, cool games, or multimedia masterpieces.