'Solutions guide' to C programming

C++PROGRAMMING BLACK BOOK: Steven Holzner; DreamTech Press, 19-A, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. E.Mail: idgbooks@vsnl.com Rs. 399.

ENGINEERING COLLEGE students know that the fastest way to master abstruse subjects is to acquire a ``solutions guide'': There is nothing quite like looking through a hundred ``solved'' problems to give you the confidence to attack the 101st on your own. Traditional teachers frown at these ``shortcuts'' - but that is how one passes examinations.

This splendidly practical philosophy is behind the present book, a formidable collection of nearly 500 ready-to-run programmes, divided into 17 chapters which cover the traditional academic course: arrays, strings, loops, memory management, run-time information, input and output streams - and a full illustration of the standard template library. The book is a 2001 Indian reprint of a recent American title.

Usefully, each set of dozen or so programmes is preceded by a formal treatment of the topic. Another sensible add-on is a CD containing the coding of all the programmes - which will enable the student to quickly try them out, or even to cut and paste some coding into his or her own programmes. A standard ANSI or ISO compatible C++ compiler will be required to run the programmes since even a demo version is not provided. The CD alone is worth the price of this useful book. ``Black Book''? Make that black magic!

ANAND PARTHASARATHY

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