API Design for C++

by Martin Reddy, B.D. Cullity, S.R. Stock

Designed for Junior/Senior undergraduate courses.This revision of a classical text is intended to acquaint the reader, who has no prior knowledge of the subject, with the theory of x-ray diffraction, the experimental methods involved, and the main applications. The text is a collection of principles and methods designed directly for the student and not a reference tool for the advanced reader.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Software, Computers, Technology, Nonfiction

654 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[gargamelscat · Rating 3 out of 5]

5/10

I learned almost nothing from this, maybe the inevitable consequence of spending so much of my life at this game. You just can never tell until you've been through it.

A useful compendium of best practices for any novice though. Succinct, well organised and competently written. But oh how I wish for something of the quality of a Jon Bentley or a Herb Sutter.

[Ondrej Sykora · Rating 4 out of 5]

In practice, this is more a book of good development practices, a bit like Code Complete, but more concise and slightly directed towards public API development.

I didn't learn anything new, but it's a nice compilation and might be worth for beginners.

[Claudiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read this book cover to cover as I was already familiar with some of the concepts, like the design patterns.
But being primarily a developer for C APIs, I found this book immensely useful when given the task to design a C++ API. Accidentally breaking backward compatibility is probably the biggest nightmare of any SDK developer, and this book extensively covers what you need to do to avoid it.
I didn't know the ABI compatibility is so fragile in C++, and I'm sure the book has saved me a lot of headaches. After reading it I really understand why some people choose to expose their API in C even though what's underneath is full C++.

[Steven Smethurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good language specific book in API and class interface design

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of good ideas in this book, though I feel the author is more mistrusting of the users of his APIs than I tend to be.

[Minh Bui · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book discussed many topics in programming in general and C++.

[Paulo Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really easy read. Nothing complicated, just good advices. Most of them things that I've been implementing, or already knew. But it's always interesting to reinforce our knowledge. I feel it's a book that all software engineers should read. The world would be a better place if they followed the advice herein.

The only thing I would say is arguable is the treatment of copy-on-write (COW). The opinion expressed by this author doesn't consider the arguments given by Sutter in "More Exceptional C++" item 16. The dangers of COW in multi-threaded environments.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing unique, new or particularly advanced But it's nice to have all this material in one source.

[Frederic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good resource for beginners, but I learned almost nothing.

[Shubham Kumar gautam]

good

[Dmitry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to check C++ related knowledge coverage, to spot a gaps.

[Oleg Sych · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great first few chapters with practical advice on C++ API design; rest of the book devolved into high-level rehash of other works, a lot of it out of date.

[Drexler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any C++ programmer. It basically ensures that the stuff one's suppose to be aware of and know in-depth are still in the attic of the mind. It's definitely one for the shelf.

[Ayush Tomar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and easy to read. Beginners can learn a lot from this book.