Welcome to the Big C++/Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials FAQ!


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Question: What is the difference between Big C++ and Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials?

Answer:

Question: What are the differences between the second and third edition of Computing Concepts with C++ Essentials?

Answer:

Question: How can I get the solutions to the exercises?

Answer: If you are an instructor, please visit http://www.wiley.com/college/horstmann and select "Instructor Resources". You will need to fill out a form and obtain a password to see the solutions to all exercises. 

Question: Which compiler should I use?

Answer: The following compilers should work:

The following compilers will definitely not work:

Question: Why do I get an error message: "std does not exist or is not a namespace"? 

Answer: Your compiler (Microsoft Visual C++ 6) does not conform to the C++ standard. A remedy is to add a line

namespace std {}

above the using namespace std; directive.

Question: Why do I get an error message: "redefinition: multiple initialization" when I have two separate for loops with the same index variable? 

Answer: Your compiler (Microsoft Visual C++ 6) does not conform to the C++ standard. A remedy is to rename the index variable in the second loop.

Question: Why do I get an error message: "max undefined" even though I include the <algorithm> header?

Answer: Your compiler (Microsoft Visual C++ 6 or g++ 2.9x) does not conform to the C++ standard. A remedy is to add the line

double max(double x, double y) { if (x > y) return x; else return y; }

Question: Why do the matrix1.cpp and matrix2.cpp programs not compile?

Answer: Your compiler (Microsoft Visual C++) does not conform to the C++ standard. A remedy is to replace

   static const int ROWS = 3;
   static const int COLUMNS = 3;

with

   enum { ROWS = 3, COLUMNS = 3 };

Question: Why do I get an error message: "no sstream header"?

Answer: Your compiler (g++ 2.9x) does not conform to the C++ standard. A remedy is to change

#include <sstream>

. . .

istringstream instr(s);

. . .

ostringstream outstr;

. . .

s = outstr.str();

to

#include <strstream>

. . .

istrstream instr(s.c_str())

. . .

ostrstream outstr;

. . .

s = string(outstr.str());

Question: Why do I get an error message: "fixed undefined" even though I include the <iomanip> header?

Answer: Your compiler (g++ 2.9x) does not conform to the C++ standard. A remedy is to replace fixed with setiosflags(ios::fixed)

Question: Why don't you use the M_PI constant from the <cmath> header?

Answer: It is not a part of the ISO standard, and some compilers don't define it. If you find it implausible that the standard doesn't define it, you can purchase an official copy or check out an inofficial working draft.

Question: Why do you teach doubly-linked lists in the chapter on data structures? Aren't singly linked lists easier?

Answer: (1) STL uses doubly-linked lists. (2) It is actually easier to implement insertion and deletion in a doubly-linked list.

Question: Why doesn't the book teach more about char* strings? Doesn't every C++ programmer need to know them?

Answer: This is a book about computing concepts, not about C++. Strings are a concept. ANSI C++ supports two implementations of strings: the string class and char* pointers. There is no doubt that many C++ programmers will need to learn both implementations, but I do not believe they should learn all details of both of them in their first programming course. The string class is safe and convenient. Students master it quickly and can move on to learning more computing concepts.

Question: My compiler doesn't support #include <iostream> and using namespace std. What is happening?

Answer: The <iostream> header and the std namespace were introduced in 1996 and approved in the international standard in 1998. If your compiler does not support these constructs, you will need to upgrade your compiler. g++, Borland C++ 5.5 and Microsoft Visual C++ 6 are reasonably standard compliant. 

Question: What platforms does the CCC graphics library support?

Answer: Here is a list of currently supported platforms.

Question: I'd like to display color, but all your shapes show up in black only.

Answer: The CCC graphics library has been purposefully kept simple so that students don't fritter away endless time with color and fancy fonts. Use wxWidgets if you want fancier graphics

Question: Why do you call an accessors get_seconds() instead of just seconds()?

Answer: There are many different schemes to name accessors, mutators and data fields. The C++ library uses overloaded pairsseconds() and seconds(int) for accessors and mutators, which I think is a bit too confusing. I felt the get/set terminology makes it really clear that the accessor is a function call. And, of course, that is the convention used in Java.

Question: Why do you use all those underscores in function names? What is wrong with mixed case?

Answer: The standard C++ library uses no uppercase letters at all, and it uses underscores to make names more readable (bad_cast, push_back). There is nothing wrong with mixed case (getSeconds, readInt); I just wanted to be consistent.