Object Mentor Blog: Is it worth killing trees over another C++ Book?

Is it worth killing trees over another C++ Book?

Brett Schuchert — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:17:00 -0500

I’ve taught a few C++ courses recently to people primarily moving from C to C++. I know C++ has been around for years and it’s not in vogue like it was 15 years ago. I stopped using it full time in 1997. Even so, there’s been quite a bit of work on the library and language standard. And there are still a lot of places developing new systems with C++. I know some people are still be learning C++ in school.

In my most recent classes, I’ve been teaching students who have recently taken a class on OO A & D based on the work of Craig Larman. The C++ class attempts to follow that class by dovetailing into what it covers. Because of this, I did not use ObjectMentors’ standard C++ and OOD class. Good as it is, it has different starting assumptions. I instead wrote a class, using two problems as the entire basis of all the material I cover. I know, “not build here syndrom.” It pained me to do this, I did my research and I considered retro-fitting the OM course. The discrepancy was too large to consider reuse. And refactoring the existing class to accomodate changes, which I also considered, wasn’t practical. Looking back I made the right decision.

So this course has a few key design elements:

Problem focused
Test oriented (sometimes test-first, other times test-driven, occasionally refactor-oriented)

The problem-focus limits the topic coverage. If something about the language doesn’t come up somewhat naturally (not contrived) in the two projects I use, I don’t cover the material. For example, I don’t mention placement new, I only cover Multiple Inheritance if asked about it. I also try to focus on classes in the standard library. For example, std::array, std::vector, std::map, std::shared_ptr.

Additionally, there’s an early focus on testing. That’s another thing that’s different from how I taught C++ say before 1995 – I really didn’t teach it from 1995 – 2007, so no comments on what I might have done differently in that span of years.

To give you an idea of how early the focus is on test, I only show cout if asked. The first main() calls CommandLineTestRunner::RunAllTests and everything after that runs within a unit test. the last time I taught the class, I demonstrated tests executing with cslim, but still, a test focus.

I have them use unit tests as a way to experiment with the language. In one example, I have them write tests that force a method to become virtual that was not virtual before. In another case, I do the same thing with a virtual destructor. I have them test from raw pointers into shared_ptr and then update their code accordingly.

Because of the test focus, I make certain recommendations that impact overall class design. That means learning C++ with designs supporting testability early on. In C++ this means (among other things):

Dependency Injection (OK, this is not just C++)
Virtual functions and by corollary a virtual destructor
Storing pointers because 1. calling methods through an auto object are not virtually dispatched, and 2. you cannot put references in the standard collections
Use std::shared_ptr to avoid memory leaks, which are detected by the unit testing tool I have them use.

I take the class to a certain level, but I make it clear I’m just scratching the surface. I believe it’s not really possible to learn C++ in a 1-week class. You can get the beginnings of proficiency and be in a good position to continue learning – that’s an assumption I state up front after the students have had their first exercise – about 5 minutes into the start of the class. I try to only go into detail as the students ask questions, but at times I just want to really open up the beast and get into what’s really happening.

To address this, I’ve started novelizing the class I’ve been teaching. I’m following the same outline as the class, but I dive under the surface and at times get to quite a bit of detail that I would not typically get into in a 4.5 day class.

I know this material will augment the class. This will give my students three sources of information:

The class itself, which is exercise-driven
Online videos
A novelization of the class, going into much more detail

The thing I’m wondering is, would the book be worth making more generally available? I’m writing it so that it can stand on its own. There’s a certain advantage to knowing my students have taken the previous OO A & D class I mentioned because it uses a problem that I’ve used on and off since 1992. This allows me to give examples from a problem they have looked at in the past and then at the current problem. I’ve not yet made references to that problem in the book I’m writing. I could, I just have not done so yet – it’s more natural in the second problem and I’m still working on the first problem (and therefor the first half of the book). I’m certain I can make those references without the previous class experience. (It’s the Monopoly problem.)

In any case, I need to do some research. If I do start the publishing process, a key step involves competitive research. Can you recommend any books published for the first time this century (really in the past 7 years) that have any of these characteristics:

Cover a minimal set of C++, enough for decent OO solutions
Have any kind of emphasis on test – at least half the book?
Cover the language strictly through a problem-based approach rather than from a language perspective?
Involve deliberately making mistakes and observing those mistakes to learn how the language works?

Additionally, can you recommend any great C&#43&#43 books? I can list many of the ones I’ve read and enjoyed, but the last time I bought a book for myself on the topic, Amazon did not exist as an online company.

Independent of whether I deal with trying to get this thing published as a printed book, I’m going to finish it because I think it will be useful to my students. I suspect I’ll be teaching this class in the future, so I will find it useful in the future as well. If I don’t attempt publishing it through a major publisher, I’ll put it on my wiki at the very least. Though it’s going to be quite a bit more effort than my typical wiki articles.

But the question I keep coming back to, is this: Is there really a need for this book dead tree version, or it is primarily useful as supplemental material for a class I teach?

I’d like to hear your opinions.

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