Preface >

W Amazon elcome to Practical Programming in C++! I am Michael, the author of the book "Finite Programming in C++". This book is about how to program efficiently in C++, but its programming concepts can apply to any programming language!

On this website you can find the contents of the book with up-to-date information in the software world.

When I was about to graduate from the University of Santa Barbara with a bachelor degree in computer science, I began to wonder what I could do for newcomers in this discipline. As a software engineer, I feel an urgent need for them to be aware of the traps and obstacles that I experienced before so that hopefully they could avoid them.

I did not feel this exigency until a friend of mine had to write a program involving advanced data structures in a class he took. That program drained more than twenty hours of his time, and worse, he did not get it done on time. Anyone can imagine how frustrated and anxious he was - frustrated at his deficiency in programming and anxious to have it work.

What I got out of this experience is that the time one puts in writing a program is definitely not proportional to the finished portion of the program. This fact implies that writing the same program, one person may get it done within two hours and another may have to spend more than ten hours. I realized that programming is not something time can solve; skills and experience play a much bigger role.

With years of experience in programming, I decided to write a book that hopefully would benefit newcomers in this field. I have devised a programming model that has helped me finish each and every programming assignment on time, and if it works for me, it works for you.

I always do more than I am asked to because I know from the bottom of my heart that only by doing more can one improve faster. The stuff I will be discussing with you guys comes from years of experience in programming and any programmer will possibly, if not definitely, benefit from it.

This book is intended for intermediate C++ programmers because you need to be familiar with general terminology and concepts of programming. The ultimate goal is that after reading this book you will be able to program efficiently and with finite amount of effort and finite amount of time.
Without further ado let's get started! Preface >