| | |  | Software Engineering | Home » » » Engineering Problem Solving with C++ (2nd Edition) | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | |  This is a clear, concise introduction to problem solving and the C++ programming language. The authors’ proven five-step problem solving methodology is presented and then incorporated in every chapter of the text. Uses outstanding engineering and scientific applications throughout; all applications are centered around the theme of engineering challenges in the 21st century. Includes major revisions to bring the material up to date, such as new coverage of file streams, includinga discussion of the stream class hierarchy and a discussion of stream state flags; numerous new tables and programming examples aid in error checking. A useful reference for engineers at national labs who want to make the transition from C to C++. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Delores M. Etter | | Paperback:
| 576 pages | | Publisher:
| Prentice Hall | | Publication Date:
| January 10, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0136011756 | | Product Length:
| 9.05 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.46 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.18 inches | | Product Weight:
| 2.07 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.05 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 7 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 7 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 general purpose skillsFeb 02, 2009
By W Boudville
To motivate you, the book starts with a lovely set of colour plates depicting various important problems that need massive computational power. Like predicting weather and climate, text to speech, voice recognition and space exploration. Indeed, the first examples, about weather, also grace the book's cover.
But the narrative quickly leaves behind the splendour of the plates. The usages of C++ are for raw computational applications. There is no implementation of a GUI. The user interface, to the extent that it exists, is confined to text: stdin, stdout, stderr. What the book tells you in part is that optimising number crunching is a different kettle of fish from writing glitzy GUI applications. Nowadays, many computer books seem to focus on the latter. In this sense, the book is a throwback to texts written before 1990. The need for a book like this has never gone away and it is good that the authors provide us with a fresh reminder.
The book lightly touches on various algorithms. For example, Newton Raphson for root finding, and Gaussian solutions of matrix equations. Mostly, you get an introduction to the capabilities of C++ for attacking problems.
I would recommend section 3.1 on algorithm development as the most important part of the book. It describes how to do top down design of a program. How to decompose a problem into smaller parts, making it easier to attack each part. The use and refinement of pseudocode is illustrated. A closely related task. These are vital general purpose skills for the professional programmer, that you should cultivate.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 LackingJul 18, 2011
By E. D. Antmann
As an introduction, I used this text during a 100-level introductory course to engineering computing and computer programming. However, I have extensive experience with computer programming and application development outside of this course, and am evaluating this text from that perspective.
The text begins with a vague introductory chapter that provides a brief history lesson on computing, hardware architecture, and numerical representation. This chapter does little for the remainder of the book, and basically uses a lot of words to convey little useful information. The following chapters proceed to give readers a brief introduction to various programming structures for decisions, classes, lists, inputs and outputs, and etc. However, the dramatic shortcoming of this text is that, despite its title, it provides very little instruction on how to use computer programming to actually develop useful applications. Every single exercise included in this text could more easily be executed with Microsoft Excel or some other simple and widespread program. In the rest of my programming education, before and since, the focus has been using the languages to develop applications that actually make practical tasks easier, rather than just for the sake of making programs.
Furthermore, the text provides no support for learning a development environment and/or compiler, leaving that task to the instructor. This shortchanges students dramatically, as the development environment is a crucial component in the modern programming world. To add insult to injury, the programs and exercises that are provided are so wrought with mistakes that they are frustrating and sometimes counterproductive to novices.
Hence, I would not recommend this text to anybody who is actually interested in developing a functional command of C++.
As an aside, my professor largely agreed with these views: he was compelled to specify this text by the school.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Wonderfully ClearJun 12, 2010
By K.
"Engineering Student"
This book is great! I used it in a college class, and very quickly picked up on the language of C++ thanks to this book and a great teacher.
The only thing that could be improved is the inclusion of a few more challenging exercises.
Nevertheless, this is a brilliant introduction to the uses of C++ for engineers.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Good for the class I tookSep 17, 2010
By John
We mostly just used this book for the homework problems, but overall, it provided good help when needed and is still a good reference every now and again.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
waste of moneyJan 23, 2012
By M. Watson
Thankfully had we had a old book on C++. This was required for a college level course. What was explained was in very simple terms, or was not at all. Very little commands were shown in syntax. Which is fine early on, but with more complex commands it made for difficult learning.
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