This book is designed to be a textbook and reference for programming in the C++ language. Although it does include programming techniques, it is organized around the features of the C++ language, rather than any particular curriculum of techniques. The main audience I had in mind is undergraduate students who had not had extensive programming experience with the C++ language. As such, this book is a suitable C++ text or reference for a wide range of users. The introductory chapters are written at a level that is accessible to beginners, while the boxed sections of those chapters serve to introduce more experienced programmers to basic C++ syntax. Later chapters are also understandable to beginners, but are written at a level suitable for students who have progressed to these more advanced topics. Absolute C++ is also suitable for anyone learning the C++ language on their own. (For those who want a textbook with more pedagogical material and more on very basic programming technique, try my text Problem Solving with C++ , Eighth Edition, Pearson Education.)

The C++ coverage in this book goes well beyond what a beginner needs to know. In particular, it has extensive coverage of inheritance, polymorphism, exception handling, and the Standard Template Library (STL), as well as basic coverage of patterns and the unified modeling language (UML).