This new book scopes itself to comprehensively cover the basics of C++ for both experienced and inexperienced programmers.
As such, the book has many callouts and details in each chapter that many readers can productively skip, or leave until later re-reading. The added callouts and details do provide additional depth on later reflection on a topic.
While the book is one of the first comprehensive textbooks to include significant information on the C++ standard template library, it does so in Chapter 20, and builds all of its own data structures earlier on.
The book appears to suffer less from the kind of errors that plagued previous editions. Material is covered with elementary examples that accurately illustrate the described features. The book also provides a section of URLs for C++-related resources.
The book comes with a Microsoft Visual C++ Introductory Edition. The disk also contains the source code from the book. This edition of the compiler is satisfactory for the introductory course, though the programs have the annoying habit of bringing up a nag box each time they are run. Students intending to program professionally should take advantage of the great deals on professional compilers at the steeply discounted academic price.
All-in-all, this is an adequate textbook, most useful for learners who focus on repeatable examples, with an unfortunately steep price.