As someone who knows both C++ and Java fairly well, this reviewer, when he first saw this title, braced for a fairly nit-picky side-by-side coverage of the basic syntax and language element features of C++ and Java. Was he pleasantly surprised! Instead, Kak (Purdue Univ.) has created a wonderful volume that surveys the most important of programming goals and capabilities and describes how the facilities of each language allow one to achieve those goals. In several cases, the author reached to describe de facto C++ libraries to show how to do things in C++ that can be done in Java using Java's standard facilities. For example, in the section comparing GUI (graphical user interface) interaction capabilities, the author describes, in more-than-expected detailed examples, how to use GTK+ and Qt. Even if one knows Java and C++, or perhaps especially if one does not know Java and C++, this book is a very worthwhile read. Readers are sure to learn something about each language from this comparison.
Summing Up: Essential.
General readers; upper-division undergraduate and graduate students; professionals.
Copyright 2003 American Library Association
This review was first posted at http://www.booksmatter.com/b0471268526.htm