The book contains one chapter for each of the 15 .h files that make up the ANSI and ISO standard C library. However, it is extremely annoying that the chapters themselves are arranged in strictly alphabetical order. While the interdependencies of the 15 facilities that make up the C standard library probably make any ordering somewhat arbitrary, it seems absurd that, for instance, and are not treated together, and that the book begins with rather than with, say, . This is my only complaint about this otherwise superb book. It is interesting to consider what isn't in the C standard library.
Libraries really are the key to the whole business.
Not only is the second edition well written and quite readable by the average C programmer, but it covers many topics of wide interest. This includes such topics as the development cycle, management, reuse, hybrid design, components, and the design of libraries. Throughout, Stroustrup is concerned with making the right compromises between conflicting goals. Proper exception handling is required by anyone building or using industrial-strength libraries. Templates allow very generic facilities, such as linked lists or sort procedures, to be defined without being tied down to a specific class.