The Essence of Programming in C++ contains a simple introduction to looping constructs, functions, and arrays, but neglects to discuss the language features that make C++ an object-oriented system. If C++ is your first programming language, then this book might serve as a starting point, but you will have to turn to another manual to learn about classes, inheritance, and hierarchies. (The author states that object-oriented programming is beyond the scope of the manual.) Because of this omission, The Essence of Programming in C++ is indistinguishable from a C programming language manual and is not recommended for someone who already knows C.