Dale (U. of Texas-Austin) and Weems (U. of Massachusetts-Amherst) update their textbook for a beginning course in computer science, and shorten it to cover only what instructors and students are able to cover in a single term. In addition to changing some type styles and rearranging some material, they have added chapters on pointers and reference types and C strings plus dynamic allocation and de-allocation of memory. Other topics include C++ syntax and semantics and the program development process, program input and the software design process, looping, functions, classes and abstraction, and recursion. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)