Reiss's innovative text provides students with the necessary skills to write moderate sized (10,000 to 50,000 line) programs. The book takes the student from a basic to more advanced understanding of object-oriented design and implementation. It details the proper use of inheritance, design notations using a simplified form of OMT to describe designs, the use of object libraries such as STL, creating library classes, and the use of design patterns. Reiss also discusses advanced language and programming features such as exception handling, inter-process communication, and debugging tools and techniques.