I'm a java programmer trying to learn C++, and I've come across a lot of little differences. The book I'm reading defines these differences as vendor specific. Like the size of short, int, and long are explicitly, 16 bit, 32 bit, and 64 bit in Java, yet in C++ it is not necessarily the case. Java follows these strict rules nicely because they are the only vendor of the language specification, and other companies selling an ide with java in it is merely licensed from Sun. My question is, is there a vendor specific form of C++, one that the masses use. My father uses Borland and Visual C++, but I'm just using the libraries that came with linux.

No I don't believe there is, and this is one of the big problems with C++. There are too many different offshoots created with no standard library. Borland C++, Visual C++, et al, have all "added" something of their own.