No comments about Basic for the Apple II Programming and Applications.

No comments about Visual Basic 4 Multimedia Adventure Set: The Best Way to Develop 32-Bit Multimedia with Visual Basic 4.

No comments about Applesoft Basic Programming.

4 comments about The Comprehensive Guide to VBScript: The Encyclopedic Reference for VBScript, HTML & ActiveX.

1. *Could* make a pretty handy dictionary, *if* you can ignore the irritating, inaccurate, and uneducated claims and editorials (mostly found in the introduction/tutorial) all based on the premise that HTML is a programming language.
   Examples:
   page xxiii: "What in HTML is called a 'tag' is called a 'structure' or 'function' in other languages."--WRONG. HTML tags are simply *tokens* which the browser *parses* to determine the output.
   page xxvii: "No other computer programming language comes close to HTML's forgiveness. Try submitting [a text document containing only the string] 'A Simple Page' to Basic, Pascal, C, or any other language. None of them will simply display the words. All of them will choke and throw out an error message."--WRONG!! First, there's no such thing as submitting anything to a language. You *can* 'submit' input to a *program* written in a programming language- such as an internet browser- and if that program is *designed* to handle that input, it *will* simply display the words. Otherwise, if the program is *not designed* to handle the input, it *will* choke and spit out an error message.

   It is irritating to have spent money on a developer's reference, written by someone who clearly does not have a grasp of programming *basics*.




2. True some of the wording in the book is a little off, but the Syntax and the depth of explaination regaurding the tags is invalueable. I have yet to find another reference book that explains the syntaxes and how to use them more complete than in this book. I use it as a reference to HTML 3.2 and ActiveX controls constantly



3. I thought the above critic was being a bit too harsh on an author... until I read it myself. Although in the "Who needs this Book?" section it mentions that "...this book can assist anyone from the beginner to the accomplished professional programmer.", I have to disagree and say that a new beginner may be confused by many of the inaccurate and dated statements. For example, I love the one that says (paraphrasing) you shouldn't use the !DOCTYPE statement because only HTML 3.2 browsers can read it anyway. Why would you ever commit such a line to print?? In many cases, this book was outdated before it went to press. It really became a problem after reading completely inaccurate statements, then not knowing weather following statements were accurate or not.

   On the plus side, I liked the way it was indexed. It offered a good reference resource to those that couldn't quite remember the exact syntax, but already knew what the functions did. I noticed that the "Comprehensive Guide to VBScript" might have been comprehensive THEN, but it's missing a lot TODAY.

   I could have probably got the same info online somewhere though, but I always like to have a hard copy handy. This one, however, made me feel like even I could be an author of a VBscript book. And that's not saying much.




4. The book is pretty much okay except that it lacks an index. This makes using it as a reference sometimes difficult. If you know exactly what things are called you can look them up in the alphabetical listing. Otherwise, you are kind of screwed.

No comments about Maximizing Windows 98.

No comments about Microcomputer Systems and Apple Basic.

No comments about Computer Mathematics With Basic Programming.

5 comments about MCSD Visual C++ 6 Distributed Exam Cram (Exam: 70-015).

1. I used this book as my main source in preparing for exam 70-15, and succesfully passed on my first attempt. I had only two issues with this book: It does not cover MTS in enough detail, and the index is not nearly detailed enough. Other than that I found the book excellent.



2. I just took the 70-015 exam using this book as one of my source for preparation. This book does not address the main requirement, COM, enough. The 70-016 version of this book has even more coverage on COM. If you want to pass 70-015, I would suggest you either take 70-016 first, or use both this exam cram and 70-016.



3. I recently passed both the Visual C++ 6 Desktop & Visual C++ 6 Distributed Exams in one month using Mr. Lacey's exam cram books. I can't tell you how impressed I am with the quality of the material he (and the team at Coriolis) put together for the cram guides. I purchased "study guides" from two other publishers that did not cover the material in 1/10th the depth that these "cram guides" covered the material.

   I have to agree that the coverage of COM and Aggregation are about as good as you can can get. I have been recommending his coverage of COM to co-workers who are just beginning with COM and want a clear, consise overview of what COM is all about.

   I found the material recommended in the "Need To Know More?" sections to be invaluable. I believe his recommendations to be the best material available on each topic.

   For the Distributed exam I didn't even bother buying anything but the Coriolis cram guide for the exam and one of the database books recommened in the "Need To Know More?" recommendations.

   I've probably read 30 computer-related technical books in the last 5 years. I've read four that I was actually impressed with--two of those four books are Mr. Lacey's. The books were useful, accurate and well-written.

   Truly excellent!




4. I don't know if this book is a good prep for the test. I haven't taken it. It is, however, a very good reference book. When I need to know how to do something, I constantly find myself turning to this book. It gives you a good level of detail in a very short space.



5. I just passed the 70-015 exam, after reading (only) this book. It has quite a lot of detail, despite the small size.

   Most topis are well covered, but some are a little thin. COM is one of these, but after all it _is_ a huge topic, and even most COM-only books don't cover it that well. MTS, particularly security is not covered in enough detail. I had to guess on some MTS questions during the exam that I thought should have been mentioned in the book.

   Overall, this book is quite comprehensive, I managed to write over 180(!) pages of notes from it. With it, and some help from the MSDN documentation (and, of course, some braindumps) you should be well prepared for the exam.

   Good luck! :)

No comments about Visual Basic 6 (Manuales Imprescindibles).

No comments about Pet/Cbm: An Introduction to Programming and Applications.